MIDI Editor Powerup – Instant chords, scales and arpeggios

How great would it be to right-click and insert an arpeggio pattern to the MIDI editor? Aeolian on the forum came up with this very cool trick, did the work to implement it and shared the results with the community. This is a really cool user-created addition to the REAPER MIDI editor.

Download the files from the stash

instant_arpeggio
click to enlarge

Inside the download is two files to add to REAPER.
Chords_Scales_Arps.ReaperKeyMap
chords_scales_arps.ReaperMenu

Each file has to be imported separately.

Installation instructions

  1. Open REAPER
  2. Choose “Customize Menus/Toolbars…” from Options menu
  3. Choose “MIDI Piano Roll Context” from the dropdown
  4. Click “Import…” and choose “chords_scales_arps.ReaperMenu”
  5. Close the Menu editor
  6. In REAPER’s Actions menu, choose “Show Action List”
  7. Change the Action List section to “MIDI Editor”
  8. Click “Import” from the Import/Export dropdown and choose “chords_scales_arps.ReaperKeyMap”

To use these, just right-click and select an option from the new “Insert Chord”; “Insert Scale”; or “Insert Arpeggio” menus. The MIDI notes will be entered at the edit cursor.

 

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34 responses to “MIDI Editor Powerup – Instant chords, scales and arpeggios”

  1. twitter_peanutismint Avatar
    twitter_peanutismint

    I hate to be ‘that guy’, but after importing both of these I got the error:

    Error Importing ReaperMenu

    ReaperMenu file does not have menu for ‘MIDI Piano Roll Toolbar’

    Am I being dumb??

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      By all means, be ‘that guy’, it helps others learn that are too afraid/proud to ask.

      This goes into the “MIDI Piano Roll Context“.
      If you’re ever in doubt of where menusets go, you can actually open the file with a text editor and it will say right at the top.

      Reply
    2. Georges Avatar
      Georges

      Guys, I was trying using Windows 8 with the file in a external drive and I was getting always the “ReaperMenu file does not have menu for MIDI Piano Roll Context” error.

      I realized I had to move to files to internal drives in order to make it work.

      Reply
    3. Julian Avatar
      Julian

      I had the same problem and after upgrading my Mac and installing Reapack I was able to get it to the midi editor. I really hope this will help you I’m a new user but this DAW is really incredible.

      Reply
  2. Chief Thomson Avatar
    Chief Thomson

    Just recently I was thinking of how much I much such a function from FL Studio ;o) There it is… Thank you guys

    Reply
  3. Chief Thomson Avatar
    Chief Thomson

    Just recently I was thinking of how much I miss such a function which I had in FL Studio ;o) There it is… Thank you guys

    Reply
  4. Normie Avatar
    Normie

    I feel like an idiot but can someone point me to a drooling step by basic step how to on this? I just cannot seem to grok it.

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      Instructions have been updated.

      Reply
  5. Normie Avatar
    Normie

    The CheeZburger.com cat and I now have something in common. We both haZ a happy 😉

    Thank you. VERY much appreciated!

    Reply
  6. Lude Avatar
    Lude

    I think line at 8 should be:

    …and choose ““chords_scales_arps.ReaperKeyMap”

    instead of

    and choose “chords_scales_arps.ReaperMenu”

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      Corrected, thank you!

      Reply
  7. Gaz Avatar
    Gaz

    This AWESOME!Just what I need!

    Reply
  8. V'ger Avatar
    V’ger

    Very interesting, but after step 4 I get this error message: ReaperMenu file does not have menu for ‘MIDI piano roll context’
    -any ideas why it is not working?

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      hmm, make sure you are selecting the menuset file at step 4 and the keymap at step 8. I just tried it again here and it was ok.

      Reply
      1. V'ger Avatar
        V’ger

        I’m doing it according to instructions so must be something else wrong..

        Guess I have to manage with the keyboard shortcuts only then.

        Reply
  9. tecolote2 Avatar
    tecolote2

    right click where? on what? I did the steps 1-8 installation, don’t see “insert chord” “insert scale” “insert arpeggio”
    thanks

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      Right-click in the MIDI editor, in a blank area or on a note.

      Reply
  10. Rain Wilber Avatar
    Rain Wilber

    I want to be able to do this for the ‘inline editor’ as well… I can import the menu successfully (by renaming the top line of the file to ‘inline editor’ instead of ‘piano roll’), but not the keymaps.

    Advice would be much appreciated, as the inline editor is useful for saving space.

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      Sorry I don’t think it’s possible.

      Reply
      1. R. Wilber Avatar
        R. Wilber

        Thanks for letting me know. Pretty grateful for what it does anyways.

        Reply
  11. Namin Avatar
    Namin

    Thanks so much, its working perfectly. What a great help!

    Reply
  12. jafmusicmix Avatar
    jafmusicmix

    Saw this in an Ableton Tut today and was sure REAPER could do it too. REAPERBLOG.NET to the rescue!!!
    Thanks.

    Reply
  13. jet Avatar
    jet

    very cool extension!
    it would be nice if i could take a custom midi sequence and convert it to a custom arpegio without much effort.
    is this possible or do you have a description of the codes in the keymap?

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      it’s possible but time consuming. Probably easier to import a MIDI file with the pattern. Doesn’t hurt to build up a library of MIDI patterns.

      Here’s what one of the custom actions looks like

      Reply
  14. Phil Dubnick Avatar
    Phil Dubnick

    Tried importing this stuff – custom actions work, but when I import the ReaperMenu file I get “ReaperMenu file does not have menu for ‘Menu file’”. Custom actions seem to work but the right click thing doesn’t work. Any advice.

    Reply
    1. Admin Avatar
      Admin

      Might be that you’re trying to import into the wrong menu. Must choose “MIDI Piano Roll Context first”.

      Reply
      1. johan11 Avatar
        johan11

        Same thing in here. I saw a couple of videos and I think I’m doing it right, but right click erases content, no context menu.

        Reply
        1. Althai Avatar
          Althai

          Try just reimport keymap. Did it after two tries.

          To author – very cool job! Thank you so much!

          Reply
  15. Henrique Avatar
    Henrique

    FOR NEWER VERSIONS:
    Since Reaper 6.13 step 8 won’t work. Do this:
    Import the file via [Key map] > Import shortcut key map

    Reply
    1. Matt Avatar
      Matt

      Thanks for this Henrique. I tried to follow the instructions, although the options in step 8 seem to have changed again in this version. When I go into the midi editor and right click, I can see the options for ‘insert scale’ ‘insert chord’ and ‘insert arp’, but when I try to select them nothing happens (ie no notes are added to the midi section). Any ideas?

      Reply

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