A few people here - have educated me regarding DAWs (thank you ...), and in the past recommended Reaper, which I found difficult. However I did eventually get it to work in a few modes -such as driving hardware, and IIRC picking up midi tracks and sending the codes out to hardware.
Another took I have used is LMMS - which considering it is free and has a few limitations - actually does a moderately reasonable job once one has worked out how to use the interface and import new source files. I think one limitation for me is the restricted set of sounds, since the version which runs on Apple kit doesn't work with a lot of the virtual instruments which are available elesewhere.
In addition I also have Logic and Garageband - which are sometimes useful. Logic supports better quality virtual instruments, and there are some good ones which work with Logic - such as some of the ones from Spitfire Audio, including the BBC orchestra set, and also some of the free ones which Spitfire provide under their Labs section. Sadly, buying high quality virtual instruments for Logic can be expensive, so I have tended to use free or low cost ones, though sometimes that runs foul of Apple's rules which seem to have become more restrictive since a few years back. In other words I had instruments and synthesisers which worked in Logic, but don't any more, either because they or not 64 bit code, or because Apple hasn't "verified" them.
OK - this is a preamble, and digression from the subject of the day. Besides DAWs I also have been writing music (not good, but ....) using Musescore, and that tool can also output midi, which can then be imported back into suitable DAWs. Today I tried out one in Logic, Garageband and LMMS - and had it working in all three of those packages. Then I thought I'd try Reaper again, and once more I found it a bit tricky - and indeed had to download a new copy since I hadn't installed it on this machine. I did manage to get the midi file imported and "working" with the help of another web site - https://www.maketecheasier.com/midi-...titrack-music/ - which gave me enough of a nudge to remember or figure out again - how to get sounds to materialise.
Now comes the crunch bit. I can get sounds for any one Midi track. However, there are quite a number of those. Do I have to go through every track assigning instruments, or is there an easy way to get all the instruments set up? For example, if I input the midi file into Logic it somehow manages to assign flutes to flutes, violins to violins, cellos to cellos etc. In Reaper I think I may have done more than one operation, so some of the tracks are synthesiser tracks.
Currently I'm using MacOS Catalina on the newer iMac which also has Logic installed, as well as some Soundfonts for use with LMMS and MuseScore. I think that Reaper can somehow "borrow" some of the virtual instruments which are using the instrument files from those system. I'm not sure if it can use VSTs which work on some other Windows based systems. Also I'm not sure if there are any files from Cockos which will work - there may be some synthesiser files.
In the first instance I'd like to just have everything imported and working, but then I might want to reassign some of the tracks to different "instruments" or synthesisers. Doing each track individually does seem rather a lot of work, though if it only had to be done once, that would be OK. I guess I just don't know my way around the Reaper interface well enough. I do have it in front of me as I'm writing this, and I can see a Mixer and a number of tracks, and it is playing a just about recognisable version of the piece using whatever random collection of instruments I have inadvertently set up. This is very electronic sounding right now. It is a very significant "transformation" of what I thought I'd written or intended.
I really would like to be able to control Reaper better than I have been able to up to date.
Another took I have used is LMMS - which considering it is free and has a few limitations - actually does a moderately reasonable job once one has worked out how to use the interface and import new source files. I think one limitation for me is the restricted set of sounds, since the version which runs on Apple kit doesn't work with a lot of the virtual instruments which are available elesewhere.
In addition I also have Logic and Garageband - which are sometimes useful. Logic supports better quality virtual instruments, and there are some good ones which work with Logic - such as some of the ones from Spitfire Audio, including the BBC orchestra set, and also some of the free ones which Spitfire provide under their Labs section. Sadly, buying high quality virtual instruments for Logic can be expensive, so I have tended to use free or low cost ones, though sometimes that runs foul of Apple's rules which seem to have become more restrictive since a few years back. In other words I had instruments and synthesisers which worked in Logic, but don't any more, either because they or not 64 bit code, or because Apple hasn't "verified" them.
OK - this is a preamble, and digression from the subject of the day. Besides DAWs I also have been writing music (not good, but ....) using Musescore, and that tool can also output midi, which can then be imported back into suitable DAWs. Today I tried out one in Logic, Garageband and LMMS - and had it working in all three of those packages. Then I thought I'd try Reaper again, and once more I found it a bit tricky - and indeed had to download a new copy since I hadn't installed it on this machine. I did manage to get the midi file imported and "working" with the help of another web site - https://www.maketecheasier.com/midi-...titrack-music/ - which gave me enough of a nudge to remember or figure out again - how to get sounds to materialise.
Now comes the crunch bit. I can get sounds for any one Midi track. However, there are quite a number of those. Do I have to go through every track assigning instruments, or is there an easy way to get all the instruments set up? For example, if I input the midi file into Logic it somehow manages to assign flutes to flutes, violins to violins, cellos to cellos etc. In Reaper I think I may have done more than one operation, so some of the tracks are synthesiser tracks.
Currently I'm using MacOS Catalina on the newer iMac which also has Logic installed, as well as some Soundfonts for use with LMMS and MuseScore. I think that Reaper can somehow "borrow" some of the virtual instruments which are using the instrument files from those system. I'm not sure if it can use VSTs which work on some other Windows based systems. Also I'm not sure if there are any files from Cockos which will work - there may be some synthesiser files.
In the first instance I'd like to just have everything imported and working, but then I might want to reassign some of the tracks to different "instruments" or synthesisers. Doing each track individually does seem rather a lot of work, though if it only had to be done once, that would be OK. I guess I just don't know my way around the Reaper interface well enough. I do have it in front of me as I'm writing this, and I can see a Mixer and a number of tracks, and it is playing a just about recognisable version of the piece using whatever random collection of instruments I have inadvertently set up. This is very electronic sounding right now. It is a very significant "transformation" of what I thought I'd written or intended.
I really would like to be able to control Reaper better than I have been able to up to date.