Making new version of an existing project

But that's what I want to do planet. I've finished this project and want another one exactly the same with a totally different name that I can make into a 4 min track and leave the present one as it is. I don't want it open in a tab with the current one. I don't really see what the point of that is anyway. Just seems like a good way of screwing up one of them tbh. I'd never heard of AFAICT but IMHO they are getting out of control LOL

Save your project, then "Save As" with a different name, job done. Sounds like you need to do a little setting up. Press Alt-Enter to open up the Project settings; click the media tab; type "audio files" (or whatever you want to call your media folder) in the "Path to save audio files...". Click "Save as default settings" and REAPER should remember this. If you have a startup template, you'll need to load a blank project, do the above and then save over the template to include these defaults in the template. This will always save your media in a subfolder of your project folder. You can copy or move the media to the project folder's audio files folder by ticking the relevant checkboxes in the "save as" dialogue. Once you stick to this ethos, you'll find copying, moving, sharing archiving and backing-up projects becomes much easier, simpler and much less fraught. :) >

Oh yeah I did all that ages ago mate so when I start a default project it all works as you say. My point was I really don't understand why Reaper don't make that a default anyway as I didn't discover what was going on until maybe a month in to using it I saw the mess of files in one folder and investigated. I mean I used to be a not very great web developer and used Windows .Net and if you start a new project with that imagine of it dumped everything into one huge folder with all your other projects? No it does basically what you just described by default which I don;t really get why Reaper doesn't. Not thinking of myself but all the new users that unless they read how to best set up a new project/default settings first, will end up with the same jumble of stuff in one folder.

I'm surprised that a relative "audio files" folder isn't the default. I'm also surprised that there isn't the option to do this for renders, too... :) >

Well once I get to the point I want to render my entire mix I send it to my own folder called 'Reaper Project Wavs' or something and then start the laborious process of testing it on every shit audio device I can find and then upload it to Soundcloud and sigh at how bad it sounds once it's been squashed into a 128bit MP3 and go back and fiddle with presets in my so called 'mastering chain'. Last one sounded pretty decent first go on SC which was nice. But yeah I agree with your first point totally.

But cheers for your last post btw. I will double check all that. Think I have it set up fine. Just didn't realise/notice that you have to check boxes when doing a save as. Like I said I will practice later with one of my many abandoned for good reason projects ;-)

Anyway maybe the best thing (or one of them) about Reaper is it's support network where you get good natured reply's from good people like yourself (who look a bit like a young John Cooper Clark ;-) I also use Akai MPC software as a plugin as I like bashing out my beats and samples and basslines with their pads (very hip-hop you see) and if you want an example of software badly designed, full of holes and a terrible and patronising (and usually wrong) tech support team buy one of those :-) All the best mate, Andy