In this little Cockos Reaper User Guide you will find the instructions to get our plug-in to work with Cockos Reaper with ease. This is universal tutorial for all of our plug-in, but we are using our Roland JP-80×0 plug-in in this guide.

Checkout the plug-in user manual prior to this guide, so you have the knowledge to setup the plug-in properly.

Also, as we are not Cockos Reaper experts, we engourage you to read the Reaper manual in order to fully understand your DAW.

We hope you have taken all the necessary precautions prior to using our product, like making a full backup of your synthesizer memory.

Cockos Reaper

Preferences

Open your DAW and enter Preferences. We will make sure that MIDI ports are disabled for those ports, where your synthesizer is connected at. This will ensure that your DAW won’t crash and we won’t be getting double data in to the DAW processing loop.

Options -> Preferences…

Cockos Reaper Config – Open Preferences

MIDI Devices

Open MIDI Devices [1] tab in Preferences. Locate the Input port, which receives MIDI from your synth.

Right click the MIDI device (RME RayDat Port 1 in my case) and choose “Disable input”.
Example: My JP-8000 MIDI Out sends MIDI to RayDAT Port 1 Input.

Windows: Do the same for JP-8000 vMIDI Out we created in Setting MIDI Devices User Guide.

JP-8000 vMIDI In [2] can be “Enabled”, so we get the notes to our DAW from the synthesizer itself!

Cockos Reaper Config – Allow MIDI In from Virtual Port (Windows)

Cockos Reaper Config – Disable MIDI In from Hardware Port (Windows)

Windows: Now in the next image you can see how I have enabled [1] JP-8000 vMIDI Out.

Cockos Reaper Config – Enable MIDI Out to Virtual Port (Windows)

Windows: And here in the last picture we can see how the RayDat Port 1 has been disabled so DAW does not use it.

Cockos Reaper Config – Disable MIDI Out to Hardware Port (Windows)

Now we can close Preferences.

NOTE #1: You can check our support site for additional guides like Setting MIDI Devices to learn how we added JP-8000 vMIDI In and JP-8000 vMIDI Out ports in the DAW.

MIDI IN / MIDI OUT

Now we can select the Physical MIDI input port which receives MIDI data from your synthesizer.

Cockos Reaper Config – Assign MIDI Input

And then we choose the Physical MIDI Out port which sends data to the synthesizer MIDI input.

Cockos Reaper Config – Assign MIDI Output

Plug-in will now attempt to establish connection with the synthesizer, so it might take some time if your settings are not right or if you chose a wrong MIDI port by mistake. You should see plug-in saying PROCESSING… somewhere in the plug-in interface and also ABORT PROCESS button will appear.

Cockos Reaper Config – Plug-in Attempts to connect

If all of the settings are correct, you will see “Plug-in is ready to go!” [1] message in the plug-in display.

Cockos Reaper Config – Connection Established

If something is wrong with your settings, plug-in will say “No response from JP!” [1] and that indicates something is wrong with your synth settings, MIDI device or Reaper Preferences.

Cockos Reaper Config – Failed Connection

Once the connection is in, you should sync the data with your hardware. Usually this function can be ran from the patch librarian tab / page of the plug-in & “Sync Data From HW” button. Check the plug-in user manual to learn more.

We can now close the plug-in window and move on.

NOTE #1: Check troubleshooting from the plug-in, daw or synthesizer manual if you can not establish connection. You can also seek help from our support site if you can’t find out what is causing error in your setup.

MIDI IN / MIDI OUT

Now we can select the Physical MIDI input port which receives MIDI data from your synthesizer.

Renoise Config – Assign MIDI Input Port

And then we choose the Physical MIDI Out port which sends data to the synthesizer MIDI input.

Renoise Config – Assign MIDI Output Port

Plug-in will now attempt to establish connection with the synthesizer, so it might take some time if your settings are not right or if you chose a wrong MIDI port by mistake. You should see plug-in saying PROCESSING… somewhere in the plug-in interface and also ABORT PROCESS button will appear.

Renoise Config – Plug-in Attempts to connect

If all of the settings are correct, you will see “Plug-in is ready to go!” [1] message in the plug-in display.

Renoise Config – Connection Established

If something is wrong with your settings, plug-in will say “No response from JP!” [1] and that indicates something is wrong with your synth settings, MIDI device or Renoise Preferences.

Renoise Config – Failed Connection

Once the connection is in, you should sync the data with your hardware. Usually this function can be ran from the patch librarian tab / page of the plug-in & “Sync Data From HW” button. Check the plug-in user manual to learn more.

We can now close the plug-in window and move on.

NOTE #1: Check troubleshooting from the plug-in, daw or synthesizer manual if you can not establish connection. You can also seek help from our support site if you can’t find out what is causing error in your setup.

Before we move forward, I have renamed my Track 01 to JP-80×0 so that I know where the plug-in is located in at.

Renoise Config – Renaming Plug-in Channel

Automating Plug-in Parameters

Click the “Trim” [1] button on the plug-in instrument channel and select parameters [2] you want to automate with Reaper. See image below.

Cockos Reaper Config – Select Parameters for Automation

Now there are new tracks below the instrument track indicating automation with lane on the arrangement. 

Cockos Reaper Config – Automation Lanes in Arrangement

Note #1: You can configure as many parameters as you wish. System Exclusive (SysEx) parameters and system buttons can not be automated.

Note #2: For some unknown reason, it is not yet possible to draw automation in any DAW when moving the knob from the hardware. It has to be done with the plug-in user interface.

Start drawing in OR move the knobs in the plug-in while recording to make automation! Before you start to pursue with MIDI blocks, read the next chapter!

Assign MIDI tracks to Reaper arrangement

Now, in order to send MIDI notes to the synthesizer, we need to have MIDI tracks in the DAW. 

Track -> Insert new track

Cockos Reaper Config – Add New MIDI Tracks

Click “Sends, Receives, and Hardware Output Options” [1] button in the mixer to reveal more settings.

Cockos Reaper Config – Select Track Options

Set Port to “JP-8000 vMIDI Out” and “Send to channel 1” in “MIDI Hardware Output” [1] highlighted box.

macOS users can point the MIDI out directly to the hardware physical port.

Cockos Reaper Config – Assign Port and Channel as Needed

Give the track a name which is appropriate for your setup. I’ve renamed my track to “JP-8000 Lower” so I know it is sending MIDI data to JP-8000’s lower layer.

Since we need to add more tracks to take advantage of the dualtimbral feature of JP-8000, I’m going to duplicate the previously created MIDI track. Right click the track and choose “Duplicate tracks”.

Cockos Reaper Config – Duplicate Tracks as Needed

Assign MIDI Channels so that they match your synthesizer part / layer MIDI channels. I have renamed the track to “JP-8000 Upper” and I will assign the MIDI channel to MIDI channel 2 [1].

Cockos Reaper Config – Make Sure to Check Track Channels and Ports

Note #1: MIDI out is pointing to JP-8000 vMIDI Out, which I’ve created in our Setting MIDI Devices guide. macOS users can point the MIDI out directly to physical MIDI port of synth.

Note #2: If you have multitimbral setup / use with your synthesizer, which most can do, then add more MIDI tracks and point them to respected MIDI channels.

Finishing it up!

Final step is to add Audio track, so we can hear the synthesizer in action. 

Track -> Insert new track

Cockos Reaper Config – Add New Tracks to Arrangement

Select appropriate Audio Inputs and Name your channel as required. Remember to select the inputs where your synth Audio Output is connected! I have renamed the track to “JP-8000 Input”.

Cockos Reaper Config – Select Appropriate Input Port

Based on your setup style, select appropriate Monitor and Record methods for the track. You can reveal the menu by clicking right mouse button on the audio track.

Cockos Reaper Config – Select Track for Input Monitoring

Toggle on Monitoring for the Audio Track to hear the Audio from your synth while making some MIDI blocks and you have some sort of automation (if needed).

Cockos Reaper Config – Everything Works like well Oiled Machine

Note #1: You might have routed your Audio Output from the synth itself to external mixing desk or speakers, so make sure you power those units on. Otherwise there won’t be any sound because our plug-in does not transmit any audio data to the DAW.

Thats it for the Cockos Reaper user guide. We hope you find this useful.

You have some suggestions? Yes please!

We are always open for new suggestions and ideas regarding to our products. Send your suggestions to us because it will make our products better.

Head down to our main site and drop your idea in, we will have a look at it and let you know if it can be done.

Thank you.

Plug-in user manuals: https://docs.mysteryislands-music.com/

Plug-in updates: https://www.mysteryislands-music.com/downloads/

Troubleshooting

loopMIDI and MIDI-OX are both shipping their own user manuals, so please refer to their documentary to learn more about how they work.

If you have found an error in this document, open a support ticket so we can have it fixed ASAP.

Open Support Ticket