Editing

Inserting Silence

I want to insert silence at the start of my project

The following steps insert silence at the start of the project moving all existing items to the right.

• In the main track view go to the start of the project with control home.
• Press left bracket, [, to start a time selection.
• Move to the right by the amount of silence you want to insert. For example, you can move right four bars by pressing Page Down four times.
• Press right bracket, ], to end the time selection.
• Bring up the context menu. In Windows this is the application key.
• Arrow down to the menu item Insert Empty Space in Selection.

All existing items will be moved right by the size of the time selection. All tracks are affected and happens regardless of the current ripple mode.

You can carry out the insertion of empty space by running the action from the action list (F4) which is by default bound to control + alt + Insert (you have to double tap the Insert key).

It is a good idea to clear the time selection by pressing Escape before playing as typically the play cursor is at the start of the time selection which is now all silence.

Inserting Silence In the Middle Of A Project

Inserting silence in the middle of a project works in just the same way as inserting silence at the beginning.

• Start a time selection at the point you want to insert silence.
• Move right by the amount of silence you want to insert and end the time selection.
• Use either the Insert Empty Space in Selection menu item in the context menu, run the action or use the keyboard shortcut to add the silence.
• If needed, items will be split in order to move content to the right. Default fade out and fade ins will be applied to split items.

Silencing a Time Selection without Moving Proceeding Content

Let's say you're trying to mute a section with a major noise presence, but you've no reason to change the timing of anything else.

• Start a time selection at the beginning of the section you want muted.
• Go to the end of the offending section, then end your time selection.
• now, ensure you're focused on the track, or tracks, where the offending section takes place. You are able to use your shift+up or down arrow to select multiple tracks contiguously, or your shift+space for noncontiguous selection if necessary.
• Now, press Alt+SHIFT+A, Option+Shift+A on mac, to select all items on selected track or tracks within time selection.
• Finally, press CTRL+Windows+Delete, command+CTRL+FN+Backspace on Mac, to remove selected area of items. This will mute your entire time selection without affecting the surrounding contents.

Selecting Tracks and Items and Reporting What Is Selected

Single Track Selection and Reporting

To select a single track use the up and down arrow keys to move through the tracks. OSARA reports the track name as you go.

You can also select a track with reaConsole. Start reaCConsole with alt + C and then type a capital S followed by the track number. Or a capital S followed by the track name or start of the track name. For example, typing S3 will go to track 3. Typing Str will go to a track called "trumpet". If there are two tracks starting with "tr" however no selection is made. To make the selection either press enter or press control enter which closes the console dialogue at the same time otherwise it remains open.

After moving between tracks, press control + shift + space to have OSARA report the currently selected track.

Selecting An Item and reporting

When on a track containing items press control + left arrow or control + right arrow. Reaper moves to the next item to the left or right of the current edit cursor position. OSARA will announce the item name and its position.

If you are to the left of all items and press control + left arrow then nothing will get selected. Similarly, if you are to the right of all items and press control + right then nothing will get selected.

After changing the selected item, press control + shift + space to have OSARA report the currently selected item.

Unselecting Tracks and Items

As you press up and down arrow keys to move through the tracks only one track is selected at a time. Similarly, moving through items with control + left and right arrows selects just one item at a time. Any previous track or item selection is removed.

However, track and item selection are independent. If you have an item selected on a track and then move down the track list then the selected track changes but the selected item remains unchanged.

This can be a source of great confusion for beginners and is worth getting familiar with.

Note that control + shift + space reports on the latest object so it reports the current track if you last changed the track selection and reports on items if the last change was to change item.

To clear all track and item selection press shift + escape.

Multiple continuous selections

Holding down the shift key whilst moving between tracks or moving between items will select multiple tracks or items. Using this method will select continuous, or adjacent tracks or items. You can, for example, select tracks 2, 3 and 4.

Once you have made your selection pressing control + shift + space will report all the selected items.

If you have multiple tracks selected and then press just up arrow or down arrow then all the previously selected tracks are unselected and only one track will remain selected. There is similar behaviour for items.

Remember that selected items are not unselected when selecting multiple tracks and viceversa.

Discontiguous Selection

OSARA allows you to make a selection of any items and any tracks in your project by entering discontiguous selection mode. For example, you can have tracks 1 and 3 selected and items 5 and 7 from track 2 selected.

Press shift + space to enter discontiguous selection mode. Keep the shift key pressed whilst pressing the up and down arrow keys to move through the track list. As you move nothing is selected. OSARA is just reporting your location but does not change the current selection. Similarly, keeping shift held down whilst pressing control + left and right arrows moves through the items reporting your position but does not change the selection as you go.

To add a track or item that is currently unselected, press shift + space. To unselect a selected track or item, press shift + space. That is, shift + space toggles whether the track or item is selected.

One way to help understand this is to imagine that going into con tiguous selection mode lets you hover above the tracks and items. You can hover freely over the top of them without changing their selection state. Pressing shift + space then stamps down on your location changing the selection state of whatever is there.

To report the currently selected tracks hold shift and move either up or down to get OSARA into reporting tracks and then press control + shift + space.

To report the currently selected items hold shift and move item with control left or right to get OSARA into reporting items. Then press control + shift + space.

Pressing shift + escape clears all track and item selections.

To leave discontiguous slection mode just release the shift key and then change either track or item. This is quite easily done by mistake when you are learning to use discontiguous selection. Undo, with control + Z, reverts the selection back as long as the default options in the General section of Preferences (control + P) have undo points for track and item selection changes ticked.