Hi- I'm concerned that people new to REAPER, esp. coming from other DAWs (like me -- SONAR, P5, FLS) might be overwhelmed by the options, some of which seem frankly arcane. One example: I right-click on an Item, click Item Settings, and Loop Item Source is checked. I don't know what that means. I can't find any reference to it in the Wiki or the User's Guide. I'm sure it's obvious to some (and it will be to me no doubt when someone explains it!), but it seems with every new release more is added to the Action List, the menus grow longer, and I feel like I'm falling further behind. I think someone suggested allowing customizable menus so that not every available option was available all the time, or give us "training wheels"! I can understand why Cockos doesn't want to go crazy with toolbars, but OTOH I think REAPER might be tending dangerously towards "geek-speak". Just MHO- -Susan

I agree Susan, I'm one of the people talking about custom menus. There's lot's of good reasons for them that would please advanced users too. When I taught myself web design, I found some html editors that had different levels of gui: Easy, Normal, and Advanced, and that's another thing to add to the discussion. However, if we want to make this a really viable and interesting thread I would suggest the Pre-Release board is not the best place for it, as I don't think this is Pre-release-specific ;) It's not so likely to get buried either If you wanted to copy your post to the Reaper discussions board, I will definitely have some more to add. :)

Hi- I'm concerned that people new to REAPER, esp. coming from other DAWs (like me -- SONAR, P5, FLS) might be overwhelmed by the options, some of which seem frankly arcane. One example: I right-click on an Item, click Item Settings, and Loop Item Source is checked. I don't know what that means. I can't find any reference to it in the Wiki or the User's Guide. I'm sure it's obvious to some (and it will be to me no doubt when someone explains it!), but it seems with every new release more is added to the Action List, the menus grow longer, and I feel like I'm falling further behind. I think someone suggested allowing customizable menus so that not every available option was available all the time, or give us "training wheels"! I can understand why Cockos doesn't want to go crazy with toolbars, but OTOH I think REAPER might be tending dangerously towards "geek-speak". Just MHO- -Susan

I think all Reaper users go through this.It can be daunting at first but as you will find this is one of the best and most informed forums around.Check out the Videos,it's a must. Things get easier the more you use the software and then the extra options come into their own :D

Slightly off-topic, still... 

Hi Sheppola- I have watched the videos, but just to humor me, what does "Loop Item Source" mean? ;) Thanks- -Susan

susan g. re "newbies overwhelmed". this has been a concern of mine for some time. the basic problem is...and its an old systems development problem, how to balance the ying/yang needs of very advanced user needs versus new folks. often devs cant win . one of my concerns has been certain AE's/users wanting a certain set of advanced features might try and push the rpr devs in certain directions. old saying, you cant keep everyoone happy.

I agree with Susan G that there should be some kind of solution for a quick reference. Maybe a hotkey for a context sensitive help window depending on mouse position. If illustrations and tips could be shown in that context-sensitive window, i think the advantages Reaper has to offer in many aspects, could be communicated to the user quite well. And even experienced users would find handy tips and tricks.

No shooting from my end, as you're expressing exactly what I feel too. Looking at the preferences there was this good idea to explain features by showing some additional info on the bottom of the window. Alas, this hasn't been continued for quite some time, so there are lots of new checkboxes and options without this added infoline. This was a great idea and I wish, it would (optionally) be expanded to the other windows and context menues, but I am aware this is a lot of work not as exiting as coding in new stuff for the dev team. (EDIT: Odin was faster than me with this point) For me a big part of Reapers geekiness derives from its heavy dependence on actions and the qwerty-keyboard (where the heck did I assign that darn zero-crossing-split???) plus the partly non-windows conform mousehandling. Hobbyists like me have a hard time tuning back in after a week off-DAW, and back on my daily-work desktop I again have difficulties... my collegues give me funny glances when I time and again do my lasso selection with the right mousebutton... duh! I think a well measured portion of intelligently crafted tools would help ease things up a great deal. Errm, of course they should be strictly optional...

Loop Source now in Wiki