It's been half a year since I started using Reaper.
I was able to make songs smoothly and comfortably without any major problems, but recently I started to worry about something.
It's about managing plugin presets.
It's not a problem with plugins that can read and write presets with their own GUI, like Melda, but it's troublesome when you rely on a DAW for preset management, such as PA.
For example, bx_console, which I often use.
When I create and save a preset, it is saved at the bottom of the self-made presets, but it seems that Reaper does not have a function to sort the presets I've created alphabetically.
I can change the order of the presets, but all I can do is click Move Up from the menu and move them one line at a time...
I spent about an hour looking for people who had made macros or scripts to automate processes, but I couldn't find any information.
About four years ago, someone with the same problem as me submitted a request for improvement to the official forum, but the fact that it has still not been improved suggests that there is little hope for it in the future.
Well, if it doesn't exist, I'll just make one.
To be honest, it's a pain to switch to another DAW just for this, and it's endless.
By the way, FL and Studio One will automatically sort the bx_console preset list alphabetically, as you would expect.
Reaper's plugin setting files are managed together in one file per plugin, and after locating the location of the setting file and analyzing the data, I found that I could change the order by rewriting the contents, so I created an automation tool in Python.
The usage is simple. First, find the folder with the target preset file and save it in target_path.ini.
Save the file names you want to sort automatically in target_files.ini, one file per line.
Right-click Reaper_Preset_Organizer.py and run it from Python.
It won't work unless Python is installed on your PC, so if you don't have it, please install it from the official website.
If you set .py files to always be run from Python, you can simply double-click to rewrite the preset files specified in target_files.ini in alphabetical order.
Hooray, I'm free from the pointless task of just clicking Move Up.
I'm always willing to make an effort to make things easier.
If you're interested, please visit the app page on this website.
This happened quite a while ago, but Niconico Video, my current main base of operations, was hit by a ransomware attack by a motherfucker hacker, and I've been feeling frustrated ever since because I can't release the new songs I've worked so hard to create.
If Niconico didn't exist, I wouldn't have been able to upload my songs to YouTube, as I think of it as a completely different world. Originally, I was mainly a composer, and making music videos was just a bonus for uploading them to Niconico, so without Niconico I would have no motivation to make music videos.
Anyway, back to the main story.
As the title suggests, my new song "GIFT" is a collaboration with a friend.
I posted this on a new Japanese music posting site called vvave, and it temporarily took the top spot on the rankings.
This song is a collaboration between me and Beast Soul Nori, a wandering musician currently living in Finland, who wrote the lyrics.
He may not be well known online, but he is a man of many men, with a funky way of life and songs honed through real-life experience, traveling the world while earning money from street performances using his guitar and singing voice, so if you're interested, be sure to check out his YouTube channel.
If you like it, please like and subscribe!
I first met him about 3 years ago.
I met him through another friend when I was living in a shared house in Saitama, and I still remember vividly the first time I heard his song.
He came back to Japan around fall last year, so we had dinner together at a favorite okonomiyaki restaurant and he asked me if I would like to write a song for him because he had lyrics that he hadn't written yet, and I accepted without hesitation.
It was my first time to write a song from lyrics written by someone other than myself, so I thought about it this way and that, and eventually I lost motivation and started writing other songs, and after about three months I finally came up with the basic vocal melody line lol
After that, I agonized over whether to do it in the same style as him, or to use piano accompaniment, or even to make it a rock song with a thumping electric guitar, and then, after a few years of Susumu Hirasawa boom, I decided on the spot to go with strings as the main focus, and created the orchestra in about a week.
Once the image is solidified, it's over in a flash.
For the vocals, I asked Teto from Synthesizer V, who I've always thought would be a great fit for ballads, to sing it.
The song is about the meaning of the name a parent gives to their child, so I thought he was the right choice considering his age, 31, lol.
Teenage girls didn't really click with me.
I can feel his way of life and philosophy in Beast Soul's lyrics, so I'll probably take it on if he comes up with some great lyrics again.
I don't know what kind of song it will be though lol.
P.S.
A version with the original vocals by Beast Soul will be released soon.
We will announce it on this website when it happens.
Universal Audio is a manufacturer that has been running an unusually large number of sales campaigns recently. I didn't know much about them because I've only been doing DTM for about two years, but they are a long-established audio equipment manufacturer that seems to make a lot of great machines.
Many manufacturers make emulation plug-ins for the great machines made by UA, and when amateur DTMers can get their hands on the original, expensive professional plug-ins at a crazy 80% or 90% discount, it becomes a hot topic.
I also jumped on this big wave and bought the LA-2A and 1176 to try them out.
I've only ever used PA's Shadow hills and bx_console as real machine emulation plug-ins, but I was impressed that the sound didn't break down at all even when I applied reduction levels that would have been crushed and degraded by the digital compressor included with my DAW.
For a simple plug-in, it has a wide variety of presets, and I thought it was a good plug-in that could teach me what settings to use when applying them to vocals, guitars, drums, etc.
UAD is great value for money and has a lot of great features. You can get it for cheap on sales, but it has one problem.
When installing plug-ins, you need to use a management app called UA Connect, which also performs online authentication when the plug-in is launched, so you need to keep it running.
This is what happens when you're offline.
No, I understand.
The thieves who steal paid products are to blame, so manufacturers have to take measures such as putting their products in locked cases to protect themselves.
For a mobile creator like me who sometimes does DTM at Starbucks, it's a pain to be required to always authenticate online, but if that's all it is, it's the same for CeVIO, so I can live with it.
But UAD.
Please stop suddenly interrupting the screen while I'm working and telling me to update.
I hate being interrupted when I'm in the creative groove.
It would even intrude on my screen while I was drawing, even when the DAW wasn't running, so I impulsively uninstalled it.
When it interrupted the screen while I was drawing even when my DAW wasn't running, I impulsively uninstalled it.
I looked for a way to switch UA Connect's automatic updates to manual, but it seems there isn't one at the moment.
I guess it doesn't bother some people, but I don't think it's very usable.
I wish they'd at least make it possible to update manually.
I wrote this because the internet was full of articles praising UAD and there wasn't any information like this.
I don't think I'll be using UAD plug-ins again until the UA Connect problem is resolved.
Melda and PA (Plugin Alliance) are perfect for me because they don't require a resident app or constant online authentication, and the quality of their plug-ins is good.
Thank you in advance.