Once set up for efficient workflow, REAPER’s MIDI Editor works perfectly fine for standard, everyday MIDI editing needs. However, if you use REAPER for any kind of production that requires a heavy amount of in-depth MIDI editing - such as film/game/TV music or tracks utilizing lots of soft synths - you’ll very likely want to use scripts to extend REAPER’s MIDI editing functionality.
Thanks to REAPER’s active scripting community, there are quite literally hundreds of scripts available. That’s a lot to sort through, so I’ve written this four-part guide to help you quickly set up and get started with some of the most robust and useful scripts for expanding the MIDI Editor into a workspace that equals (and in some ways surpasses) what other DAWs have to offer.
Please note that the scripts covered in this series are by no means the only (or best) scripts available for REAPER's MIDI Editor. If you'd like to browse a larger list, I maintain a Google Sheet Database of MIDI-related ReaScripts.
These guides are written for those who want to expand REAPER's MIDI capabilities using scripts but either don't have the time to sort through what's available or haven't yet learned how to install scripts/extensions; a working knowledge of REAPER's native functionality is assumed.
Step One - Install Extensions
In order to use the scripts covered in these guides, you’ll need to install two extensions: SWS and Reapack. SWS adds a staggering amount of functionality to REAPER and is considered by most to be an essential add-on. Most scripts require SWS to some degree. ReaPack is a script management extension that allows you to very easily find scripts and manage their installation, all within REAPER. Neither of these extensions will slow down, break, or otherwise negatively impact your REAPER installation.
Navigate to the links below, download the files relevant to your operating system, and install them:
SWS Extension - https://www.sws-extension.org/
ReaPack - https://reapack.com/
Once installed, navigate to the following menu option…
…or assign the action “ReaPack: Manage repositories” to a toolbar button or hotkey. This is how you’ll easily open ReaPack for script management and installation.
In order to help you get set up as quickly as possible, the rest of this guide will only focus on the steps necessary to get the relevant MIDI Editor scripts up and running. When you’re done with that, however, I highly recommend learning more about both SWS and Reapack so you can get the most out of them.
Step Two - Install Necessary Scripts
Open ReaPack (via “Manage repositories…”). Click “Import/export…” and select “Import repositories…” from the dropdown. Copy and paste the following text into the text field and then click “OK”.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jeremybernstein/ReaScripts/main/index.xml
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iliaspoulakis/Reaper-Tools/master/index.xml
This will add two new repositories (collections of scripts) from authors whose scripts we'll need for the later guides.
Check/uncheck the boxes until you have the following configuration…
…and click “Browse packages”.
Click “Yes” when asked to apply unsaved changes (don’t worry, this isn’t actually over-writing anything).
A “Browse packages” window with a long list of scripts will appear. These are all the scripts available from the repositories we checked. We’ll only need to install a handful of these scripts, so use the “Filter:” text field at the top of the window to locate the following:
- Docking tools : actions to resize docks
- FTC_MeMagic bundle.lua
- FTC_MeMagic.lua
- FTC_Multi edit scroll.lua
- FTC_Multi edit zoom.lua
- js_Mouse editing - Multi Tool.lua
- js_ReaScriptAPI: API Functions for ReaScripts
- MaCCLane : Tabs for the MIDI Editor
- MIDI Razor Edits
- MIDI Transformer
- MIDI Utils API
- ReaImGui: ReaScript binding for Dear ImGui
For each script, right click on the name of the script and choose “Install”. An uppercase “I” will appear to the left of the script’s name. This indicates that the script is queued up for installation. To speed this process up, copy and paste each of the names from the above list into the Filter text field.
To double check that you’ve got everything queued up, switch to “Queued” in the Display dropdown at the top of the window. If installation is queued up correctly, you’ll see the following:
Click “Apply” or “OK” and ReaPack will install all of the scripts. You’ll see a notification that REAPER needs to restart due to native extensions being installed, so you’ll need to do that before the scripts take full effect.
Note: The above screenshot was taken at the time of writing this guide so the dates and version numbers that appear for you will very likely be more recent.
All necessary extensions and scripts are now installed and ready to use, so let’s proceed to using the scripts themselves:
Part 1 - Set Up ← Thou art here
Part 2 - Editing Tools
Part 3 - Zoom Control
Part 4 - CC Lane Management
If you're looking for more scripts beyond those mentioned in this series, I maintain a Google Sheet Database of MIDI-related ReaScripts
The theme I'm using in the screenshots and GIFs is the Reapertips Theme