Reaper Input FX

T

toleolu

New member
Am I wrong in how this works??? I was thinking that if I apply an Input FX to a track using Reaper 4.1, the effect should apply to what I record.

Simply put, I plug in my electric guitar, insert a track, enable record, select input fx on the vertical mixing bar for that track, select JS Guitar Distortion, the settings window opens, the Input FX button turns green, but no matter what I do to the settings on the effect, the input audio never changes.

I've looked on You Tube, in this forum, in the Reaper Forum, just can't seem to figure out what I am missing here, unless I'm not understanding how Input FX work.

FYI, if I record a track then apply effects to that, it works OK, just thought I could use the input FX to duplicate what you can do with an effects pedal.
Thanks
 
I think that you'll have to print the effects to the track after you record. If you wanna hear the effects as you record, turn on direct monitoring.
 
Why is it always just the click of one button right in front of your face. :facepalm: Thanks Greg, appreciate the help.
 
With direct monitoring turned on an my output set to my computer speakers, is there any way to eliminate the latency from when I hit a note until I hear the sound on the speakers. I'm using a Presonus Firebox Audio Interface, I set the latency on that Firbox Control Panel to 2 ms, but that doesn't seem to help. I am also using an Asus Xonar D1 sound card. I look for the latency settings in Reaper but since so much of what's in there is Greek to me, hopin Greg or one of the other pros can do a noob a solid here and point me to that one click magic button again.

Thanks
 
If you want to monitor your guitar as you record it and you have the effects on, then there is probably going to be latency no matter what because of the effects. Running the signal through effects takes some time, depending on the effect, so it will probably cause a delay. You should try recording with the effects turned off and see if the latency is still there.
 
2ms of latency isn't enough to notice. I regularly run mine around 6-10ms and don't notice it. If you notice 2ms, you have better ears than me. You might have something else going on. Sometimes effects on the master bus can create more latency than you want. Turn off any effects on the master bus and see if that helps.
 
Kinda figured that was the case, with the effects turned off, latency is not a problem. Was kinda hopin I could get around buying some effects pedals, but no biggy. By they way, anyone got a source for some good drum tracks??? Nothing fancy, just something to kinda help keep the beat. I looked at some of these drum packages, EZ Drummer and what not, but was hoping, once again, to work around spending any money.

Thanks
 
If you just wanna keep time and don't like the click track, I've used EZdrummer or Addictive Drums free trial, just set the tempo you want, find a beat that works pretty well and play along to it. It works well for rock stuff or any song that doesn't really need a lot of dynamic changes.
 
Why are you insisting on recording the guitar WITH the FX on? Add them after recording, adjust as needed.
 
mjbphotos said:
Why are you insisting on recording the guitar WITH the FX on? Add them after recording, adjust as needed.
Click to expand...

If he/she is playing something that is supposed to sound heavily distorted, perhaps with sustained harmonics and whatnot, I can see why playing without the effects on could make it hard to hear the end result, as he/she doesn't have any pedals. I can also imagine it would be much harder to "get into it".
 
dainbramage is close to my reasons for wanting to apply input effects, I don't have any effects pedals at this time, the real reason though is that I'm a cheap bastard and was hoping I wouldn't have to buy any:)
 
Well unless you plan to play gigs in the future you are better off with plugin effects.

I bought like 8 expensive pedals during a very short of time, spent pretty much all of my income, before finally getting an interface and now I don't use them any more, well at least not until I get a band going again. I had no idea digital effects these days could sound so sweet.

Is your computer able to handle it? I experience no latency whatsoever (well 3ms which is impossible to even notice) on mine and it is only 1.8GHZ with a bunch of effects (amplitude, compressors, EQ etc) while monitoring. However I do experience some latency on any plugins that modify pitch. Have you tried different plugins?
 
No I don't gig, pretty much just at my desk and mess around. Hardware wise I should be in good shape, I'm using a gaming computer I built, 6 core full RAM, Asus Sound card and Presonus Firebox. Most of the input fx are just distortion, phaser, and flanger. Should I be able to significantly reduce latency on some of those effects??? My Reaper install is pretty much default, haven't really tweaked any settings in there, so if you think that there are some things I could try, please let me know.

Also, does anyone know a good resource for drum tracks???

Thanks
 
For guitars in the DAW I like Amplitube Free because it's...free! It comes with some alright amp sims and effects. For $40-60 you can get a couple a their nicer add-on amps and some nicer effects and have an awesome set up. I still like to mic my real amps, but sometimes it's just not possible. Amplitube is way better than plugging in your guitar and using Reapers flanger etc...those effects are not really for guitars, they work well on top of regular tracks.

For drums, EZ Drummer is the best bang for buck. It comes with thousands of drum samples (midi) that can be used as are, or modified, or even create your own. Super easy to use, I think it's like $79 for the basic kit and samples. Works really well for when you can't have a real drummer, or don't know one.

To reduce latency, the best thing is to "print" the effects. In Reaper under Item you can choose something like "apply track/take FX as new take". It will copy the track as a new take with the FX on it. Then you can just click on the FX button to turn them off and not use the CPU power anymore. If you wanna tweak the FX later, the settings are still there, just switch to the original take, turn the FX on, and make adjustments, then "print" again.

So, for under $150 you can get some great drum tracks, a great amp sim, and make some really nice sounding recordings...that is assuming you know how to use them and mix :)

oh, and one last thought...reducing latency isn't really done in Reaper anymore, mostly you'll need to adjust it at your interface (however yours does that).
 
toleolu said:
With direct monitoring turned on an my output set to my computer speakers, is there any way to eliminate the latency from when I hit a note until I hear the sound on the speakers. I'm using a Presonus Firebox Audio Interface, I set the latency on that Firbox Control Panel to 2 ms, but that doesn't seem to help. I am also using an Asus Xonar D1 sound card. I look for the latency settings in Reaper but since so much of what's in there is Greek to me, hopin Greg or one of the other pros can do a noob a solid here and point me to that one click magic button again.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'm confused as to why you're experiencing latency with direct monitoring enabled. Direct monitoring allows you to hear the input signal looped directly to the output. This is also why you should not be able to hear any effects applied to this signal unless you have dsp built into your interface.

Some plugins introduce global latency regardless of where you have them inserted or how low your buffer setting is.

Cheers :)
 
I'm using a PreSonus FireBox Audio Interface
Click to expand...
I am also using an Asus Xonar D1 sound card
Click to expand...

are you monitoring through the outputs on the FireBox or through the Xonar D1 sound card?

You should be using the FireBox for both input and output when recording.

monitoring through the Xonar D1 sound card would cause the type of latency you are reporting.
 
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