Tracks and Track Folders and Reaper Preferences to save Disc Space: Difference between pages

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= Tracks and track folders =
= Reaper Preferences to save Disc Space =
Reaper is nearly infinitely customizable. This makes it ultra flexible, but, at times this flexibility may feel overwhelming because of the sheer number of preferences. This article will focus on preferences which will save you some disc space.


== Tracks ==
==Preferences ==
A track in Reaper is a container that can hold both audio and midi information. For example, if you want to record yourself singing over a backing track, you would insert a new track and import the instrumental audio to this newly created track. You can name it instrumental. You can then set up your inputs and record yourself singing on this same track, but it is not recommended to record yourself on a track that contains the instrumental, as you won't have as much separate control over each track if everything is on one track. Instead, you would create a new track and record yourself on this second track that can be titled vocal. This allows for more flexibility and less confusion when editing.
Open the preferences dialog by pressing  ctrl/p You will be placed in a tree view with 9 main branches and many sub branches. You will generally arrive at the same place where you were when you last visited this dialog. Tab until you hear “tree view.


In regards to midi, a track can also have a virtual software instrument added to it. This will be covered in other articles.
=== General Settings ===
There are many settings which are generally self-explanatory, But there are some settings you will want to make to organize your projects.
First in the Path settings branch, make sure you have set a directory for New projects. When you save new projects, you will have an opportunity to tell Reaper to create a directory specifically for the project.  


=== Inserting Tracks ===
In the same branch, set a directory for peak files. It isn’t necessary to keep these with your project, and you may want to delete them after a while to save space on your drive.
Reaper has many ways of accomplishing the same task. You can insert a new track with control+T (Command+T on Mac). You will be placed in an edit field where you can type a name for the track, or you can leave it blank. Press enter and you have a new track.
You can also insert a new track from the tracks menu by pressing alt, followed by T after alt is released.


Lastly, when navigating up and down through existing tracks you can press control plus [[Useful Links and Resources#numpad emulation and applications key script|applications key]] (control+2 on Mac) and you will have the track options found in the toolbar mentioned in the prior paragraph. Inserting a track (you guessed it) is one of those options.
=== Project settings ===
In the Project settings area you will want to configure Reaper’s backup options. If you are saving the undo history (set this in general settings branch) then You may want to uncheck the option for Keeping multiple backups and the options for timestamp backups.


== Track folders ==
==project settings ==
Track folders are an excellent method for keeping a big project organized and less cluttered. You can open, make small, and close a folder. When a folder is closed all tracks within that folder are no longer visible, just the folder track.
Besides the project settings branch in the preferences dialog, there is an entirely separate project settings dialog. This is slightly different because it deals with how each project is configured. Press alt/enter to open this dialog. Tab or shift/tab to get to the tabs.


=== How to create a track folder ===
=== Media Tab ===
1. Insert any number of tracks.
From the tab selector, select the media tab. Tab to where you can set the Path to save media files. You should type in a name like “media” or “audio.” This will direct Reaper to put your recorded audio in to a directory called by that name inside of the folder that it creates for your projects.
Next, tab to the Audio format option. This will be a personal preference, but using FLAK files will save disc space while preserving audio quality. The type of flac files which you can set in this area will be personal preference and is beyond the scope of this article.


2. Up or down arrow to the track that you want to designate as the beginning of the folder.
== Saving Projects ==


3. After you are focused on that track, press shift+enter. That will cycle between folder, and track state. In this situation, you want folder.
As mentioned earlier, when you save a project, you will have the opportunity to tell Reaper to create a new directory for the project. This new directory will be created in the directory you specified for Reaper projects in the “paths” directory in the main Reaper preferences dialog.
To set this option You will need to use your screen readers object navigation features since this option, and a few others are not  reachable by using the tab key. When you open the saveAs dialog, type your project name, then object nav once to the right, then down. The first option you will land on is the “Create directory for project” option Check this to place our project in a directory all of its own. Navigate to the right and you’ll find the copy media option. This will copy any external files you are using in tis project in to your media directory. This will allow you to use the files without altering your original copies.
Object navigate to the right and you reach the “convert” option. This will tell reaper to convert the media files to your preferred format.


4. Down arrow to the last track you want included within the folder and press shift+enter until you hear, “end of folder”.


You now have a folder within your project. It is recommended to have a blank track as your beginning folder, but not required.
=== Conclusion ===
 
This is just a small portion of the vast preferences system in Reaper, but these options will organize your projects and keep your files to a manageable size. There are many other features which you will learn to configure in other articles
Note, all tracks under the folder track are known as child tracks and the folder track is the parent. This means that if you apply any effect/fx to that folder track, the child tracks will also be affected. This is essentially a sub mix bus because all signals of the child tracks are going back upstream to the parent track or folder track.
 
=== How to create track folders with SWS extension ===
If you have the SWS extension installed, you can also create track folders by first selecting several tracks and then running the "SWS, make folder from selected tracks" action. The only downside to this option is that no empty track will be created at the start of the track folder
 
=== How to close and open folders ===
1. Arrow to the track folder and press enter until you here close or open.
 
=== How to undo folders ===
1Arrow to folder track and press shift plus enter. You should here your screen reader say track.
2Arrow to end of folder track, which now may state open folder and do the same as step one.
 
=== Navigating between track folders ===
Once you've created several folders, you can jump through them by hitting Alt+PageUp or Alt+PageDown in the track list (Option on Mac).

Latest revision as of 23:00, 17 May 2023

Reaper Preferences to save Disc Space

Reaper is nearly infinitely customizable. This makes it ultra flexible, but, at times this flexibility may feel overwhelming because of the sheer number of preferences. This article will focus on preferences which will save you some disc space.

Preferences

Open the preferences dialog by pressing ctrl/p You will be placed in a tree view with 9 main branches and many sub branches. You will generally arrive at the same place where you were when you last visited this dialog. Tab until you hear “tree view.”

General Settings

There are many settings which are generally self-explanatory, But there are some settings you will want to make to organize your projects. First in the Path settings branch, make sure you have set a directory for New projects. When you save new projects, you will have an opportunity to tell Reaper to create a directory specifically for the project.

In the same branch, set a directory for peak files. It isn’t necessary to keep these with your project, and you may want to delete them after a while to save space on your drive.

Project settings

In the Project settings area you will want to configure Reaper’s backup options. If you are saving the undo history (set this in general settings branch) then You may want to uncheck the option for Keeping multiple backups and the options for timestamp backups.

project settings

Besides the project settings branch in the preferences dialog, there is an entirely separate project settings dialog. This is slightly different because it deals with how each project is configured. Press alt/enter to open this dialog. Tab or shift/tab to get to the tabs.

Media Tab

From the tab selector, select the media tab. Tab to where you can set the Path to save media files. You should type in a name like “media” or “audio.” This will direct Reaper to put your recorded audio in to a directory called by that name inside of the folder that it creates for your projects. Next, tab to the Audio format option. This will be a personal preference, but using FLAK files will save disc space while preserving audio quality. The type of flac files which you can set in this area will be personal preference and is beyond the scope of this article.

Saving Projects

As mentioned earlier, when you save a project, you will have the opportunity to tell Reaper to create a new directory for the project. This new directory will be created in the directory you specified for Reaper projects in the “paths” directory in the main Reaper preferences dialog. To set this option You will need to use your screen readers object navigation features since this option, and a few others are not reachable by using the tab key. When you open the saveAs dialog, type your project name, then object nav once to the right, then down. The first option you will land on is the “Create directory for project” option Check this to place our project in a directory all of its own. Navigate to the right and you’ll find the copy media option. This will copy any external files you are using in tis project in to your media directory. This will allow you to use the files without altering your original copies. Object navigate to the right and you reach the “convert” option. This will tell reaper to convert the media files to your preferred format.


Conclusion

This is just a small portion of the vast preferences system in Reaper, but these options will organize your projects and keep your files to a manageable size. There are many other features which you will learn to configure in other articles