A Guide to FX in Reaper
suggestions about how to install FX and how to organize them
Suggestions for installing and organizing FX
There are many ways to install and to organize FX Plugins in Reaper. The ideas discussed here apply only to Windows systems. They may be helpful on a Mac but I don't use a Mac so if you do, you will have to adapt them for yourself.
First, let us look at a few ways to install FX Plugins that might give you better control of what Reaper scans for and sees in the long run.
What I will be describing applies to a Windows 7 64 bit system, but is easily adapted to a 32 bit system such as XP or Windows 7 32 bit. Installers for FX come in many varieties.
· The most simple is where there actually is no installer, and you simply copy the .dll file to a VST folder.
· The next most simple is where the installer only installs the .dll files to a given directory. Usually, but not always you can specify what that directory is.
· There are installers that install the dll file(s) and other data files, presets, user manuals etc.
· Then are installers that install both a Standalone .exe of the plugin, as well as both 32 bit, 64 bit, RTAS, AXX, etc. versions.
I have adopted ways to handle each of these that works well for me even though it is not the normal 'one shot' way to install.
I simply run the installer more than one time. I might install just the Standalone and the 32 bit VST first and then run it again and install only the 64 bit version. For complex installers I often take screenshots of each stage of the process, for future reference. I have found this safer than letting the installer just toss things wherever it decides.
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My way of making VST folders
Most often, an installer will look for and default to some 'VST' folder that exists (or will be created by the installer) on your system. The VST standard was defined by Steinberg and the default folder is often similar to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steinberg\VstPlugIns. I do NOT let that happen. I never install to whatever their default folder is (although some poorly-written installers do not offer me the choice).. I prefer to set up and organize my own VST folders first and then use them. Why I do so will become clearer as this guide continues.
I actually have more than one VST folder. I have several on my C:\: drive and at least one on my D:\ drive. Here is what I do and how I name them.
On C:\ drive I create these folders:
@ VST 32
@ VST 64
@ VST
On D drive I have at least:
2 @ VST – D
I use the “@” character to force those folders to the top of the C:\ drive or D:\ drive list in Explorer. I always use Details view and I always set folder options to show file name extensions. That makes them very fast and easy to browse to or navigate to during installs.
Inside those folders, as needed, I make sub-folders, one for each FX or at least for each family of FX. So there might be a sub-folder called PSP, or Voxengo or there might be many sub-folders for each PSP or Voxengo FX, such as PSP Old Timer, PSP Delay, etc. Or sub-folders for synths, samplers, reverbs, EQs etc. How this is done is up to you.
Why I do it like this is as follows:
My main DAW that uses plugins is Reaper. In the Reaper Preferences for VST paths, you can add or remove as many specific folder locations as you wish.
Let us imagine I have both a 32 bit Reaper and a 64 Reaper installed. And further that I don't want the 64 bit Reaper to even look at the 32 bit VST folder. Even further, imagine there are some plugins that I don't want Reaper to bother with at all. You see? I can just add ONLY the paths I want Reaper 64 to scan to its preferences rather than pointing it to an entire VST folder.
A little more about how I organize those @ VST folders:
In the @ VST 32 there might be a sub folder named Guitar-Rig 5 32, while in the @ VST 64 folder there might also be a sub folder named Guitar-Rig 5 64. This makes is very easy for me to know what is where and to either let a given version of Reaper look there or not look there.
Other audio applications handle their plug-in paths differently. Some do not let you specify more than one directory. Even so, this method still works well for me. Before you install any plugins, it is best to make sure that you understand how your audio application handles plug-in folders and design your folders and sub-folders accordingly.
In the Reaper preferences for VST, I include the folder, “@ VST”, so inside that folder go only plugins which I definitely want Reaper to scan always.
If I am configuring a 32 bit Reaper, then I don't let it look at the “@ VST 64” folder at all. Also, I may only let it look at selected sub folders inside the “@ VST 32” folder.
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How to Organize FX inside Reaper
There is no 'one way'... you have the choice of many ways and many ways in combination with each other. I will show how I do it, and suggest what is possible and leave it to you to choose what works best for yourself.
For starters, let's take a look at the FX Browser.
Below you see it with 'Cockos' typed into the Filter field, so that only FX with Cockos in their name show up.
Now if we select the ReaEQ plugin, either by double clicking on it or by selecting it and clicking the OK button, we get it loaded into the track we are working on. That will look like this:
I would discuss the “My folders” method of organization before these FX Chains.
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Now, if we look at the upper left, under the FX menu item, we find some options:
The one we want for now is shown.
If you have a single FX selected [as you see in the top image] and then use “Save selected FX as chain” you can save it to a file name of your own choosing. It will be saved to a folder inside the Reaper installed location called “FX Chains”. OK, for now do that with a name of your choosing.
NOTE: Where this FX Chains folder is actually located will depend on your version of Windows and on how Reaper is installed. In a portable install, the FX Chains folder will be in the same location as the Reaper.exe. In a full install it will be elsewhere. For example on Windows 7 64 bit it will be here:
C:\Users\zzzz\AppData\Roaming\REAPER\FXChains
Now go find that FX Chains folder, and you might even like to make a shortcut to it on the desktop so you can get to it fast quickly and do more work inside it.
If you did save that EQ to it, you will see some file like this inside it.
Understand, even though this is technically called a 'chain' it is actually just that single EQ plug-in!
--- Now the fun begins ---
The FX Chains folder is just a normal Window's folder, so inside it you can make whatever you wish.
For example you can make Sub-folders, such as EQualizers, COMPpressors, ReVerbs, etc.
So you can build whatever kind of organization you wish. AND... since the 'single plug-in FX Chains files' that you save, are just normal Windows files, you can copy and\or move them into into any of those Sub-folders.
Why would I want to have a file in more than one Sub-folder you ask? For example, some compressors are also limiters, so you might want a copy in both your COMPpressors folder and also in your LIMITERS folder. You see?
Now consider this please. Besides using this trick with single FX Chains, you can of course save real FX Chains that include several plug-ins. Such as a Mastering Chain that might include both a compressor and an EQ. I call these 'real chains' and I make a folder named @@@ REAL CHAINS inside the FX Chains folder. Again the @@@ trick to force it to the top of the list. Inside that folder you can again have as many Sub-folders as you wish.
Yeah sure, but why bother with all this?
Because back in Reaper's tracks you get to see this when you right click the FX button.
And that gives you a very fast way to load either single FX or real chains of FX, all of which have been organized exactly as YOU want them.
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But wait, there's more!
Now back in the FX Browser itself there are other organizational options. You can have all that we have discussed above and these other ways available all at the same time. Let's take a look.
If you right-click on the My Folders you can create a new named folder of your choice. You can make as many as you wish. And then as shown below, you can copy whatever FX you want into those folders.
Once this is done, those will also be available from the right click on the FX button of a track.
Also, please notice in the above image, the “FX Chains” listing on the left side. This will get you to your FX Chains folder from inside the FX Browser. So now you have multiple ways to organize and sort FX, both via left click and right click on the FX Button.
Credits and other thoughts:
A veteran Reaper User, Ngarjuna, deserves most of the credit for these methods. He is the kind person that first showed me the way to use FX Chains to create and organize plugins. I remain very thankful for his help!
There certainly are more features than mentioned here to the FX Browser itself. Since those have recently undergone even more changes in the most recent pre-release versions of Reaper, I'm not going to deal with them at this time.
Please refer to the User Guide for anything more.
Having installed the plug-ins into folders and sub-folders on disk, the easiest method of access is to add the “VST folders” path(s) to the FX Browser:
Also, I can add dividers (actually empty folders) in the My Folders list, and indent the real folders. As in:
:
I’m not sure of the advantages of using FXChains:
My own folders on disk are organized into those sorts of categories, so I can get to, e.g. Compressors quickly: