What is VO Tools?
Lua scripts, which only require Reaper to run, packaged as a complete tool.
- Native & platform agnostic: Windows, Linux, MacOS, Portable Install compatible.
- Begin typing in your microphone model: SM7B and VO Tools auto-completes all related tooling.
- Use "Expert Mode" to A/B test multiple microphones before final selection, or to select your microphone from a dropdown menu.
- optional, Guided Noise Reduction
What is VO Tools, in more detail?
VO Tools is a collection of ready‑made, Reaper-native Lua helpers that make working with voice recordings in REAPER feel smoother and more intuitive, built on 100%-native Reaper functionality.
- Only requirement is Reaper itself.
- Menu + Wizard, built entirely on input selection
- Beginner & Expert Mode Interchangeable Workflows
- Novice users of Reaper with zero experience
- or, Podcasting Teams iterating within sessions
- Select your microphone by type and done.
- Fully guided process for absolute beginners!
- optional, Guided Noise Reduction.
- Expert Mode for fastest possible iteration
- Combines Noise Reduction
- Create custom profiles
- Export profiles to Template
Reapack packaged to creates the folders, installs the tools, keeps them updated, and makes sure they show up in REAPER’s Action List so you can use them immediately. You don’t have to understand scripting or file management—VO Tools simply adds a set of practical, voice‑focused features to REAPER, helping you get better results with less effort.
How does VO Tools work in regards to microphone selection?
VO Tools handles microphone selection in a way that feels simple on the surface but is quietly doing a lot of helpful work behind the scenes. When you choose a microphone inside a VO Tools script, it looks up
- Microphone categories by type
- Custom microphone categories covering all non-professional and beginner choices: Laptop microphone, speakerphone, etc.
- Builds automated, default FX chains for each microphone type based on rpl presets.
- ReaEQ, ReaFir, ReaComp, ReaLimit
- Guided Noise Profile creation with option to restore to microphone FX chain default.
- This tool gets you all the way up to the the moment before the actual recording process.
- Expert Mode automates everything for fastest possible iteration.
- Create your own custom profiles for VO_Tools
- Export custom profiles as Reaper Templates
VO Tools and JiveTalking?
VO Tools and JiveTalking both help people who work with spoken audio, but they serve very different purposes.
- VO Tools builds a processing chain tailored to your microphone.
- It’s designed to streamline the native Reaper workflow inside REAPER to get you recording in fewer steps.
- JiveTalking is a post-processing tool, coded in Go, for making an existing .flac vocal recording as close to podcast-ready as possible.
- Both tools should be fully interoperable.
This tool was incredibly difficult to build.
I'll be releasing it once I have tested it extensively.
- Framework explicitly designed to port to other audio tools, if I have the time and energy.
- Building this led to my LivingKit Bootstrap Framework.