Reaper Users - Rendering individual VST tracks to audio track - 'bounce in place'

[DaytonaRik]

All,

I use Slate Drums 5 and Bias FX 2 for processing drums and guitars respectively and recently found a feature that allows you to convert a midi track to audio, applying the channel of the drum VST in the process.  Excellent I thought, just the ticket for sending some audio files to a mate that doesn't have Slate Drums 5 for mixing.

Except the resulting files are awful - thin, weak, no real definition. I tried the same thing with Bias FX 2 and the guitar tone is just plain nasty - thin, trebly, waspish even.  Just plain nasty.  However - If I take a recorded audio track e.g. vocals and apply say EQ or compression then the resulting files are exactly as I would expect them to be.

This only applies to the individual track render when it has a VST instrument associated with it - when I render the master mix to .WAV then everything sounds spot on.

Any advice from our resident Reaper users would be very welcome.

Ta!

 

[Dad3353]

18 minutes ago, DaytonaRik said:

...Any advice from our resident Reaper users would be very welcome...

I'll do a quick test here; I've never had any such issues, and do a lot of track rendering, so I'm surprised. Back in a jiffy...

[Dad3353]

OK, I'll have to ask 'How are you doing this..?'.  I looked at three methods, and compared each with the whole track. I'm using a Superior Drummer 3 'Metal' track, and isolating the bass drum...

First, I rendered the whole project.
Then 'froze' the bass drum, solo.
Next I undid that, back to the original, and 'rendered' the solo bass track itself to stems
Lastly, I went back again, and made the bass drum 'solo', and rendered the whole project.

Only the last of these three solo bass drums gave a true result. The stems and rendered tracks sounded fine in the project, but the WAV files they generated were of very different levels, compared to either the whole project, or the solo bass drum rendered as a project.
I'd suggest, then, that you try (if that's not what you're already doing...) not using anything but a solo'd track, rendered as Project (from the File menu, not from the track 'render/freeze' options...).

If you've done things this way, and still have issues, maybe create a small 'test' project we could share, so we can see what's happening..? It must be a simple issue (finger trouble, or bow not ticked...), as Reaper has bee, doing sterling work for me for decades, now.
Any use to you..?

[DaytonaRik]

Cheers @Dad3353 - for my test I highlighted a single track, right clicked, and then made this selection.  There are plenty of YouTube vids out there highlighting this method but this was the first time that I'd wanted to export a VST as an Audio track - the results of the drums were less than stellar hence I tried it on a guitar track with equally unimpressive results.  The final test on a recorded audio track applying VST for EQ, compression etc worked fine which leads me to wonder if it's more VST than Reaper related per se?  I've seen examples of an entire kit being rendered down to the component parts as audio files...but to my ears the results are just unacceptable 

[Dad3353]

2 minutes ago, DaytonaRik said:

Cheers @Dad3353 - for my test I highlighted a single track, right clicked, and then made this selection.  There are plenty of YouTube vids out there highlighting this method but this was the first time that I'd wanted to export a VST as an Audio track - the results of the drums were less than stellar hence I tried it on a guitar track with equally unimpressive results.  The final test on a recorded audio track applying VST for EQ, compression etc worked fine which leads me to wonder if it's more VST than Reaper related per se?  I've seen examples of an entire kit being rendered down to the component parts as audio files...but to my ears the results are just unacceptable 

 

This works whilst the track stays in the project, but it's not useful for extracting a track. Solo the track you want, then render using the normal 'File/Render' selection and you'll get the 'real deal'. This internal rendering is very useful on a more lightweight machine for saving on processor power, and I used it a lot when I had a weaker PC. Given tens of tracks, all using Vst orchestral instruments, it enabled me to do complete works, where the PC came to a halt otherwise. I wouldn't use the WAV files directly, though; they're for Reaper to sort out.
I can't see any downside to using the main render method; all the options are available, such as rendering partially, just a time selection, or rendering several tracks at once (all that are not muted, in fact...).

[DaytonaRik]

You sir, are a star!  The rendering files (stems) to an external folder is definitely the way to go - everything sounds much better than way.  I'll have to remember to turn of things like Slate Virtual Mix Rack so he gets the 'raw' tracks to mix though

Thanks for you help @Dad3353 

[Dad3353]