I don't know which forum to ask this in.

rubbertrampray

rubbertrampray

Member
I'm using Hydrogen drums and once I have a drum pattern I like I want to save it so I can open it in my DAW (Reaper) and use it. How do I do that?
 
Put the .dll file in the vst folder for Reaper. Scan for VSTs.

Drag and drop the Hydrogen measure in the 'new virtual instrument' track.
 
If you don't want to do layer's sensible thing - and want to work totally outside your DAW, you export the song - the drum pattern, end to end, as a .wav file or other format, then load that into your DAW
 
To communicate effectively, you will need a basic understanding of Reaper.

I can open the door, and show you the way. But it is up to you to take those first steps.

Be smart. Be fuck'n huge.
 
Reaper can have Virtual Studio Instruments and effects added. Most of the DAWs do - so you could download a really nice reverb, and use it inside reaper, or you can download a piano VST which might be nicer? Synths, drums and practically anything can then be used, inside Reaper. I'm a Cubase users, but the way it works is that the VST you have comes with a .dll file. Normally to enable them inside reaper or Cubase and the others just needs that dll file to be copied to a specific folder. Then inside the DAW you click on something and your drum machine pops up there - so there is no need to use it stand alone. This is 100% the right thing to do so you can adjust the drums once you have other instruments on the go. Read the Hydrogen info - it tells you what to do.
 
Make it a priority of yours to get your drum sampler working inside of Reaper. Before you do anything else. Do that.

Lots of tutorials on youtube I am sure but as others have said, You copy/paste the .dll file into your VST folder, then restart Reaper > Scan, and when it pops up you are then able to create dedicated drum track.

Once you got that sorted you are in a good place to start writing full songs with drums.
 
LazerBeakShiek said:
To communicate effectively, you will need a basic understanding of Reaper.
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That could take 5 years. How about you give him a basic understanding of Reaper ?
Back in 1983, I was in college doing photography. Our lecturer was this small German called Leo and he knew his subject over, under, sideways, down and from every possible angle known to man, God and beast. But when it came to developing black and white photos, I learned nothing. Now, you could say it was down to me and maybe it was, but I never could get what Leo Krooks was ever talking about. When I did my exams in '84, I never even went back to get the results. I have never known how much I failed by !
Fast-forward 5 years and a friend I was working with, on, of all things, a kids' playground, taught me in 2 one-hour sessions, how to develop film and how to develop pictures. I learned more from Anne-Maire Blake in 2 hours than I'd learned in a year from Leo Krooks. Why ? Primarily because Anne-Maire spoke my language, a simple, 'do this, do that, try this, see how this works' language. And it was practical. That was the only time we spent in the dark room. I spent the next 20 years in the dark room on my own. I developed hundreds of rolls of film and thousands of prints. I bought my own equipment and got better and better.
How about when someone tells us they are totally ignorant of something and they need help, we actually don't advise them out of our wisdom, we actually answer the query that has brought them to us in the first place ? True, some may take the piss, but many won't. They'll learn and enjoy making and recording and mixing their own music.
LazerBeakShiek said:
I can open the door, and show you the way. But it is up to you to take those first steps.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...
I remember how I first arrived at HR back in 2009. I was trying, having had absolutely no clue, to activate Cubase SE, get my virtual instruments working, connect to the keyboard and I hadn't understood the manual. That manual, like most I've come across, was written as though the reader had a good grasp of the very stuff that one goes to a manual to learn. They are generally not written in user~friendly English. In fact, it is sometimes debatable if they are written in English at all, even though the words are apparently English.
When I'd e-mail tech support, I'd ask them to explain the solution to me as though they were conversing with a 9-year-old that knew not a thing about computers or digital recording. Only one person {Chris, at GMedia in 2004},
was able to do this.
And I found, that for the most part, most of the contributors at HR were very much the same. Unable or unwilling to "dumb it down" for those that stated clearly that they did not understand digitalia. I stayed for other reasons. But on a technical level, I never learned anything here because literally no one seemed willing to explain things that were simple to them, but immensely hard to me, in simple, child-friendly, uncluttered language. "Go out and get your degree in Reaper, Sonar, Cubase, Logic, Pro-Tools, etc, then come back and ask your questions."
So Lazer, before someone who tells you straight away that they know nothing, takes the first steps, give them the blasted tools. Give it to them in simple English. Don't talk about opening .dll files and don't assume that the questioner even has a clue what a .dll file is. Don't even assume that the questioner even knows what a file is ! Files ! Folders ! Banks ! Assume total ignorance on the questioner's part and treat them as such, but kindly. If they have a certain understanding, they'll let you know. If they think you're talking down to them, they'll let you know. This will actually be incontrovertible evidence that you are a good teacher. Dang, forget a good teacher, just a teacher. And then, they'll start to take those steps and as they grow, even should they surpass your current knowledge, you should be pleased and proud. Even if they never credit you, you know.
LazerBeakShiek said:
Be smart. Be fuck'n huge.
Click to expand...
He is smart. He asked for help.
 
In my first post I asked if I had all I needed to start. I was told yes and to get started and ask questions as things came up. So I did. It's not much, just 12 bars of programmed drums and a simple walking bass line played on guitar. But, thanks to the help here, I've been able to get it done, saved as a .wav file and was able to send it to a friend I used to be in a band with. I've also started watching a Reaper 101 on youtube that's about 8 hours long if you watch all the videos (I'm half way through the second).

I've been playing electric guitar for 50 years. If someone wants to know how to sound like pretty much anyone in classic rock or blues I know how to get them there. So I'm sure I can be an asset to the guitar and bass forum at least.

I'm not an educated man. On the contrary, I didn't even finish high school. I make my living driving a truck around Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. I've never had an office job. I'm not a great musician. But I am a damn good guitarist and I've jammed on stage with people you likely wouldn't believe if I dropped their names. And I've got some good gear to (hopefully) record a few tunes.

I'm grateful for the help I've gotten so far.
 
I forget what it was like to come from nothing, I remember struggling away with EZdrummer and not knowing how to get it to work in my DAW of choice which was FLstudio at the time. So I apologise if my post assumed you knew a bit about it.

Best way I can describe it is that your DAW (Reaper) comes with tools, all of those tools are already set up for you but if you want to use anything that your DAW does not come with, for eg: your drum software, or any other 3rd party plugin or instrument, or sampler, or synth etc.etc. then they all come with a .dll file or A file which you must move across so your DAW can see it. There is a pretty good chance that there is also a readme file that has instructions on how to do this also in almost every plugin you download, if you're really lucky and the plugin is developed well then you install it and the .dll file would get copied across automatically as part of the installation process. But most likely you need to manually do this yourself.

Once you move that .dll file across and scan for it within Reaper, it will appear in the list of drop down plugins you would normally use.

I will probably ask you about guitar tones one day
 
I am with Grim on this one. Most of the regulars here know I am NO musician but ten years of dabbling have taught me a bit about how to setup a basic computer recording system and I can now pass on some of those basics to the total newb.

But, I am basically an electronics technician with a decent grasp of audio terms so the main area where I hope I can help folks in in electrical.electronics issues.

These are however positively soaked in strange names and jargon, you just cannot avoid Ohms, amps volts and decibels and these cause newbs to glaze over and cry "I can't understand this!" My counter to that is to ask the poster to break down their misunderstandings and I promise I will take as long as it takes to get them grokking.

Once peeps see that electronics is not THAT hard, at least at the level they need, they tend to come on board. An example is Ohm's Law. Just the same equation as Time Distance Speed or MPG. Just cos its electrons, don't make it magic!

Dave.
 
Before I started using Reaper I read the 450 page manual (virtual) cover to cover, only skipping the 'advanced routing' chapter. I didn't understand half of what I read, but as I started using Reaper, I was able to recall reading about something, and reference the manual again.
 
mjbphotos said:
Before I started using Reaper I read the 450 page manual (virtual) cover to cover, only skipping the 'advanced routing' chapter. I didn't understand half of what I read, but as I started using Reaper, I was able to recall reading about something, and reference the manual again.
Click to expand...
Sadly, reading isn't the way I learn best. Probably the reason I did poorly in school. I do much better watching videos. Luckily I've found a someone that's made several videos explaining how to use Reaper starting from how to download and install it.
 
I don't think I've read more than 5 pages of the Reaper manual. I downloaded it, plugged in my interface, piddled around a bit to figure out how to get the Tascam to work in direct monitor mode, and off I went. When I needed to do something I can't figure out, I google it, watch a bit of Kenny Gioia's videos and move on.

Of course, when I started playing in a band, we had a nice Bogen 35 watt PA amp, a couple of microphones, home built speaker columns. My first "guitar amp" was my Dad's Wilcox-Gay Recordio tape recorder. Plug the guitar into the mic input (ceramic mic type), plug in an external speaker, press record without a tape in the machine and I could hear the my Silvertone across the room!

Electronic stuff doesn't intimidate me at all.
 
TalismanRich said:
I don't think I've read more than 5 pages of the Reaper manual. I downloaded it, plugged in my interface, piddled around a bit to figure out how to get the Tascam to work in direct monitor mode, and off I went. When I needed to do something I can't figure out, I google it, watch a bit of Kenny Gioia's videos and move on.

Of course, when I started playing in a band, we had a nice Bogen 35 watt PA amp, a couple of microphones, home built speaker columns. My first "guitar amp" was my Dad's Wilcox-Gay Recordio tape recorder. Plug the guitar into the mic input (ceramic mic type), plug in an external speaker, press record without a tape in the machine and I could hear the my Silvertone across the room!

Electronic stuff doesn't intimidate me at all.
Click to expand...
Good, but do be careful inside a microwave oven!

Dave.
 
Well, Dave, it's funny you should mention that.
I have an old Sharp Carousel microwave from years ago. One day it just quite working. Popped open the cover, and found that the start button just pressed a little snap switch with about a 3cm arm. The local shop wanted $60 just to look at it. I found a place on Ebay that sold me a package of 10 snap switches for $8 with free shipping. It's still running today, and I have 9 spare switches if it ever goes bad again.

I do have respect for what electricity can do, however. It only took one good shock to teach me that as a kid!
 
TalismanRich said:
Well, Dave, it's funny you should mention that.
I have an old Sharp Carousel microwave from years ago. One day it just quite working. Popped open the cover, and found that the start button just pressed a little snap switch with about a 3cm arm. The local shop wanted $60 just to look at it. I found a place on Ebay that sold me a package of 10 snap switches for $8 with free shipping. It's still running today, and I have 9 spare switches if it ever goes bad again.

I do have respect for what electricity can do, however. It only took one good shock to teach me that as a kid!
Click to expand...
Fair enough Rich. The problem with MWs is you don't get a second chance. Unlike any other piece of domestic electrics they run a around 2kV with a good amp current delivery. Thus they don't take prisoners. We were trained to work out faults by 'cold checks' only and to never try to measure voltages when running. NOT I hasten to add due to any MW radiation danger but just those ultra lethal voltages.

Usually even the 400-500V in a big guitar amp is survivable* even if there is no one around to give you CPR but touch 2kV and you are history.

* SOMETIMES!! Always take the greatest care peeps!

Dave.
 
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