Doh!!?! How to "program" midi tracks?

Hello everybody, Ok, I give up - I am a moron apparently... After three days of reading the manual back and forth, searching the forum and g'damn tinkering with trial'n'error approaches with Reaper I have still not managed to set up midi tracks such that they know which sound to play (specifically remember it ie. get the bank/Prog data in their event list). I don't want to enter them manually - who would? So, I try to do the following (this is an example so you get the idea): Record midi tracks (I use MIDI-keyboard to play and need the edit functions to polish and correct my mistakes ;P): 1: Drums 2: Bass 3: Piano 4: Synth-Pad1 And a few audio-tracks: 5: Guitar1 6: Guitar2 7: Vocal 8: Vocal harmonies I (still ;) )have SW1000XG soundcard running in WinXP and have set it up for Reaper. It seems to work fine - I can record audio no problem. I manage to record midi and even set correct sounds using ReaControlMIDI (+XG.reabank). So far so good - lets say I record bass loop, which is ok, but when I select say drums or anything else for the second track, all channels start playing the latest selected sound. In the midi event list I cannot find the bank/Prog data. I know this must be very simple but it beats me for now. I am used to XGWorks (v2.0 bundled with the card) which is quite complicated but does its job well once you know what to do BUT it is time to upgrade my set up - more fluent integration of midi and audio is needed. I plan to upgrade the audio-side with ZOOM R24 which apparently (I hear) works well in Reaper but I will still need midi for backing music (probably motif or similar as I want to part from my SW1000XG PCI-dinosaurus. I like the visuals, price and the development concept of Reaper and do see its potential but I need to get grips of the basic things in Reaper midi-world. I understand basics of midi fairly well but these computer interfaces make me crazy. I'd like to just easily select and set midi sounds (I don't need the effects on SW1000XG) for the assembly like the one above and concentrate on playing and testing Reaper workflow integrates into my recording habits. I would guess that the majority of hobbyist home users mix midi and audio the same way as I do but related to how to set this up I found just forum threads with a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo (names of equipment/software?) out of which I failed to extract the information needed. A step-by-step introduction how to do the above in Reaper would be great and highly appreciated! I'd assume the same procedure goes for standard GM midi synth as well - am I the only one who is too thick to understand? Your sincerely, Eigh PS, Actually I have another issue which is related to routing midi to audio (again, I perfectly understand the concept but cannot figure out how to do it the best way) but first problems first, that will have to wait ;)

addenDum 

Welcome to the forums! Not entirely sure if I understood the problem but... - What you describe sounds more like all tracks you recorded send their MIDI data on the same MIDI channel to the same "part" (or whatever they call the multitimbral subdivisions on the XG). Or you overlooked the "MIDI channel" dropdown list in ReaControlMIDI and sent the BS/PC commands to all channels (and hence "parts" on the XG). Be aware that ReaControlMIDI sends BS/PC data to the attached device or plugin "on the fly" / in realtime like all MIDI plugins, meaning the data it sends is not being recorded on the track unless you select "Record: Output (MIDI)". That's why you can't find any in the event list.

You can load Cakewalk Instrument Definitions into ReaControlMIDI (and into the Bank/Program lane of Reaper's MIDI piano roll), which will provide you with the full bank/program list. I found the *.ins file for the Yamaha SW1000XG on this site: . Scroll down to "Yamaha XG Support Files" and download the zip listed under "Cakewalk Instrument Definition Maps". I think (may be wrong), best practice would be to insert ReaControlMIDI on each of your MIDI tracks, set each to a separate channel and load the file that's zipped as sw1kins.zip (it unzips as SW1000XG.ins) in each of them (the other files includes all the plugs like the DX7 and that physical modelling board I think). Now you can choose your patches by names. They will be sent when you load the project (or choose another one). If you need to change patches mid-song you need to do that from the MIDI editor, where you can load the same file.

OMG, this is a great forum! 

Thanks a million guys for your fast replies! Your comments are exactly to the point, I think. I have certainly overlooked the Record Output (midi)-selection (which of course is logical now that you spell it out) and I think I have to look more carefully into the "channelling" of midi signals, inputs and outputs. But it again starts to make sense to me - can't wait to start experimenting with the system applying your tips. And CW instruments definitions are more than helpful. Cheers and praise!!

Cool :). Don't be shy to ask when you hit the next stop gap. The MIDI piano roll editor has come a very long way in the v3.x cycle. It still has a fair share of quirks and things left to be desired, but all in all I like it a lot right now and I get things done nice and comfortable. When I entered Reaper world (amidst 2.x, around the time Schwa entered the dev team) it was quite rudimentary, but still it's ease of use (for what it did back then) was one of my selling points. Plus the fact that Schwa pushed it's developement big time and I could be confident that at least my main gripes would get sorted sooner or later. Most of them were and the rest is coming for sure. YAY :D Which is not to say that most of the complaints aren't valid. It all depends on what people need for their way of working.

Ok, I've seen enough - I still have a lot to learn since this piece of software seems to have some unusual ways to handle certain things but I have a feeling that this will give more flexibility in the end (after the initial learning curve, I mean). I'm certainly impressed - me likes! Just purchased the licence.