Meta clips

We can take the previous scenario Control Playtime with items a step further!

The idea

If we can control Playtime with MIDI items, shouldn’t it be possible to control it with MIDI clips as well? The answer is yes! I call such clips meta clips. Playtime can basically play itself!

Meta clips open up a whole new world of possibilities. Here are just some of the things you can do with them:

  • Meta clips can be used as scenes on steroids. You can trigger many other clips at once, no matter in which row they are.

  • You can record sequences of clip invocations and play them back at the press of a button.

Basic setup

  1. Prepare the matrix and set up MIDI triggers as explained in Control Playtime with items. This should make it possible to play clips using your MIDI keyboard. Make sure that part works.

  2. Select the track "Playtime" in your REAPER project (this is the track which contains the Helgobox instance, by default the first track in the project)

  3. Right-click the Column label label of some column, for example the last column. Choose Insert column for each selected track.

    This should add a new column named "Playtime" that plays back its MIDI clips on the "Playtime" track, and can therefore be used to play other clips. .

  4. Now simply record a clip into the new "Playtime" column, while playing clips in other columns using your MIDI keyboard.

  5. That’s it! You recorded your first meta clip. When playing it back, it should trigger other clips in other columns. You can also edit that meta clip, e.g. quantize its notes.

You may look at the "Playtime" column as the leader column (which you trigger) and the other columns as follower columns (which are triggered by the leader column).

Adjust the setup to your needs

This was just an example setup. You can adjust it to your needs. Here are some ideas:

  • Introduce more leader columns

  • Move the leader column to the very left to make it obvious that it is a very important column

  • Set the Start timing for the Playtime column to 1 bar

  • Set the Trigger mode to Toggle toggle

Using MIDI clips to control Playtime is subject to the same considerations about rendering as when using MIDI items. Read Create an arrangement for more information.
Meta clips are just the beginning

The simple fact that Playtime is a MIDI-controllable instrument opens up even more possibilities.

Here are some ideas:

  • Use a MIDI arpeggiator to arpeggiate between different clips

  • Write a MIDI JSFX effect that controls clips