Tracks
Track Types
Performer
Performers are the default type of track in Composer. As the name suggests, they are used to perform the composed MIDI sequences at runtime. While this MIDI data acts as a blueprint, the Performer can be configured to play back the MIDI data in a variety of ways, straying far from the original sequence.
Performers can be configured to play back their MIDI data through a VST3 instrument or send their MIDI data to another Performer for playback through said Performer's VST3 instrument.
Stinger
Stingers are a special type of Performer used to play back short musical phrases, typically to punctuate a moment in the game. Stingers are usually triggered by a game event, such as a player scoring a goal or a player dying. Any Stinger track with a MIDI item inside a Stinger: <name> region will be parsed into a Stinger along with other Stinger tracks.
A Stinger can have its own VST3 instrument or send its MIDI data to another Performer for playback through said Performer's VST3 instrument. This is useful, for example, if you want to have a Stinger that plays back a drum fill but use the same drum kit as the rest of the music.
Send
A Send track is used as an audio bus, to which the audio output from the Performer's VSTs can be routed. Aside from the Master bus, which is always present, any number of Send tracks can be added to the project. Aside from submixing, Send tracks are currently mainly used as a Reverb AUX bus.
Predefined Send Tracks
| Prefix | Description |
|---|---|
Send: Reverb | Gets parsed into a default Reverb effect that can be sent to by any Performer/Stinger/Audio. |
Audio
Audio tracks are used to play back prerecorded audio files. These tracks are mainly used to play back sound effects, but can also be used to play back music tracks that are not composed in Composer.
Hey Listen! Using Audio tracks to play back music tracks composed in Composer is currently not implemented and generally not recommended. Doing so would prevent their use in the interactive music system. Specifically, they will lock the system into a fixed tempo and time signature and will not be able to be transposed or time-stretched.
Track Naming
For Reaper tracks to be correctly parsed into the appropriate Performer type in Composer, their names need to be prefixed with one of the following descriptors:
| Prefix | Description |
|---|---|
Performer: | Gets parsed into a Performer that can play back MIDI sequences and/or be used as a playable instrument at runtime. |
Stinger: | Gets parsed into a Performer that can play back stingers. |
Send: | Gets parsed into a Performer that can send MIDI messages to other Performers. |
Audio: | Gets parsed into a Performer that can play back prerecorded audio. |
Note: Letter case currently needs to be respected (i.e. Performer: not performer:), but support for flexible casing may be added in the future.
Examples
| Good naming examples | Bad naming examples |
|---|---|
Performer: Piano1 | Performer: Piano1 - leading whitespaces |
Performer: My great performer | **_!Performer: Piano1 - any other leading symbol(s) |
Audio: pre_rec-audio-mastered.wav (1) | Stinger : my_stinger - spaces before : |
Stinger: _stingzzz | audio: prerecorder_audio.wav - wrong casing |
AUDIO: prerecorder_audio.wav - wrong casing |
All tracks that don’t follow the naming conventions described above will be overlooked when the Reaper project is imported in Composer.
Percussion Tracks
Any track that has the word Perc in its name will be parsed into a Performer that is flagged as percussive, meaning that musical transformations relating to pitch will be ignored for this track.
Example: Performer: Percussion or Performer: Perc EpicDrum
Mixing
Consider the overall volume and how the different performers work together dynamically. It is important to ensure that the Reactional Stingers are clearly heard within the mix.