Print multiple tracks to hardware in Reaper

Hi,

Maybe this is useful to those of you that mix with outboard in Reaper.

I have a few outboard units, and sometimes I want to apply the same effect to a few tracks (e.g., warm up a few tracks through transformers / preamps, apply the same hardware EQ to several tracks, saturate several synths with the same settings), and this entails a lot of manual work, so I wrote a Reaper script to automate this.

To be clear, the script processes multiple tracks (individually, one by one) through a single hardware unit. You can tell the script to send a hundred tracks through a single unit, then sit back and relax (or maybe take a nap; processing 100 three-minute tracks will take 5 hours -- but you don't have to do a thing).

It works like this: You select a bunch of tracks, create a time selection, and then run the script. The script will send each one of your selected tracks through the hardware using ReaInsert and it will record the output on top of each track as a new take. You can undo the whole process if anything goes wrong.

I'm pretty happy with it, and I thought I would share it.

Before you run the script, you must create a preset in ReaInsert and name it exactly "PrintHW" (without the quotes). In this preset, you specify the I/O channels where your outboard is connected, and ping the hardware so that you get the correct latency compensation (TIP: if you're connecting to a compressor, bypass it for the ping to be accurate).

I'm writing another script soon to process stereo tracks through a mono unit (e.g., so that you can process a stereo mix through a mono compressor or a single Pultec). I'll share that one too.


-- Print to hardware script (copperx)

-- Error checking: Is there a time selection?
local s, e = reaper.GetSet_LoopTimeRange(false, false, 0, 0, false)
if s == e then
 reaper.ShowMessageBox("Error: Please select a time range to print to hardware.", "Print to hardware", 0)
 return
end

-- Error checking: Are any tracks selected?
local n = reaper.CountSelectedTracks(0) -- how many selected tracks?
if n == 0 then
 reaper.ShowMessageBox("Error: Please select at least one track to print to hardware.", "Print to hardware", 0)
 return
end

reaper.ShowMessageBox("PRINTING TRACKS TO HARDWARE\n\n-- CHECKLIST --\nMake sure you have:\n\n1) set the right I/O channels and latency compensation values on ReaInsert, and\n2) that you have saved said latency compensation onto preset name \"PrintHW\".", "Print to hardware: CHECKLIST", 0)
num_tracks = reaper.CountSelectedTracks(0) -- how many selected tracks?
local ans = reaper.ShowMessageBox("Print " .. num_tracks .. " track(s) to hardware? (Remove all ReaInserts connected to your hardware!)",  "Reascript", 1)
if ans == 1 then
 reaper.Undo_BeginBlock() -- start undo chunk
 for current_track = 0, num_tracks-1, 1 do
   reaper.Main_OnCommand(1016, 1) -- stop transport
   reaper.Main_OnCommand(40491, 1) -- disable arm record for all tracks
   local track = reaper.GetSelectedTrack(0, current_track) -- get one track
   local fxpos = reaper.TrackFX_AddByName(track, "ReaInsert", false, 1) -- add ReaInsert
   local succ = reaper.TrackFX_SetPreset(track, fxpos, "PrintHW") -- set ReaInsert's preset to PrintHW
   if succ == false then
     reaper.ShowMessageBox("Error: You must have a ReaInsert preset named \"PrintHW\". Operation aborted.", "", 0)
     return
   end
   reaper.SetMediaTrackInfo_Value(track, "I_RECARM", 1)  -- set track to record arm
   reaper.SetMediaTrackInfo_Value(track, "I_RECMODE", 5)  -- set track to record output
   reaper.SetMediaTrackInfo_Value(track, "I_RECMON", 1)  -- input monitoring on
   reaper.SetMediaTrackInfo_Value(track, "I_RECMONITEMS", 1)  -- monitor items
   
   local stop_record_end = reaper.GetToggleCommandState(41834) -- are we going to stop at the end of the loop?
   if stop_record_end == 0 then
     reaper.Main_OnCommand(41834, 1) -- toggle stop recording at end of loop
     disable_at_end = true -- remember this so that we disable it on exit
   end
   start_time, end_time = reaper.GetSet_LoopTimeRange2(0, false, false, 0, 0, false) -- get time selection
   reaper.SetEditCurPos(start_time, false, false) -- go to beginning of loop
   -- RECORD
   reaper.Main_OnCommand(1013, 1) -- start recording
   local wait_command_id = reaper.NamedCommandLookup("_SWS_LOOPWAIT")
   reaper.Main_OnCommand(wait_command_id,0)
   reaper.Main_OnCommand(1016, 1) -- stop transport
   -- END RECORD
   reaper.TrackFX_Delete(track, fxpos) -- remove ReaInsert
   reaper.Main_OnCommand(40491, 1) -- disable arm record for all tracks
   if disable_at_end then
     reaper.Main_OnCommand(41834, 1) -- toggle stop recording at end of selection
   end
 end
 reaper.Undo_EndBlock("Print track(s) to hardware",0)
end