In Reaper, automation is used to record and play back fader and plug-in parameter changes. Automation can be used on audio and MIDI tracks, and can be written in real-time or as step-time entries.
There are two main ways to record automation in Reaper: live recording and drawing. Live recording is where you record your fader or plug-in movements in real-time as you play back the track. Drawing is where you manually draw in the automation changes on the track.
Live recording is the easiest way to record automation, as you can just record your fader or plug-in movements as you play the track back. To do this, you first need to enable automation recording for the track you want to record on.
To do this, go to the track’s FX button (the button with the little arrow next to the track name) and click on it. This will open up the track’s FX window.
Click on the “Record” tab at the top of the window, and then enable the “Record Track Automation” option.
Now, when you play back the track, any fader or plug-in movements will be recorded. To stop recording, just press the stop button on the transport control.
Drawing automation is a bit more complicated, but it can be useful if you want to create more precise automation changes. To do this, you need to first enable automation drawing for the track you want to draw on.
To do this, go to the track’s FX button (the button with the little arrow next to the track name) and click on it. This will open up the track’s FX window.
Click on the “Draw” tab at the top of the window, and then enable the “Allow Automation Drawing” option.
Now, when you click on the track’s volume fader or any of the track’s plug-in parameters, you will enter automation drawing mode.
In automation drawing mode, you can click and drag to draw in the automation changes. You can also use the various drawing tools in the toolbar to create more precise changes.
To exit automation drawing mode, just click on the track’s volume fader or any of the track’s plug-in parameters again.
Automation can be a powerful tool for creating more dynamic and expressive tracks. By using automation, you can add interest and variation to your tracks that would otherwise be impossible.
So, now that you know the basics of how to use automation in Reaper, go out and experiment with it!
Other related questions:
How do I add automation points in Reaper?
To add an automation point in Reaper, first make sure that you have the track selected that you want to add the point to. Then, click on the track’s envelope lane to select it. Next, hold down the Control key and click on the track at the point where you want to add the automation point. A new automation point will be created at that point.
How do you automate a track volume in Reaper?
There is no built-in function to do this in Reaper, but it can be accomplished using a few lines of JSFX code. Place the following code in a JSFX plugin on the track you want to control:
// Enable/disable this plugin to enable/disable the automation.
var enabled = 1;
// The minimum and maximum volume levels.
var minVolume = -60.0;
var maxVolume = 0.0;
// The number of milliseconds between volume changes.
var interval = 1000;
// The current volume level.
var volume = 0.0;
// The time of the last volume change.
var lastTime = 0.0;
// Automatically change the volume every interval milliseconds.
function doAutoVolume()
{
if (enabled && (reaper.time_precise() – lastTime) >= interval)
{
volume = (volume == maxVolume) ? minVolume : maxVolume;
reaper.SetMediaItemInfo_Value(reaper.GetMediaItemTake_Item(reaper.GetMediaItemTake(re
How do you automate MIDI in Reaper?
There is no built-in MIDI automation in Reaper, but there are a few ways to achieve it using third-party plugins or scripts.
How do I move tracks with automation Reaper?
To move tracks with automation in Reaper, first select the tracks that you want to move. Then, use the “Move Track Automation” command in the “Edit” menu.