Simple Guide: Digital Cable Routing w/ Reaper and VB Cable

[minervx]

So many guides online either overcomplicated it or gave unclear instructions so I made my own.

 

* Download the DAW "Reaper"

* Download VB Audio Cable

* Install them both

 

You don't necessarily need Voicemeeter or a VST Host like Cantibile to do this.  A regular DAW can do this too.

 

Set VB Cable as your default input and default communication device in Windows.  If Reaper isn't active, it'll just use your regular mic as the default instead.

 

For Reaper, go to Devices:

 

Which audio driver to use:  WASAPI?  DirectSound?  Asio4All (download it online free)? Whichever gets the job done and puts out the audio quality you want.

 

Reaper's Input: Your Microphone/Interface

(it's always going to be your hardware as the source.  don't put VB cable as its input)

 

Sample Rate, Bit, Buffer Size

 

You want to keep the settings of your audio interface/mic  equal to the these same settings in the DAW.

 

If your interface/mic's sample rate is 44100, then it needs to be 44100 in Reaper,

 

If your interface's buffer size is 128, then it needs to be 128 in Reaper (or in ASIO4ALL if that's what you're using)

 

 

Reaper's Output: VB Cable

(if you set it to your speakers/audio interface/headphones/etc. you'll be monitoring your own voice.  which can be useful for tweaking your plugin settings.  but once you got the fx chain you want, it needs to be on VB cable in order to digitally route)

 

Setting Up Reaper

 

* Create a new project.  Name it whatever you want and save it.

* Rightclick on the tracks column and "add new track"

* Press the red button on the left to "arm to record"

* Turn on audio monitoring (the little speaker icon) on the track on

* Press the FX button

 

 

* Select the plugins you want and adjust the settings

* Keep in mind from the plugins go in a chain from top to bottom order

* Once you get the settings you want, save the project so it can load it by default whenever you open up Reaper

* Set Reaper to Windows startup so you don't need to keep opening it manually each time you login