How Reaper custom actions save time in mixing and mastering

If you’ve been mixing for a while, you already know that every click counts.

Those tiny repetitive moves, opening menus, dragging windows, scrolling through endless tracks, add up fast.

Here’s the thing: Reaper absolutely crushes other DAWs when it comes to time optimization.

Custom actions: your secret weapon

Reaper lets you create “Custom Actions”, which are basically mini-macros that combine several steps into one single command.

For instance, I have a custom action to create a region. That’s a lot of clicks if done manually, but now it’s just one.

I’m not going to explain what each step does; I think you can understand it by reading the description.

Some of those scripts were provided by the Reaper community, and some I had to code myself, but nowadays that’s super easy using ChatGPT.

My switch-to-analog function

Another cycle action I use every day switches between my digital and analog master chain.

Before, it took me at least 4 or 5 clicks. Now I can do it with the press of one button.

There is a dividing step in the middle of the action. That means when I press the key, it executes the first part of the action, and if I press the key again, it executes the second part. As easy as it gets.

Once you taste that kind of efficiency, going back to anything else feels like walking in slow motion. It’s part of the reason I’ll probably never leave Reaper for mixing and mastering.