Q: if I want Reaper on one DAW to control GP on that PC plus one other networked PC, am I better off using OSC or MIDI over ethernet? Or is there a better way?
Background: My music setup involved two Windows 10 PC’s, multiple audio interfaces, and is used mostly for live playing guitar, keyboard (midi -> VSTs), and drums (Roland TD-25 midi -> Superior Drummer 3).
I have been doing everything in Reaper, but it’s kind of a cumbersome setup for live playing. (Not gigging, just sitting around the home studio.) I’m thinking about adding Gig Performer to enhance usability for live play. To the extent I want to live play along with previously recorded tracks, I’d still plan on using Reaper.
I’m thinking “computer A” would run just GP, probably 2 instances, one with Superior Drummer 3 and one with a variety of keyboard VSTIs. Those would take midi input from physical keyboards and Roland drums, and would also take input from a Reaper instance on “computer B”. Computer B will also run guitar processors through a couple guitar inputs. (Running Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 on “A” and RME Babyface Pro on “B”.)
I’ve never used OSC, nor have I tried MIDI over ethernet, but I’m aware of rtpMIDI and figured I’d probably use that. But before going down the path of installing and setting that up I thought maybe OSC might be a better option so I could take advantage of a Surface Pro or various Android devices.
Will OSC do all this, and are there any problems I’m not thinking about yet?
This might be a silly question but if you’ve already got prerecorded tracks, why not just play them in Gig Performer’s Audio File Player plugin and not bother with Reaper at all for live performance?
Not a silly question, but probably requires me to describe my usual “use cases” a bit more.
Something like 50% of the time I’m just playing by myself. Maybe I’m playing keyboard, maybe drums, maybe guitar. I’ve always done this in Reaper, which works fine, but it’s kind of cumbersome. So this is the main thing I’m thinking of using GP to simplify. I want to be able to make patch changes and switch between VSTs and controller configurations more easily.
About 30% of the time one or more musicians are playing along with existing tracks. Maybe it’s just a 12 bar midi drum track and I’m playing guitar while somebody else is on keyboard. It’s just a jam session and we have some kind of automation playing an instrument or two that we’re not. But it’s jam session kind of stuff, not studio recording or live performance for an audience.
I still want to use Reaper for this because I want to be able to quickly pull up different projects to jam with. I want to be able to change tempo, transpose, and change projects easily.
For 99% of what I’d do when jamming, any track we’re playing with is just midi. I want to be able to mute or solo different tracks in a way that’s very easy in a DAW.
And then the other 20% of the time I’m doing traditional recording DAW work.
I can use something like rtpMIDI to drive GP on my keyboard/drums pc from my DAW pc. What I’m wondering is if there is any benefit (or even a practical way) to use OSC. For example, maybe setting up Lemur or something to change tempo or patches.
I have a perfectly functional setup in Reaper. I’m just looking to make my life easier. If I’m sitting at the drums and want to change anything I have to get up and move to get to a mouse. But with OSC maybe I can do a lot of what I want on my phone or a tablet.
Does that give a better picture of my goal? I want better ease of use without losing versatility.
Sure, you would easily use Lemur, TouchOSC or some other app that supports either OSC or MIDI to do such things. But you can get a lot cuter than that. You could also use Reaper to drive Gig Performer, and by inserting certain MIDI commands into your tracks, you would be able to automate such changes, for example