Why are there 2 FX windows in Reaper

  • Thread starter Thread starter LazerBeakShiek
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LazerBeakShiek

LazerBeakShiek

It is a life preserver
What does the one FX window do that the other doesn't? They sound different depending on which side I populate with effects.

What Fx window are you recording with? Why would I use the one over the other? Should I use the one for the amps sims and another for effects?
Screenshot 2021-12-31 191856.webp
 
I wonder if that is something in the theme you are using. I have only one FX tab on each channel.
 
The second window is only available while the track is 'record-armed' and opens only the FX window itself, which floats separate from the first window. The first FX icon opens the window with the last viewed VST docked to it. Both function identically as far as Add/Remove goes. The difference in sound is due to the chaining order of whatever FX you've got on that track. You can duplicate what you're hearing by using a single FX window and adding all your FX there and swapping the chaining order around.

Here's what I have found out so far: There are two effects slots when recording. One for input effects that will be printed with the recorded track, and one for monitoring effects, which will be heard on the track in the monitors, but not actually recorded with the track. The input effects will only be available when the track is armed for recording.

Personally, I don't print any FX I may be using. I like to play around with them after the fact.
 
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Let me reword this..

I think the second window can only be heard after recording.
 
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Would you then put the amp sim on the second FX window?
 
LazerBeakShiek said:
Would you then put the amp sim on the second FX window?
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Yes - if you want it printed with the recording.

If you want the amp sim printed while recording, add it to the second FX window. Adding it to the first window adds the FX to your monitoring of the recorded track, so you hear it's effects after the recording.

So.. if you add 5 FX to the first window and 5 different FX to the second window, you would hear all 10 (via monitoring) while recording, but only the 5 in the second window would be printed to the track as recorded.

Now I'm getting my head spinning? o_O Hopefully, I haven't reversed the window order.
 
If you hover over the second FX, you see it says "Show Track Input FX Window" vs the normal "Show Track FX Window".

If you were working with tape, the second window would be added to the recording on tape. The first window would be effects added only during playback.

You can also add plug-ins by enabling Monitoring FX under the View dropdown. It puts a little green "Monitoring" icon in the upper right hand corner. Anything placed there will be heard in your monitors, but not rendered to the mixdown file. If you use correction software for your monitors, that would be the place to put the plug-in.
 
From memory, this might explain some issues you had a while back there beak man...

Honest question for anyone who knows Reaper:
I have never worked with Reaper so am just curious. In Cubase, no inserted effect/plug in is recorded when recording - EVER!. It is inserted after the raw file is recorded. Is this possibly different with Reaper? You can record an audio track with plug ins, and it is recorded that way permanently? My head is about to explode why that would be a good idea ever.

I get that monitoring back from a send to a hardware device that would be necessary, but that is a whole other animal. In Cubase, that would be a totally separate mixer/control room where you would add things like DSP and monitoring/cue sends. Why would someone ever want to make permanent a track that was permanently recorded to hard drive with an inserted effect? It would surely remove the whole goodness of recording digitally it seems to me.

Maybe I am just not grasping this. It's possible. I definitely see it as being something that a new user of the software could get totally confused by... Or is it just me? :)
 
Jimmy, that's exactly what the Input FX is supposed to do. As to why someone would want this, it's no different from setting up an amp and guitar, putting a mic in front, firing up a few pedals, and then hitting record, or sending your Kemper output to a track. If you finally have your amp sim dialed in and don't want to possibly lose that perfect sound, this lets you lock it in.
 
For most kinds of effects, I wouldn't want to commit during tracking. That said, I do have some analog eq and compression in the chain ahead of the interface, but that's with a band I work with every week, so I know what I need. But I generally apply more eq and compression later to a degree that I wouldn't want to commit to, plus there's all the other stuff like reverbs etc. that really need to be done in a finished context.
 
Boulder, have you survived the fires? Is Colorado still burning? Looked pretty apocalyptic.

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LazerBeakShiek said:
Boulder, have you survived the fires? Is Colorado still burning? Looked pretty apocalyptic.

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The fire wiped out the city of Superior and a big chunk of the city of Louisville (pronounced Lewis-ville). I live just east of Louisville in the city of Lafayette (in Boulder County), which was unscathed. The winds eventually reversed, mostly stopping the fires, then the following day we got our first proper snow, which put them out completely. Besides the 700 or so homes lost, power and gas are cut off over a wide area and temperatures are below freezing. There's a real danger of pipes freezing in thousands of houses that didn't burn. It's a truly massive disaster.

I'm currently in California where I'm personally safe but entirely unable to rescue any property should the fire have gone that way. My wife got caught in a giant traffic jam, but otherwise we're fine.
 
spantini said:
I'm confused no matter which way it's going :laughings:
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The DAW is complex and has many features. It is easy to get stuck or ask the same question over and over..

Spants one thing is for sure...It's going down!
 
LazerBeakShiek said:
The DAW is complex and has many features. It is easy to get stuck or ask the same question over and over..

Spants one thing is for sure...It's going down!
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I hear ya.. I watched 4 more of Kenny's videos this afternoon. There's no friggin' end to them (thankfully!:rolleyes:) - and now he's even making personal appearances in the new ones (looks like @gecko zzed without a hat :D).
 
LazerBeakShiek said:
Be safe

Yeah that must be scary though.
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The winds alone were scary. Branches were getting knocked off trees onto roadways, whole trees were being blown over. Traffic and utility poles were flailing around. Traffic lights all over Boulder were out, and you know many people have no clue how to behave at a giant 4-way stop with 2 or 3 lanes per direction. Even without the fires it was crazy.
 
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