Use the tools
Open the panel with the action PresTools: Show panel. Each tool is a page, with a tab along the bottom of the panel. This page is the overview; each tool has a page of its own:
- Separate stems, with the model library and workflows.
- Map the tempo.
- Find chords, and edit them as a chord chart.
- Recognize and align lyrics, or import an UltraStar file.
These pages describe PresTools 0.1.0 for REAPER. PresTools is also built into the Prest app, in a newer version: see PresTools in Prest.
What the tools work on
Section titled “What the tools work on”Select an audio item in the project. On the Tempo, Chords, and Lyrics pages, the header names it, with its position and length, or says Select an audio item in the project.
Each tool hears exactly what the item plays: its trims, rate, pitch, stretch markers, reversal, loop, take FX, and take pitch envelope. Nothing in the project changes while PresTools reads it.
The Separate page also takes files you choose by hand, from outside the project.
What the tools write
Section titled “What the tools write”Every change a tool makes to the project is one undo step. The Chordtrack, Lyrics, and Tempo preview tracks are found by name, and made at the bottom of the track list if they aren’t there: rename one, and the next run makes a new one.
| Tool | Writes |
|---|---|
| Separate | A WAV file per stem beside the song, such as song_vocals.wav, each on a new track under the item’s track. With Multi-project, a project per file, song.rpp. |
| Tempo, Detect beats | A tempo marker on every beat of the song, with a count-in bar before it. With Build the tempo map off: a project marker on every beat instead. |
| Tempo, Click track | A click on a track named Tempo preview, removed when you apply. |
| Chords | A track named Chordtrack, with one empty item per chord and the chord’s name in the item’s notes. With Snap to grid or Apply chart: the chart’s sections as regions. |
| Lyrics, Align lyrics | A track named Lyrics, with a MIDI item of lyric events, one per word. |
| Lyrics, UltraStar import | MIDI notes and lyric events on Lyrics, and on Lyrics 2 for a duet’s second singer. |
| Workflows and scripts, Recognize lyrics | A text file of the words beside the song, song.txt. |
The Recognize button on the Lyrics page writes nothing: its words wait in the page for you to correct.
Prepare a song for Prest Server
Section titled “Prepare a song for Prest Server”Prest Server’s REAPER plugin shows chords from the Chordtrack and lyrics from the Lyrics track. To prepare a song:
- Separate the song, so you have its vocal stem.
- Map the tempo, so chords can snap to bars.
- Find the chords, then correct them in the chord chart.
- Recognize the lyrics from the vocal stem, correct them, and align them.
- Open the song in Prest Server and rehearse it before the show. See Use Prest Server with REAPER.
While a tool runs
Section titled “While a tool runs”A progress bar replaces the buttons at the bottom of the page, with Cancel. One task runs at a time; others wait their turn. You can keep working in REAPER, and close the panel: running tasks carry on.
The first run of a tool is slower, because its model downloads first.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”The Settings page has:
- Look: how the panel looks: Faceplate, Console, or Desktop.
- Runs on: Use the GPU: …, named after the GPU PresTools found, or No GPU: everything runs on the CPU. Untick it to run everything on the CPU. Check again looks for the GPU again.
- Models: how many separation models you have and how much space they take, their folder, Open the library, and Release for a model held in memory.
- Components: add or remove tools, with each one’s size and Licenses. See Add the tools you need.
- This machine: your system and the versions PresTools runs on, and Settings and logs, the folder with your settings and saved workflows. PresTools’ log is elsewhere: see Read the log.
In Prest and PresTools’ next release
Section titled “In Prest and PresTools’ next release”The newer PresTools built into Prest, which comes to REAPER with PresTools’ next release, adds two pages:
- Transcribe writes a stem’s notes as MIDI, on a track named after the instrument, such as Score Bass, under the stem’s track.
- Correction brings songs in tune, into another key, or to a loudness.
Its stem separation runs BS-RoFormer and Mel-Band RoFormer models only, and its model library shows each model’s license. See PresTools in Prest.
Next: Separate stems.