Behind the REAPER user guide – An interview with Geoffrey Francis

Geoffrey Francis is the author of Up and Running: A REAPER User guide, aka the REAPER User Guide. If someone says to RTFM, he’s the guy that wrote the thing you’re supposed to read. He’s also written a few other books: REAPER 4 Unleashed; REAPER Power!: The Comprehensive Guide; ReaMix: Breaking the Barriers with REAPER; and Home Recording for Beginners. He’s also a regular on the forum, always friendly, knowledgeable and helpful under the handle Nicholas.

The user guide download and links to Geoff’s other books can be found here

http://reaper.fm/userguide.php

Below is an email interview with Geoffrey this week.

You’ve been writing the user guide since forever, how did that start?

I’d been getting more and more frustrated with my old DAW until somebody said to me, “Have you tried REAPER?” I downloaded the trial (I think it was about version 1.6!) and installed it. Despite it being still a fair way from being fully featured there was so much I loved about it that I have never looked back since.

But … there was absolutely no documentation or instructional material available at the time, something that was causing a fair amount of frustration to a fair few people – so I decided to write one. Apart from anything else, it was a really effective way for me to learn the program. I think the first release of the User Guide was about 60 pages! It’s just gone on and on from there really …

For you, is there a difference between a User guide and a manual?

Yes. “Manual” to my mind implies something absolutely and fully comprehensive but not necessarily instructional. For example, a manual would list every single dialog box option, every preference setting and every action, with a brief explanation of each, but without really showing how the pieces fit together. In the case of REAPER, this would have to run to several thousand pages! I think I would die of boredom if I tried to write something like that.

On the other hand, a User Guide primarily aims at helping the reader to understand the program and increasing their confidence and ability to use it. A manual almost exclusively deals with the “how”, whereas a user guide is also focussed on the “when” and the “why.” Instead of listing every possible option from A to Z it steps thru the key aspects of the program and hopefully leads users on to explore and develop further for themselves.

Why doesn’t the guide use the official REAPER branding, and will it be forever the “officially recognized unofficial user guide”?

Don’t know! I guess that’s just the way it started out, so that’s the way it is. I’m happy either way.

With the quick pace of updates from the developers, it must be difficult to keep the documentation up to date.

At times, yes, especially –  like right now – when a major new release is being developed. Mostly it’s no drama though, especially if pre release testers find enough bugs to slow the release date down!

Does the Cockos team give you all the information you need to write the guide or do you have have to dig through the prerelease discussions, and test everything yourself?

I get the same info as everyone else … the pre-release software from Landoleet and a bullet list of what’s new. Whenever I struggle to understand something, I do what everybody else does (or should do!)  – ask questions on the forum. That said, there’s also a number of people (whom I won’t embarrass by naming!) who I know I can turn to for further assistance when the need arises. As a last resort, I can always take questions to the devs, but I try to avoid that as much as possible.

You’ve read the guide more than anyone, you also spend a lot of time on the forum, what are the things that come up over and over that no one ever checks the guide about before posting?

Oh that’s easy. Setting up and getting started! Top of the list is “I’ve just installed REAPER but when I try to record nothing happens.” Close behind in second place comes “Why don’t I hear anything when I play back my MIDI tracks?”

If you could say one thing to a brand new user of REAPER, what would it be?

Take your time and be patient. Don’t try to do everything at once and don’t expect to achieve miracles overnight. Enjoy the learning curve and enjoy the journey.

What upcoming V5 features are you most excited about?

For me personally, top of the list is the ability to apply automation envelopes and parameter modulation to item and take FX (rather than track FX only). After that comes VCA grouping.

For others, I expect the standout features will be the new video handling and editing features and/or the notation editor (assuming it comes!).

Big thanks to Geoff for taking the time to answer my questions and also for volunteering so much of his time to writing the guide, something that has helped so many users.