Setting Up Live Input/Effects Monitoring
(Hearing Your Effects In Realtime While You Play)
This section will explain how to use Reaper as an effects processor using VST plugins.
Once you have the ASIO drivers setup and ready to go, it is a simple task to start hearing your effects in real time. Looking at the mixer at the bottom of the screen, there is a gray circular dot just below the FX button. Left click on this dot and it will turn red, this is the button that arms a track for recording. If you were to press the record button now, it would start recording on this track. However, for now we just want to be able to hear our effects while we play (without recording). So now, right click on the red button (or gray if it is unarmed) and at the top of the menu that pops up, check the Monitor Input option. Next, choose your input. You will want to select your input from the Mono Input list (since the guitar is a mono instrument) and choose the appropriate input from your soundcard.
Now, once you arm the track so that the circular button is red, you should be able to hear your guitar as you play it. Now just add some effects as mentioned above onto this track and you'll have just turned your PC into a guitar effects processor.
One really nice thing about Reaper is that it can record while monitoring the VST plugins. So you can hit the record button at any time (without changing anything) and it will start recording and you will still be able to hear the effects while it's recording. This is perfect for using as a
scratch pad when you play something that you don't want to forget. This is something that Kristal Audio cannot do, so this is one (of the many) reasons why I highly recommend Reaper over Kristal.
Another nice thing about Reaper, is there is no limit on the number of plugins you can load per track. You can just keep piling on plugins until your computer can't take any more.
