Auto Expand The MIDI Editor in REAPER

[@herbertmetzmusic]

If you want to make this the default when double cklicking a midi item: 1) Open a text editor, paste the code below and save it with the extension .lua in the reaper "scripts" folder. (i.e. midi_autozoom.lua): reaper.Undo_BeginBlock() reaper.Main_OnCommand(40528, 0) -- select item hwnd = reaper.MIDIEditor_GetActive() -- get active MIDI editor reaper.MIDIEditor_OnCommand(hwnd, 40466) -- Zoom to content reaper.Undo_EndBlock("Script: Select Item Zoom Midi ", -1 ) 2) Create a custom action that first opens the item in the midi editor ("Item: Open in built-in Midi editor") and then executes the .lua script 3) Preferences -> Mouse modifiers -> Media Item -> double click under "default action" insert your custom action Done!

[@REAPERMania]

The problem with this is that you lose how you left it last time when you open it again. And you lose the functionality of double clicking an audio or video item.

[@herbertmetzmusic]

@@REAPERMania Of course you're right Kenny - but you could instead put it on for example Shift & Ctrl + doubleclick which has nothing bound to it by default i believe ...

[@michaelschnell5633]

I meant that Button could be there out of the box.

[@benderocks788]

@@REAPERMania Hi Kenny, visually impaired here. In Reaper 7, can you get a SOFT WHITE BACKGROUND in the MIDI editor? And can the colours of the rest of the GUI be also fully customized in that white background?

[@Reapertips]

Kenny I always appreciate your attention to detail, pacing and just overall how clean everything is in your tutorials. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@georgyj111111]

Very helpful. Zooming in the midi editor is a desaster. Everything different than in the rest of the programme.

[@stephanroemerdotnet]

Thanks for doing this video. This shows exactly why the defaults of REAPER's MIDI Editor are flawed. A perfect solution are FeedTheCat's scripts. However, this should really be fixed on a native basis.

[@rano12321]

This has been one of my biggest frustration while working with midi in Reaper which is what I primarily do. It would be really nice if there could be a way to set a default zoom value in the preference in future.

[@jrstudios1]

Absolutely as a fellow Reaper user for many years myself it's ridiculous that there's not. I wish the coders at Reaper worked that out. The MIDI editor should feel more seamless with set track heights for docking zoom preference by default and what not and more ESPECIALLY their CC Lanes need a lot of help if you ask me, If I were them I'd take inspiration off Ableton Live and sort that out ASAP, because for real even if a session is going smooth you open that CC lane and you try to do anything in there feels like you jumped into some sort of beta version of a DAW from the 90's, incredibly clunky and not intuitive at all It's insane..... We are on Reaper 7 and we don't have an overhaul on that yet? Maybe Kenny can relay the message? Great Video as always, Kenny if not for you I'd imagine there would be way more frustration in the Reaper community and more switching over to other DAWS. Just know you're very much appreciated.

[@rano12321]

@@jrstudios1 I just wish for more midi updates in Reaper, that's all. That's what people do nowadays, 90% of DAW users work with midi 100% and Reaper is very feature rich for audio work, but the midi parts need some love and attention, you can get it to work a lot better with customization and scripts but having them by default would make a world of difference.

[@BenMartinBox]

Nice tip Kenny. However I wonder, is there any way of making such behavior as "default" each time the MIDI editor is "open" (on any track)? Maybe suggest such behavior as an option (preferences) to cockos?

[@carl.wunsche]

[phone]

[@ARE_YOU_SICK_OF_YT_CENSORSHIP]

with a script

[@Qomplex]

Agree 100%. Cockos should add this as a default option.

[@braunhausmedia]

Create a custom action and add it to mouse modifier so that the action is triggered when you double click the midi item.

[@ARE_YOU_SICK_OF_YT_CENSORSHIP]

@@braunhausmedia this won't work

[@jurgendeblonde5003]

Great tip! Now for drums, what would make this even more powerful is to provide a button that shows only the notes that have been played (hiding all the unplayed ones). There's a function that does that.

[@REAPERMania]

There is.

[@rano12321]

It's called 'hide unused note rows' or something like that.

[@clydesight]

This is a great tip! Thanks so much, just what I was looking for! Thumbs UP!

[@pasklauriola8216]

Good tip! I'll try to create a mouse function on the item to open this view directly with a double click

[@faselblaDer3te]

Let me know if you get that working :-)

[@ARE_YOU_SICK_OF_YT_CENSORSHIP]

it's not possible, if it were Kenny would most likely do it himself and showed in the tutorial, because he's in direct contact with the devs

[@Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials]

Ah yes that's great indeed. I have to implement it too. It will save me a lot of time and swearing when I have to zoom it all :-D it should be natively present that button 🙂

[@bigapplevoiceover4830]

KennyvThank you for all the awesome tutorials! You've brought my projects to the next level!!! Dave

[@andreasfranzmann9634]

Thank you for yet another great video Kenny! Honestly I don’t see who would not want to have that as a default when double clicking the item.

[@djabthrash]

Because you might have previously set a certain zoom setting, and having the "zoom to content" as default will break that.

[@Sajid_Sarker]

Great tip. Can we delete a note without previewing them while the preview is on for inserting notes ?

[@REAPERMania]

You can probablay create a custom action to turn preview off, delete the not and turn preview back on.

[@southsideronnie]

Nice playing Kenny and good tips!!

[@jeremydbjbjbjb]

I can only hope that the devs watch this video, see how awkward your solution is and resolve to come up with something better.

[@djangomclear_rocks]

How can I make zooming of the main window behave exactly the same as the midi editor or the other way around? for me it is different in both

[@REAPERMania]

There are different sections for "main" and "MIDI editor" in the actions. Just change them to match.

[@djabthrash]

I think the "Timebase: Toggle sync to arrange view" (command ID : 40640) action does that. Works for me.

[@1tigercat2]

Great stuff as usual, thank you. I liked the default icon on the tool bar ' Zoom to con'. Is there a way to turn it off? In other words go back to the previous view? The other buttons allow you to click on and off.

[@bsmith8166]

Very useful. I just wish there was a way to make the midi editor more like Ableton's so you dont have to do this in the first place.

[@joeheukerott9186]

Great tip! Thanks very much. You are the best. 🎹🥁

[@dessiplaer]

I will be added this button to my midi editor. Thanks again!

[@djabthrash]

02:58 Didn't know you could right click the button directly to edit its icon ! Thanks Kenny

[@tam_ryan1036]

Cheers Kenny! Love the drum samples. What are you using? 🙂

[@REAPERMania]

Steven Slate FREE

[@tam_ryan1036]

@@REAPERMania Ooh thanks so much! I’ll give it a try. Love the crack on that snare. 😊👍

[@dominique948]

Thank you Kenny !

[@Valgant]

Thanks! But there's a better and easier solution: Archie _Var Toggle Midi editor and zoom to content by item. lua sth like that. Find it and install and then in Mouse Modifiers settings - Context "Media item" double click and as the Default action pick the Archie script from the action list. Voilà! And now every time you double click the midi item you have it open in a proper way without having to commit other actions.

[@filkertom]

Oh, man. This is fantastic. Thanks, Kenny!

[@dilillo.nicola]

Hi Kenny. Thank you very much for another great video. Question: Is it possible to auto expand also the whole project?

[@REAPERMania]

Control on the PC or Command on the Mac + Page Down

[@dilillo.nicola]

@REAPERMania This does not work as I want. I resolved with action View: Zoom Out Project. But unfortunately it only zooms out horizontally. I would like to zoom the whole project to completely fit to screen.

[@djabthrash]

@@dilillo.nicola"View: Toggle track zoom to minimum height" (command ID : 40110) action for the project height ?

[@solyarisoftware]

Hi Kenny. very useful video, as usual. What's the horizontal keyboard at the bottom of the screen? It's an external plugin, right? Which one? Thanks giorgio

[@funkybob7772]

Quick question, can it be modified to zoom to time selection if the midi-item is longer than the selection?

[@michaelschnell5633]

Great ! This should be there by default :)

[@jcjacques]

Merci ! Fantastique ! you are my reaper master and commander !

[@blackcatcentralmusic]

Many musicians prefer to use the notation staff view for editing midi data. One frustrating aspect of Reaper is having to zoom in enough to see the staff view clearly. I haven't tried the recommendations yet in the video but will those recommendations work with the notation view?

[@musicmant6]

Great tip!

[@djabthrash]

02:54 "select it and close it"... or press the "select/close" button directly :)

[@johnstewart1714]

Fantastic Thanks!!!

[@richardcramer3542]

That is just perfect. Safe travels.

[@canastraroyal]

Superb!

[@leonardocorredor1036]

Great Super useful.

[@lavryk]

This is is cool. Would it be even cooler if it fits to content right after editor open...

[@ARE_YOU_SICK_OF_YT_CENSORSHIP]

with a simple script it's possible but the item will have to be opened with a shortcut rather than a mouse click

[@grobinson9352]

This was perfect! Thank you!!!

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

How, when you record the piano, the notes are rectangular blocks, but when you record the drums, they are triangles? Is there a default action for that also please?

[@REAPERMania]

video editing - just hit the toolbar buttons to change it

[@hirkdeknirk1]

Good tip, as always. 😀What I generally hate in all programs is when you drag a selection too close to the edge and - whoosh - the application scrolls all the way to Antarctica. I was able to turn this off in Photoshop. There it is called "overscrolling". Unfortunately, I haven't found anything similar in Reaper yet. Does anyone know anything?

[@ollyveit6031]

Hey there Kenny, awesome video as always!! I got a question regarding headphone mixes and irs driving me nuts bc it seems reaper is lacking that (for me) essential feature When i am sending my signals to a cue Bus which sends to a Headphone amp via Hardware output, i set the sends Pre fader (obviously) but it seems that as soon as i send something via a Bus, the Solo button affects the Headphone mix So if I'm recording, and i want to listen to something in solo in the control room, it affects the artists mix as well, and thats a bummer. I know you have a way to work around this issue but i was wondering if there is a solution for the problem i have or if it needs some fixing :) Cheers!

[@REAPERMania]

You can change that in the mute/solo preferences - kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4KoapRreMx_pbs

[@francoisbenest2756]

It could be improved by creating a custom action with Open MIDI Editor + zoom to content. What I did years ago.

[@REAPERMania]

But then you can't double-click it.

[@mellowords]

Why oh why oh why oh why can't Reaper on Windows have smooth scrolling for zoom? The jumps between zoom notches on my mouse wheel are crazy big

[@REAPERMania]

You can slow it down with custom actions.

[@mellowords]

@@REAPERMania But slowing it down has its own issues, what we need on windows is true smooth scrolling with a little velocity built in

[@mellowords]

@@REAPERMania When using custom actions to slow down scrolling speed, it just makes me have to scroll way too much--and it's still jumpy. This isn't the case at all with my Windows laptop trackpad, so I wish it would work on my mouse. Clearly a hardware dependent behavior

[@johannessens6018]

Prima!

[@MikeWh]

And....... why is the default better than having to expand it every time even with a shortcut? Those users who enjoy the tiny midi screen have had it too good for too long. Those of us who need to see what we are doing straight away look forward to our time in the sun.

[@MikeWh]

Imagine the default was Kenny's shortcut. Then Kenny releases a video "How to make your Reaper midi screen look worse" to make it look like the default....

[@Tyrannocaster]

When I try to add the action to my toolbar (I have customized it before without any difficulty) I do not get a live SELECT button; mine stays grayed out and I am unable to add anything to it I have Reaper 7.11 - could this be a bug? Anybody else experiencing this?

[@djabthrash]

If you can "select" all other actions but not this one of yours, maybe something is wrong with your action (how it's named for instance) ?

[@Tyrannocaster]

@@djabthrash i finally figured it out; I was looking at the main toolbar, not the midi toolbar. D'oh!

[@djabthrash]

@@TyrannocasterWe've all been there :)

[@DeejayWorlhed]

What I want learn in reaper and i can't even find a video online how to do it.

[@XRaym]

This should be default for sure.

[@XRaym]

What is the relation between the video title and this AI generated chemistry class thumbnail ? 🤔 Screenshots of the app worls better IMHO 😉

[@krispysox]

AI is already making this wacky World more random. It's only the start lol. By the thumb, I'd say this is a cookbook for m3th video :)

[@mellowords]

It actually looks a lot like his midi editor. The beakers even look like the triangles of drum mode. Weirdly a very clever abstract thumbnail! Edit: upon closer look, there are definitely signs of AI art. The thermometer lmao. Oh well, it's a thumbnail.

[@hirkdeknirk1]

I still use toilet paper but I'm currently working on integrating AI into the process. Today you can't do without it. 😁

[@alex-phwrecords]

Thanks for the tip ! You should write some lyrics on this piano track, it could be a hit

[@ARE_YOU_SICK_OF_YT_CENSORSHIP]

@@krispysox and "diverse"

[@fernandobaetajr]

Great tip!