Foxfetish

The Reaper Accessibility Wiki. REAPER is a complete digital audio production application for Windows and Mac OS X, offering a full multitrack audio and MIDI recording, editing, processing, mixing and mastering toolset. This wiki provides information for blind Reaper users. Reaper is an inexpensive digital audio workstation that’s perfect for the home recording studio. In this series, we cover Reaper from first installation. On a Mac, this can be done by going to Reaper Preferences Audio Device. On Windows, please navigate to Options Preferences Device. In this menu, select the device that you wish to use. On Mac systems, this will be the name of the interface, on Windows it will be the name of the driver. REAPER is a very small download and a quick installation. It could not be any easier to get on your computer and ready to use. The manual is lengthy, but with plenty of screenshots and diagrams explaining each of REAPER’s many features concisely.

From CockosWiki

Main Page > REAPER Documentation > Effects In REAPER > Effects

ReaFIR is a EQ and dynamics plug-in that includes an FFT spectrum analysis window. Amongst other things it can be used as a precision EQ, a gate, a fast attack/release precision compressor, a noise reduction tool.

ReaFIR has 5 main modes, but before discussing these modes in depth, we'll look at the common controls that affect use.

• The main display: this window shows the analysis of the audio being processed, as well as the user-defined parameter curve. This window shows frequencies from left to right (representing 0 Hz to 24kHz), and volumes from top to bottom (representing by default 24dB to -90dB, but you can change this). The red line represents the user defined parameter curve, the dark yellow represents the input signal, and the bright yellow represents the output signal.

• The reset button: this resets the user-defined parameter curve to a flat line at 0dB.

• Edit mode: this lets you switch between the three editing modes
  • points-flat - In this mode you can create any number of points that define the curve, the lines between the points are straight.
  • points-smooth - The default; in this mode you can create any number of points that define the curve, the lines between the points are automatically smoothed and curved.
  • precise mode - Lets you draw very complex curves.

• FFT size: This controls what sized blocks are used for processing. In general larger FFT sizes allow more precise effects, and use more CPU. Some modes, however, may be affected in other ways by the FFT size. For example, in the Compressor and Gate modes, larger FFT sizes result in a larger effective attack/release time. See also: FFT-Size

• Show analysis: disable this if you do not care to see the approximate spectrum of the signal.

• Analysis floor: this lets you choose the lowest value of analysis shown. In general you should keep this set to the same as the low range of the curve range adjustment (above), but sometimes you may want it to be different (i.e. you may want the adjustment range to be 12..-12, but still display the analysis down to -90dB).

• Output gain: lets you adjust the volume of the output, after all processing has occurred.

• Reduce artifacts (less effective): by default ReaFIR operates in a non-linear FFT-based filtering fashion. The downside is that in certain instances the filter can introduce aliasing artifacts, in exchange for extremely high filtering effectiveness. If you check this box, ReaFIR will operate as a FIR filter, meaning it will be limited in its effectiveness by the length of the filter, but will respond linearly and without artifacts.

Adjustment curve tips

• In point mode, add in as many points as you want simply by clicking on the red line that appears in the analysis window.
• Delete points by holding CTRL and left clicking a point with your mouse.
• Right Click a point and Choose 'set' to manually set a point's frequency and gain
• Hold down shift while changing the gain of a point to make sure you don't accidentally move it across the spectrum. This precisely locks the point to the original frequency while you adjust gain.
• You can change the gain of the entire EQ curve (red line) by holding CTRL while dragging any part of the red line up or down with your mouse.

Some Considerations

• In general you will want to keep the analysis floor at -90dB or more. The floor represents the lowest value it can display and should thus be set to around the noise floor of your set up (-96dB for 16-bit and -144dB for 24-bit). Keeping the adjustment range floor the same as the analysis floor is often a good idea, especially when you are using the gate/compressor/noise reduction modes.

• Keep in mind that even if the highest point of the analysis is at -20dB, the peak of the signal's volume may be greatly higher, since the audio signal is the sum of all bands.

• ReaFIR's analysis display is an approximation, and has many artifacts of its own (stair-stepping being the most noticeable). This is a result of prioritizing processing efficiency over display quality.

ReaFIR Modes

ReaFIR can be used in 5 modes:

EQ

In EQ mode, the adjustment curve applies gain at different frequencies to the output.

EQ Mode Tips

• Make a small, narrow cut or boost by setting the curve adjustment floor to -10, then place two points at 0dB along the spectrum that will serve as the maximum and minimum affected area of the cut or boost (this serves the same purpose as adjusting Q in other EQ plugins). Place a third point in between the max/min points and raise or lower that third point to make the cut or boost. For example, to affect a range of 100Hz with a cut in the center of that range, set 1 point to 300hz at 0dB and another to 400hz at 0dB. Set a third point to 350hz and Lower or raise it's gain to taste.
• Create a ridiculously sharp 80hz High Pass filter by setting one point to 80hz at 0dB, and another point to 79.9hz at -90dB! You can make the filter smoother simply by dragging the point set to 79.9hz across the spectrum (for example, to 40hz).

Gate

In gate mode, the adjustment curve (red line) acts as a threshold, meaning that any audio that doesn't go above it (assuming the analysis floor is set to the same as the adjustment floor) is filtered (removed).

Gate mode can be used for a variety of things, including traditional gating of a track, but can also be used to help in midi triggering. You can do this by gating out specific bands or frequencies by manipulating the threshold's curve in either precise or point mode!

Note that the FFT size seting affects both the size of the bands used for gating, as well as the effective attack/release times (a larger FFT size has longer attack/release times).

See the following video for more ReaFIR to the rescue

Compressor

In Compressor mode, ReaFIR acts as a multi band compressor. However, there is a notable difference between a regular multi band compressor and ReaFIR. With ReaFIR, you can choose more specifically which frequencies you want to compress without having to worry about crossover. In addition, ReaFIR, in compressor mode, has hundreds or thousands of bands, which are all compressed separately.

The adjustment curve represents the threshold so that when the signal goes above it, it is compressed by the ratio specified.

Note that the FFT size set affects both the size of the bands used for compression, as well as the effective attack/release times (a larger FFT size has longer attack/release times).

The ratio can be set with the ratio slider, and can anywhere in the range of a gentle 1.01:1, a hard 100:1, or less than 1:1, giving per-band upwards expansion capability.

Because of the flexibility of specifying threshold per-band, you are able to choose exactly which frequency band gets compression, and can do some very interesting things with it.

• Gradually lower the threshold between 1-2khz so that 1khz gets some compression, but 2khz gets compressed more.
  • Keep in mind that if you lower the threshold too much, you will hear audible distortion from the fast attack/release.
• Define a threshold only below 100hz to compress bass frequencies.
• Define a bell shaped threshold with any Q you want (WOW!- see EQ tips for how-to)
• The FFT window will show you how much gain reduction is happening in yellow - the original signal's frequencies will still show as dark yellow.
  
• Compressing higher frequencies alone can be an effective de-esser. You may wish to do this only at the points where the sibilants occur in the recording.

Convolve L/R

In Convolve L/R mode, ReaFIR filters the left channel's signal with the right channel's signal, and applies the adjustment curve as an EQ control.

So what you will hear in Convolve LR mode is the 'like' frequencies from the Left and right channels together, and any dissimilar frequencies will be faint or non-existent. This is useful to check the overall balance of a mix to see what is happening sonically - especially if there is too much of a frequency band (in other words, an extreme build-up of like frequencies).

You can also make EQ adjustments in convolve mode using either precise lines or points - which can help you make decisions about what needs to be done within a mix to balance it out.

Subtract

ReaFIR's subtraction mode is excellent for Noise Reduction!
when you switch to subtract mode, you will notice a new button that says 'automatically build noise profile'. To use this function, enable it during a section of ONLY noise and you will see the profile being built. Once you are happy with the noise profile, un-check 'automatically build noise profile' and save the preset.

You can also easily specify the subtraction curve yourself, by playing noise, switching to 'precise' mode, and quickly drawing right above the noise.

You can then do a number of interesting things with the noise profile:

• Hold CTRL, click and drag the noise profile to raise or lower the entire profile (the higher you raise it, the more artifacts you will hear)
• Try building the noise profile with a larger FFT size than default, and then change the size back to default after you have built the noise profile.
• You are able to change parts of the noise profile, however you will pretty much lose what has been built as a result as there isn't a way (yet!) to add points to the noise profile (i.e. so that you can pivot sections of the noise profile). If you switch to points, the entire profile will be converted.

Main Page > REAPER Documentation > Effects In REAPER > Effects

• 1introduction
  • 1.1VoiceOver tips and tricks
    • 1.1.1VoiceOver talks too much/makes too much noise!
  • 1.2other specific mac related concerns
    • 1.2.1How to Allow OSARA, SWS and Other Reaper Extensions to run in Mac OS Catalina.
    • 1.2.4Accessing right-click menus with VoiceOver

OSARA is a plug-in which aims to work under Windows and Mac using the screen readers available for each platform. As has been probably explained elsewhere and in the reaper manual, there are some differences for achieving some procedures (like setting up track sends for instance). This article will attempt to bring them all in one place. it also will most likely be helpful for users of both platforms. note that due to the development of reaper and osara advancing simultaneously for some time now, possibilities are growing for accomplishing tasks so the information present on this article, while still relevant and applicable, is subject to change from time to time.

VoiceOver tips and tricks[edit]

VoiceOver talks too much/makes too much noise![edit]

One of the first things (and most frequently described problems) users notice, is the excess speech and feedback being given by voiceover. For example, since macOS High Sierra, VO beeps every time OSARA provides feedback. This not only makes working in reaper tedious, it can also potentially become distracting and slow down the workflow. There are some things you can do to reduce these issues.

Reducing Voice Over Sounds With VO Activities[edit]

To stop VO beeping each time OSARA provides feedback, setup a Voice-Over Activity for Reaper as described below:

1. Press VO-F8 to open Voice-Over Utility.
2. Press command-0 to go to activities.
3. Now, find the 'Add' button at the bottom of the window and press it.
4. You are prompted to make a name for the activity. making the name application specific is recommended but this is a personal preference.
5. Now press VO+right-arrow until you hear: Additional settings (or how it is shown for your language). And here press vo-spacebar.
6. Now continue to press VO+right arrow until you hear: Audio checkbox unchecked. Check it using Vo-spacebar.
7. Continue once more to the right, and you'll find the options button, which you press by using vo-spacebar on it.
8. Now you have to locate and check the box: Mute sound effects and go to the end of the window and close it by pressing either close or OK.
9. Now you are back to the activities window. We now need to tell Voiceover when to use this activity.
10. Press VO+right until it says: Webpages and programs menu button, and press VO+spacebar.
11. Select Reaper from the list of applications. That's it, no more sound effects from Voiceover.

Note, many other options around verbosity can also be customized for the Reaper Activity you have created, including any Keyboard Commander assignments you have made. Below is another recommended Activity customization. Also, the above Muting of VO sound effects can also be added to a Keyboard Commander, key in the VO Utility.

Reducing Speech Verbosity[edit]

While setting up the activity as above, you can include verbosity settings. Press the 'Set… Verbosity' button. and then expand the additional speech verbosity options. at the very bottom of the table of options which you can customize, there is an option called 'Window'. Customize the verbosity for this setting and uncheck the “Name” field. You will still need to have either status or type checked but this will stop Voice Over from telling you about your particular version of reaper and who it is licensed to, whenever you return to the main Reaper window. This reduces some of the extraneous speech

Muting Voice Over[edit]

Another option is to assign a Keyboard Commander shortcut key that will mute Voiceover completely. This is especially helpful when you don't want to be distracted while doing some precise edits.You can do this from within the Voice Over Utility accessed by pressing VO+F8, and then pressing Command+8 to access the commander options. Pick the Keyboard tab, and then Add an additional key and assign it to the Mute Voice Over toggle command.

note: VO is a short form for the Voiceover word. Remember you can use either caps lock or control-option keys as Voiceover mmodifier keys depending on how you have set Voiceover on your Mac.

other specific mac related concerns[edit]

How to Allow OSARA, SWS and Other Reaper Extensions to run in Mac OS Catalina.[edit]

When Mac OS Catalina was released in October 2019, users found that OSARA, SWS and other extensions were not allowed to run. Catalina users receive an error message complaining that the extensions they're attempting to run aren't confirmed to be from a known source/developer. But fear not, you can manually allow OSARA and other extensions to run by following these steps:

1. Press cancel the first time you see the error message. If you get a second warning where the extension name is different. Do not press cancel a second time.
2. Open System Preferences, then choose Security.
3. Navigate to the bottom of the screen by pressing VoiceOver+End.
4. Navigate using VoiceOver+LeftArrow until you hear VoiceOver say 'Click the lock to make changes', press VoiceOver+Space on that lock button and enter your password if prompted.
5. To the left of the lock button, you'll find a button labeled 'Allow'. You can confirm which extension you're allowing by hitting VoiceOver+LeftArrow once more, so be sure to verify that, then when you're ready, move back to the 'Allow' button and click it using VoiceOver+Space.
6. Here's where you'll need to use a little screen reader trickery. You now need to press VoiceOver+F1 twice quickly to bring up the application chooser menu. The first item in that menu should be 'System dialogs', and VoiceOver will likely say '1 item'. Press VoiceOver+Space twice there (the first press will open the system dialogs submenu, the second press will move VoiceOver focus into the system dialog itself).
7. You should now find yourself re-focused back in the same warning described in step 1. Repeat steps 5 and 6 again until there are no more system dialogs to attend to.

After allowing each of your extensions this way, they should work as expected when you next launch Reaper.

Alternative Method (for advanced users only).[edit]

The method described below may result in your system being easier to attack because it involves disabling Apple's system integrity protection (a setting which is turned on by default). There are multiple articles online outlining this method in detail, such as this guide from iMore

Please research the ramifications of disabling system integrity protection and make certain that you're comfortable before attempting this alternative method. It may seem easier than the steps above at a glance, but remember that security is paramount nowadays. OK, you've made it through the warning so you're clearly a determined sort. Here are the steps:

1. Reboot your Mac into recovery mode by holding CMD+R as you press the power button.
2. Wait for about 30 seconds, then launch VoiceOver either by pressing CMD+F5 or pressing three times on the Touch ID button if your Mac has one of those.
3. Select your language if prompted.
4. On the screen that offers such options as 'Install Mac OS' and 'Restore from Time Machine backup', move to the menu bar by pressing VoiceOver+M, open the Utilities menu and choose Terminal.
5. Type in the following command and press Enter when you are done: csrutil disable
6. Type reboot and hit Enter again. Once done, your Mac will restart with system integrity protection disabled, and - though your system may now be a perilous void of vulnerability - your extensions should work as expected.

there is no application key on mac[edit]

There are some situations in which you are advised to use the applications key, (for example, when setting inputs for recording).

This basically means that On Mac, you can now press control+1, control+2 and control+3 to open the first, second and third context menus, respectively. More detailed information is available in the osara readme

As for setting track inputs, the info that follows is out of date, but might be of use for some people.there is a simple trick to open the track-input-menu:

For example, lets say, you have an interface with 8 inputs and want to assign the first microphone-input to track 3, because track 1 and 2 contain virtual instruments. Then you could do the following:

1. Press Voice-over+I to open the item-chooser.
2. Type in 3 for track-number 3 and press enter.
3. Make sure that quick-navigation-mode is off by pressing left and right arrow-keys simultaneously.
4. Press voice-over+left once. That should bring you to an entry called „Track-input-record, followed by a number, which will depend on how many channels your interface has.
5. Pressing voice-over+space will open the track-inputs-menu. Here you can assign the appropriate input.

You can also assign inputs on the Mac or Windows with ReaConsole (follow the link for an audio tutorial by Garth Humphreys) or see its corresponding documentation.

adjusting effect parameters[edit]

Thanks to a recent osara update, there is the possibility, just as is done in windows to open a dialog which exposes all of the parameters that relate to a plug-in

A couple of notes regarding Mac though

1. In the most recent OSARA updates the actions to open Parameters dialogs are bound to 'p' and 'Command+Shift+p' keys. For example, to access effects for a particular track, simply focus on that track and press the letter 'p'. Similarly, to access the track parameters for a track, focus on it and press 'Command+Shift+p'.
2. The slider should support keyboard interaction (arrow keys, page up/down, home/end). However, it won't work if you try to use VO commands to interact with it. For now there isn't either a possibility, nor plans to try to fix this.

In the case of other effects that do not expose very helpful values from this dialog, you can try and access the native or generic effects UI, depending on the particular effect you are using. the accessibility of the native dialogs vary between manufacturers; however, if you are using the default settings, then when you add an effect you will be in the native UI. First check this out and see if you can access the parameters, most of the included Reaper effects are accessible. For third party effects, it varies. If the native UI is not accessible, then press VO + space on the UI button and you will have some access to the parameters.

Reaper Daw User Manual

Accessing right-click menus with VoiceOver[edit]

It turns out that many UI controls on the Reaper toolbars have context menus associated with them. As of this writing, in order to access them though, one has to right-click on such controls. But how?Fortunately, VoiceOver provides a 'right-click mouse' command in its list of commands and we can use it to perform the actual right-clicks on any control in Reaper. Here is one way to achieve this result:

1. Open VoiceOver Utility by pressing VO+F8.
2. In the list of categories choose the 'Commanders' category, then tab to the list of various tab sheets available for it. Here VO+RightArrow to the 'keyboard' tab and press VO+Space to activate it.
3. In the 'keyboard' sheet tab to the tab that contains currently-assigned keystrokes (they begin with Right Option by default but you can change this if you wish).
4. Choose a single key which has not been taken, for example 'r' for right-click.
5. VO+RightArrow to the 'add' button, then type 'r' in the 'keyboard key' edit field.. Then VO+RightArrow once to the 'command menu' button (this is where you can choose the command to execute when the shortcut key is pressed).
6. Activate the menu with VO+Space, then navigate to General > Right Click Mouse command and activate it by pressing VO+Space.
7. You should now have a new entry in the table of shortcut keys listing the shortcut you just created.
8. Exit out of this screen and try your new shortcut key by first routing the mouse pointer to VO cursor with VO+F5, followed by the key you assigned for performing the right-click.

You will discover a lot of hidden treasures inside Reaper context menus. For example, move through the toolbar of the track view and right-click on various buttons and other controls. See what you find!With the right-click method described above, you are now able to set up your MIDI devices in Reaper Preferences much quicker and do other cool things!In one of the upcoming versions of Reaper the standard VO+Shift+m will allow you to open context menus in many places inside Reaper, but the right-click trick might still be something you want to keep assigned, just in case!

If you enjoy the 'right-click' tip above and plan on using it quite a bit, you can ask VoiceOver to always route the mouse pointer to the VO cursor when you navigate, thus saving you an extra step. To do so,

1. Inside a VO utility, VO+F8, go to 'Navigation' category.
2. Tab to the 'Mouse Pointer' menu and select the 'Follow VO cursor' option.

You should now be all set!

Reaper Mac Manual Download

One last tip![edit]

Reaper Mac Download

If you like the right-click ability but would like to have it work in Reaper only, you can use the steps described above to add it to your 'Reaper' activity. Simply add 'Navigation' and 'Keyboard' categories to the activity, then activate the settings described above.

Reaper Mac Manual User