robgb
Genius. Idiot. You Decide.
The second one is a theme called Default 5 Caldari Navy.
Reaper 6 is here!
- Thread starter thereus
- Start date
robgb
Genius. Idiot. You Decide.
Are you using Windows? Maybe it all looks a little better on a Mac because MacOS is much prettier than Windows.
EvilDragon
KSP Wizard
Yeah Windows here, but it looks even worse on Mac really (and tbh which OS is prettier is heavily debatable, let's not go there) and has some strange issues that Windows version doesn't have. Plus you cannot embed bridged GUIs on Mac.
If you used the theme that I was using, it would look equally bad on Mac, probably, when properly colored dialogs start mixing up with uncolored/default OS colored dialogs. Example:
Sure in practice you wouldn't often have them this many opened, but the point is when you're working and then different dialogs come at you with different background colors, it is jarring and plain annoying.
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TomislavEP
Senior Member
Despite my huge excitement, the transition from the latest version of REAPER 5 to 6 wasn't entirely smooth here either. But, fortunately, it turned out to be due to my own fault for the most part.
So after the installation, I've immediately tried opening one of my projects made with an earlier version, curious to see how the CC data edited with heavy usage of Julian Sader's scripts translate to the new system in the MIDI editor. And on playback, I've experienced weird hiccups... However, the culprit turned out to be something entirely different. Recently, I've built a whole new DAW system and I've stupidly forgotten to enter the serial numbers for my IZotope products, so they've entered the demo mode and gave those sporadic dropouts... At least, I hope this was the case!
Other than that, all seems OK for me (so far). I've didn't experienced any issues with the display of my Native Instruments software, including Kontakt 6 and Massive X as well as the other plugins. I must also say that I like the new theme very much and especially the new look of the MIDI editor. In the past, I've relied on 3rd party alterations of the default theme to get the dark mode. Aesthetically, I would like to see even fewer Windows OS graphic elements in REAPER, but the new theme is a big improvement overall, IMHO.
First of all, I need to get the new CC edit system under my fingertips as I'm so used to working with the scripts on the old CC display system it has became the second nature for me. But the manipulation of CC data in MIDI editor with dots and curves was probably the biggest thing I've felt that REAPER is missing, so I'm happy that it's finally here.
All in all, I'm really looking forward to exploring all the new possibilities of REAPER 6 and incorporating them into my workflow.
So after the installation, I've immediately tried opening one of my projects made with an earlier version, curious to see how the CC data edited with heavy usage of Julian Sader's scripts translate to the new system in the MIDI editor. And on playback, I've experienced weird hiccups... However, the culprit turned out to be something entirely different. Recently, I've built a whole new DAW system and I've stupidly forgotten to enter the serial numbers for my IZotope products, so they've entered the demo mode and gave those sporadic dropouts... At least, I hope this was the case!
Other than that, all seems OK for me (so far). I've didn't experienced any issues with the display of my Native Instruments software, including Kontakt 6 and Massive X as well as the other plugins. I must also say that I like the new theme very much and especially the new look of the MIDI editor. In the past, I've relied on 3rd party alterations of the default theme to get the dark mode. Aesthetically, I would like to see even fewer Windows OS graphic elements in REAPER, but the new theme is a big improvement overall, IMHO.
First of all, I need to get the new CC edit system under my fingertips as I'm so used to working with the scripts on the old CC display system it has became the second nature for me. But the manipulation of CC data in MIDI editor with dots and curves was probably the biggest thing I've felt that REAPER is missing, so I'm happy that it's finally here.
All in all, I'm really looking forward to exploring all the new possibilities of REAPER 6 and incorporating them into my workflow.
robgb
Genius. Idiot. You Decide.
I guess it's a matter of taste, then, because I don't find this objectionable.
EvilDragon
KSP Wizard
You can't say that it wouldn't be better if all dialogs were themed the same, though.
chrisr
Senior Member
For me, the 2 key differentiators are:
1 - It has a very open ended concept of what a "track" is, and therefore how audio data is routed through a session. It's hard to explain in a few sentences, but nothing else that I've used is as flexible and modular for audio routing and mixing.
2 - It's an environment that's open to 3rd party coders/developers (in several languages) in a much more all embracing way than any other software I own, and there's a passionate and knowledgeable community out there constantly pushing the boundaries. So if, as I did a few weeks ago, you think "Hey I could do with a massively parallel framework for processing this bit of audio, I wonder if anyone's developed a neat tool for that?" the answer is very probably yes. In this case a quick forum search led me to "FXRack" (https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=195417) - download the code (LUA in this case) - run it and within moments I was doing some crazy frequency-split parallel processing! The community is similar to the community of VST developers out there, but from what I can tell (as a non-coder) the community can choose to script at a much more fundamentally integrated level within the DAW, so the potential is that much greater.
I should mention that I still use Cubase for sequencing/basic mixing and print stems to Reaper for all my final mixing.
But for me those are the two big things that really set Reaper apart from the rest.
I gave Reaper 6 a quick go and the new CC lane editing is cool. But I'm also a bit averse to change in software (I still use Winamp as mp3 player) and I don't think I'm prepared for that much change and customizing right now to make Reaper 6 feel "familiar" to me again. Right now I'm only working on music that doesn't need any CC lane editing, and even my orchestral template only uses a minimum because I use velocity-based patches in most places. I think I'll just stay with my old Reaper 5 version till I feel the need to do something with lots of CC editing again, and then I'll have to spend some hours testing different themes or making my own again. Reaper 5 already was so good for what I want to do with it right now, I just don't feel a "need" to update at the moment.
DS_Joost
One day I'll fly away!
I actually recently found out Reaper right now seems to blow Cubase's midi capabilities out of the water. This is coming from an experienced Cubase user, and also someone who has recently warmed up again to Steinberg's DAW.
Thing is, it requires scripts. Your tolerance for those and the tinkering required varies from person to person, of course.
Mornats
Hobbyist
I'm quite liking the new Reaper 6 default theme. I tweaked it to always show some of the track elements such as the routing button and so on.
The CC lane improvements are good but I'd like fewer points on the curves when drawing them in if possible. I'd like to draw a rough shape that drops 5-6 editable points that I can then tweak and smooth out. I've not delved in to see if that option's there or not. For a first release of a feature it's good and I'm looking forward to any improvements.
Would to know what CC lane scripts people recommend
The CC lane improvements are good but I'd like fewer points on the curves when drawing them in if possible. I'd like to draw a rough shape that drops 5-6 editable points that I can then tweak and smooth out. I've not delved in to see if that option's there or not. For a first release of a feature it's good and I'm looking forward to any improvements.
Would to know what CC lane scripts people recommend
Can confirm. I've been using Cubase for many years (still am, mostly because Reaper's UI performance is atrocious with a 4k monitor, very laggy and unresponsive with big templates) and I can 100% say that Reaper's midi editing is MILES better than Cubase's.
I can't really think of anything that you can do in Cubase midi-wise that you can't do in Reaper, but I can think of tons of things that are possible in Reaper but not in Cubase. The only problem with Reaper is that it's less intuitive. You first have to wrap your head around it, but once you do there's nothing like it on the DAW market.
ckeddf
Member
I second that. There is an option to automatically reduce points when drawing curves by hand, according to the change log, but it doesn't do much for me. Maybe I'm not using it right.
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MaschineMind
Pro Crastinator
Really? That's quite surprising. I've always heard the opposite.
Jaybee
Active Member
Loving the CC lane improvements and the addition of native track delay (used to do this with a JS plugin). Not impressed by the default 6 theme though (too dark for me). I've switched back to my modded Default 5.0 theme and all is good (@MartinH. you can always install 6 but *use* your Reaper 5 theme (Options >Themes>...)
@tack Reaticulate is 100% solid so far in 6 too
I note the Reaper changelog specifically mentions "+ Performance: improve performance and reduce system resource consumption with large track counts". Unless it's confirmation bias I'm already seeing lower CPU usage (I think!).
@pmcrockett I think we might be able to gracefully retire "CCEnv" now and thank it for it's sterling work in CC blocking duties over the last couple of years!
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InLight-Tone
Senior Member
I can't UNSEE that...Shudder.Yeah Windows here, but it looks even worse on Mac really (and tbh which OS is prettier is heavily debatable, let's not go there) and has some strange issues that Windows version doesn't have. Plus you cannot embed bridged GUIs on Mac.
If you used the theme that I was using, it would look equally bad on Mac, probably, when properly colored dialogs start mixing up with uncolored/default OS colored dialogs. Example:
Sure in practice you wouldn't often have them this many opened, but the point is when you're working and then different dialogs come at you with different background colors, it is jarring and plain annoying.
EvilDragon
KSP Wizard
It does work, though... Just depends how densely you draw.
Yes, previously Reaper choked over here with ~1000 empty tracks. I can have 4-5 times more with much more responsive GUI.
averystemmler
Active Member
The only trouble I'm having so far (and the one thing that's keeping me on v5.99 for now) is that the new CC curves seem to cause quite a bit of UI slowdown in the MIDI editor for my large-ish projects. I'm curious if others here are experiencing the same.
I use the "view entire project" midi workflow, and with around 100 midi tracks' worth of CC on screen, it gets pretty unusable. Interestingly, the slowdown seems to be directly proportional to how much screen-space the CC lanes are taking up, rather than how many data points are visible. One tall lane of cc1 causes just as much lag as two half-sized lanes of cc1 and cc2, for instance.
When all CC lanes are closed, it's as smooth as can be.
I should also note that this PC is powerful, but 6 years old and running Win7 still.
I use the "view entire project" midi workflow, and with around 100 midi tracks' worth of CC on screen, it gets pretty unusable. Interestingly, the slowdown seems to be directly proportional to how much screen-space the CC lanes are taking up, rather than how many data points are visible. One tall lane of cc1 causes just as much lag as two half-sized lanes of cc1 and cc2, for instance.
When all CC lanes are closed, it's as smooth as can be.
I should also note that this PC is powerful, but 6 years old and running Win7 still.
