Rewiring Reaper

[obiwan177]

I know that it's possible to rewire Reaper into a track (or multiple tracks) into Pro Tools, and was wondering a few things.

Since Reaper can run VST plugins, could I not just use Reaper for any VST plugin I want, and rewire it into PT, effectively getting around that compatibility issue?

Secondly, a similar idea. Since all the Digidesign supported hardware is much much more expensive, and Reaper will connect with any audio interface, could I buy a Presonus Firestudio (or something similar) and have the audio streaming into Reaper, and then rewired into Pro Tools? So this way Reaper becomes sort of a middle man in this scenario.

I realize that doing this work around sort of stuff is not supported by Digidesign, and it would require extra CPU etc. But even in theory, is this sort of setup possible?

[daeron80]

Originally Posted by obiwan177

could I not just use Reaper for any VST plugin I want, and rewire it into PT, effectively getting around that compatibility issue?

Oh, yeah, baby. And if you have any VIs that are in both RTAS and VST format, they'll likely run more efficiently and with fewer problems as VSTis on ReWired tracks. You can even record MIDI into PT and have it use a VSTi in Reaper as that track's instrument so all your editing is in one place.

You can also obviate the track count limit. Track into PT, then consolidate to session start (and export as interleaved for stereo tracks), and drag the resulting files into Reaper. Or track a bunch into Reaper first, then ReWire it into a PT session and continue tracking there while monitoring the Reaper tracks.

Originally Posted by obiwan177

could I buy a Presonus Firestudio (or something similar) and have the audio streaming into Reaper, and then rewired into Pro Tools?

Unfortunately, no, not at the same time. As far as I know, a ReWired program must use the same interface as its host. It would be possible to use Reaper by itself with the Firestudio, then quit it and put an instance of Reaper ReWire on a track in PT. That will launch Reaper. As long as your session starts are the same, you can then open the Reaper session and send its material to PT. That would allow you to record more than 18 inputs at once if your interface supported it. That could even be done with one of Avid's own interfaces. The M-Audio ProFire 2626 provides up to 26 inputs, even though, bizarrely, the M-Powered software that comes with it can only receive 18 of them at once. But you can record 26 at once through the 2626 into Reaper, then Rewire the Reaper session into PT LE (or M-Powered, I assume) to track overdubs.

Another limitation is that audio only goes one way. E.g, you can't send audio from PT to a verb in Reaper. You can send up to 32 separate audio streams from Reaper to PT, though, so you can use a verb in PT on tracks in Reaper. I believe PT insists on being the host. I don't think it can be ReWired into other programs.

[obiwan177]

Alright, thanks for your help. I think I might get a firewire interface and record using Reaper so I can get 8 or even 16 tracks in easily. Thanks. Then I would switch over to PT for editing and everything else.