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Sound Designer’s Starter Pack (free): https://daviddumaisaudio.com/starterpack
As you probably already know, Reaper is a sound designer’s best friend because of its extreme flexibility to set it up the way you want for your workflow AND because of the amazing scripts created specifically for sound designers.
If you’re considering switching over to Reaper or you just want to have a more efficient workflow, then you need to know about what I believe are the 6 must-have scripts.
#1. nvk_CREATE
nvk_CREATE is a script by nvk.tools. It acts as a sound search engine within Reaper, but it can also do much more than that.
It’s star feature is that it can automatically create multi-layered sound effects using it’s ‘multi layer mode’. Here you can decide how many layers, variations, pitch, length, as well as other parameters for your sound effects. Once selected, nvk_CREATE will automatically generate sound effects.
This feature alone could save you hundreds of hours of work. It’s great for generating ideas and quickly creating new sound effects.
Other tools by nvk.tools which are super useful include nvk_AUTODOPPLER and nvk_LOOPMAKER. I do not currently own nvk_WORKFLOW, but having used 3/4 of their scripts, I can highly recommend each one of them.
#2. LKC Render Blocks & LKC Variator
#3. Global Sampler
The Global Sampler by BirdBird is a free script for Reaper users (paid version here for non-Reaper users) which allows all the audio that goes through your DAW to be retrospectively recorded (up to 60 seconds) onto the Global Sampler “track”.
Any audio that goes through the Global Sampler can now be highlighted, selected, and dragged into your session to Export as is or to further manipulate.
This is super useful when using randomization tools that change your sound but cannot go back to prior settings (such as S-Layer). It is also great for capturing a performance of a sound that you would be challenging to perform again. And, it’s great when working with synthesizers so that you don’t need to record to track to get the audio into your session.
In any case, I always have this script running on any given session so I never loose any audio or any work.
#4. UCS Renaming Tool
#5. Midi Multi-Tool
#6. Stem Manager
Though the stem manager may be more useful for music producers, there are still some instances where it can serve sound designers.
The stem manager is a script which allows you to select which tracks you would like to export together, even if you want the same track in multiple groups (or stems).
If you want to export various version of a multi-layer sound effect, then you can use the stem manager to export all those various versions in one go rather than having to manually export each variation one at a time.
It’s also great for apply dynamic group bus fx to a multi-layered sound effect (see it in action here).
Final thoughts
I hope this helps you out!
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