10 Things to Check Before You Record
You plug in your microphone, open REAPER and get ready to record.
Then something doesn’t work.
Maybe REAPER can’t see your interface. Maybe it can see the interface but not the input. Perhaps the meters are moving but you can’t hear anything. Or everything technically works, except for the crackles, dropouts or distracting delay in your headphones.
The temptation is to start changing settings until something happens.
That can work—but it also makes troubleshooting much harder.
A better way to troubleshoot an audio interface in REAPER is to think of your recording setup as a chain:
Hardware → Operating System → Driver → REAPER → Input/Output → Track → Monitoring
The important idea is simple:
Start at the beginning of the chain and find the first place where it stops working.
Once you know where the problem is, finding what the problem is becomes much easier.
Quick Triage: Where Is Your Problem?
You don’t necessarily need to read this entire article.
Start with the symptom that sounds most like yours.
| What you’re experiencing | Start here |
|---|---|
| Interface has no lights or power | Checks 1–2 |
| Interface works, but computer cannot see it | Checks 2–3 |
| Computer sees it, but REAPER doesn’t | Checks 3–4 |
| REAPER sees it, but inputs are missing | Check 5 |
| REAPER plays through the wrong device | Checks 4–6 |
| Audio crackles, pops or drops out | Check 7 |
| Recording has noticeable delay | Check 7 |
| Interface meter moves, but REAPER track does not | Checks 5 and 8 |
| REAPER track meter moves, but you hear nothing | Checks 9–10 |
| Everything seems to work, but REAPER won’t record | Checks 8–10 |
If you’re not sure which symptom applies, start at Check 1 and work down.
It usually takes less time than randomly changing five settings and then trying to remember which one fixed—or broke—something.
1. Check the Interface Hardware
Start outside REAPER.
Before changing software settings, make sure the interface itself is actually ready to work.
Check:
- Is the interface switched on?
- Are its power or status lights behaving normally?
- If it uses an external power supply, is that connected?
- Is your microphone or instrument connected to the input you think it is?
- If you’re using a condenser microphone, does it require phantom power?
- Is the input gain turned up to a sensible level?
Watch the interface’s hardware input meter if it has one.
If you speak into your microphone and the interface itself shows no signal, REAPER isn’t the problem yet.
A Simple Studio Example
Imagine your microphone is connected to Input 1.
You speak into it and:
Interface meter does nothing → troubleshoot the microphone, cable, phantom power and input gain.
But if:
Interface meter responds → move further down the chain.
You’ve already eliminated several possible problems without touching a single REAPER preference.
2. Check the USB, Thunderbolt and Power Connections
A cable can look connected without providing a reliable connection.
Check that your USB or Thunderbolt cable is firmly connected at both ends.
If the interface behaves intermittently:
- Disconnect and reconnect it.
- Try another compatible port.
- Try another known-good cable if possible.
- Temporarily bypass an unpowered USB hub.
- Restart the interface if it has its own power switch.
This becomes particularly important if the interface suddenly stops working after previously behaving normally.
Don’t underestimate cables.
We spend thousands of dollars building studios and are still occasionally defeated by a $15 piece of wire.
3. Make Sure the Operating System Can See the Interface
Before REAPER can use an audio interface, your computer needs to recognise it.
If you’re on Windows, check that the interface appears correctly in the manufacturer’s control software or Windows device management.
On macOS, check Audio MIDI Setup and confirm that the interface appears there.
The principle matters more than the exact operating system:
If the computer cannot see the interface, REAPER cannot see it either.
This gives you an important diagnostic boundary.
If the interface doesn’t exist at operating-system level, don’t spend ten minutes changing REAPER track inputs. The fault is earlier in the chain.
4. Check the Interface Driver and REAPER Audio System
Now open:
Options → Preferences → Audio → Device
This is where REAPER connects to your audio hardware.
On Windows
For a dedicated audio interface, you will normally want:
Audio System: ASIO
Then select your interface manufacturer’s own ASIO driver.
If you’ve recently installed an interface and it isn’t appearing here, make sure you’ve installed the correct driver supplied by the manufacturer.
On macOS
REAPER normally communicates with your interface through CoreAudio.
Select the appropriate input and output device and confirm that they correspond to the interface you’re actually using.
The Key Diagnostic Question
At this point, ask:
Does REAPER know which interface it is supposed to use?
If the answer is no, solve that before going any further.
If you’re setting up the interface for the first time—or discover that the underlying device configuration isn’t correct—my How to Setup Your Audio Interface in REAPER (Setup/Fix Guide) article walks through the complete setup process.
5. Make Sure the Inputs Are Enabled
REAPER can recognise your interface without necessarily making every physical input available to your tracks.
In:
Options → Preferences → Audio → Device
check that your required inputs are enabled.
On an interface with several inputs, make sure the available input range includes the socket you’re actually using.
For example, if your microphone is physically connected to Input 4 but REAPER’s enabled range ends at Input 2, Input 4 isn’t going to appear when you choose a track input.
Think Physical First
A useful habit is to follow the number:
Microphone → Interface Input 2 → REAPER Input 2 → Track
That sounds almost painfully obvious.
But when you’re troubleshooting, obvious is good.
You’re trying to remove uncertainty from the chain.
6. Check the Outputs
Recording isn’t only about getting audio into REAPER.
You also need a working path back out.
Check that REAPER’s enabled output range includes the physical outputs connected to your monitors or headphones.
For many small home-studio interfaces, the main monitor outputs will be Outputs 1–2.
But don’t assume.
If REAPER is sending its master output to Outputs 3–4 while your speakers are connected to Outputs 1–2, the software may be working perfectly—you’ve simply asked it to send the sound somewhere else.
This is an important distinction:
No sound doesn’t necessarily mean no signal.
If your track meters are moving but you still hear nothing, don’t keep troubleshooting the input side of the system. At that point you’ve already proved that audio is reaching REAPER.
For that specific situation, see REAPER Has Input But No Sound—Quick Fix Guide. It traces the monitoring and output path in more detail.
7. Check the Sample Rate and Buffer Size
Once audio is flowing, the next question is whether it flows reliably.
Two settings matter here:
- Sample rate
- Buffer size
Your interface, its control software and REAPER should agree on the sample rate being used.
Common recording rates include 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz. The important thing during troubleshooting isn’t choosing the supposedly perfect number—it’s making sure the system isn’t fighting itself.
Buffer size affects a different problem.
A smaller buffer reduces monitoring latency, but makes the computer work harder in real time.
A larger buffer gives the system more time to process audio, but increases delay.
So if you’re hearing:
- clicks;
- pops;
- crackles;
- dropouts;
your buffer may be too small for the current system load.
If you can record reliably but hear an annoying delay while monitoring through REAPER, the buffer may be larger than you need.
Don’t treat buffer size as a quality setting.
Think of it as a time-versus-workload setting.
If latency or stability is the problem you’ve identified, Buffer Size & Latency in REAPER is the logical next step. That article goes deeper into choosing and testing a useful buffer setting rather than relying on a magic number.
8. Select the Correct Track Input
Now we finally arrive at the track itself.
Create or select the track you want to record onto and choose its input.
If your microphone is plugged into physical Input 1 on your interface, your REAPER track will normally need something like:
Input: Mono → Input 1
This is a very common place for the chain to break.
Your interface can be powered.
The driver can be perfect.
REAPER can recognise every input.
And the track can still sit there doing absolutely nothing because it’s listening to Input 2 while your microphone is plugged into Input 1.
Mono or Stereo?
For a single microphone or mono instrument source, select a mono input.
Don’t select a stereo pair such as Inputs 1–2 unless you’re actually recording a stereo source.
If the interface’s hardware meter shows signal but the REAPER track meter doesn’t, the track input is one of the first things I’d check.
9. Record-Arm the Track
Selecting an input tells REAPER where the signal should come from.
Record arming tells REAPER that the track is ready to record it.
Click the track’s Record Arm button.
Now speak, sing or play.
You should see the track meter respond.
This gives you another useful troubleshooting checkpoint:
Interface meter moving + REAPER meter not moving
usually points you toward the driver, enabled input range, track input or record-arm state.
But:
REAPER track meter moving
tells you something very useful.
Audio has made it all the way from the physical source into the track.
At that point, stop troubleshooting the input.
Move forward.
10. Check Input Monitoring
This final step catches a lot of new users because recording and monitoring are separate things in REAPER.
A track can receive and record audio without automatically playing that live input back through your speakers or headphones.
If you want to monitor the incoming signal through REAPER, enable Input Monitoring on the track.
Now the path becomes:
Microphone → Interface → REAPER Track → Master → Hardware Output → Headphones/Monitors
If the track meter moves but you hear nothing, the problem is somewhere after the input reaches the track.
Check:
- Input Monitoring
- Track routing
- Master output
- Hardware output assignment
- Interface headphone/monitor level
One warning here: some interfaces provide direct monitoring, which lets you hear the incoming signal through the interface itself rather than sending it through REAPER and back out again.
If direct monitoring is enabled at the same time as REAPER input monitoring, you may hear two versions of yourself—often with a slight delay between them.
That can sound like doubling, comb filtering or a very small slapback delay.
It isn’t your voice suddenly developing a chorus effect.
You’re probably monitoring the same signal through two paths.
The 10-Point Checklist
Before recording, work through this chain:
- Hardware — interface powered, source connected, gain set.
- Connections — USB/Thunderbolt and power cables secure.
- Operating system — computer recognises the interface.
- Driver/audio system — correct ASIO or CoreAudio device selected.
- Inputs — required input range enabled.
- Outputs — correct hardware outputs available.
- Sample rate/buffer — compatible settings and stable performance.
- Track input — correct physical input selected.
- Record arm — track ready to receive and record signal.
- Monitoring — correct monitoring path selected.
The order is important.
You aren’t checking ten unrelated settings.
You’re following one signal through ten checkpoints.
That’s the conceptual shift that makes troubleshooting much easier.
A Realistic Home-Studio Scenario
Let’s say you’ve connected a condenser microphone to Input 1.
The interface input meter responds when you speak, but the track in REAPER doesn’t.
We can immediately eliminate:
- microphone connection;
- phantom power;
- interface preamp;
- basic hardware input.
The signal has already reached the interface.
Now check:
Operating system → driver → REAPER enabled inputs → track input → record arm
Suppose you fix that and the REAPER meter begins moving—but you still can’t hear yourself.
Don’t go back and change the driver again.
You’ve just proved that the driver is passing audio into REAPER.
The problem has moved further down the chain:
Input Monitoring → Master → Hardware Output → Interface → Headphones
Troubleshooting becomes much faster when every successful stage stays proven until you have a reason to question it.
Don’t Change Everything at Once
This is probably the most important practical troubleshooting habit in this article.
Change one thing at a time.
Then test.
If you change the driver, buffer size, input range, output range and monitoring settings simultaneously—and the system suddenly works—you haven’t really diagnosed anything.
Worse, if it stops working again next week, you have no idea which setting mattered.
Instead:
Check → change → test → move forward.
You’re not trying to stumble across a working combination.
You’re trying to understand your recording system well enough that you can recognise where it fails.
That understanding is much more useful in the long term than memorising somebody else’s list of “perfect REAPER settings.”
FAQ
Why can my audio interface see signal but REAPER can’t?
If the interface’s own meter is responding, the microphone or instrument is reaching the hardware correctly. Check the driver, REAPER’s enabled input range, the track input selection and whether the track is record-armed.
Why does REAPER show input but I can’t hear anything?
If the REAPER track meter is moving, your input is already working. The problem is more likely to be input monitoring, routing, the Master track, hardware outputs or the interface’s monitor/headphone controls.
Why is my audio interface not showing up in REAPER?
First confirm that your operating system can see the interface. On Windows, make sure the manufacturer’s correct driver is installed and that REAPER is using the appropriate ASIO driver. On macOS, check that the interface appears in Audio MIDI Setup and is selected through CoreAudio.
What buffer size should I use for recording in REAPER?
There isn’t one correct buffer size for every interface and computer. Use a setting low enough that monitoring latency is comfortable but high enough that the system remains stable. If you hear crackles or dropouts, increasing the buffer is a useful first test.
Should I monitor through REAPER or through my audio interface?
Either can work.
Monitoring through REAPER lets you hear plug-ins and processing on the monitored track, but the signal has to travel through the computer and is therefore affected by latency.
Direct monitoring through the interface avoids most of that round trip, making it useful when you need very low-latency monitoring.
The right choice depends on what you need to hear while recording.
Why can I hear myself twice when recording?
You’re probably hearing both the interface’s direct-monitoring path and REAPER’s software-monitoring path at the same time. Disable one of them and listen again.
My Final Thoughts
Audio interface problems can feel random when you’re new to recording because several different systems are working together.
But they aren’t random.
Your microphone doesn’t somehow jump straight into a REAPER track.
The signal moves through a chain.
Hardware → Operating System → Driver → REAPER → Track → Monitoring → Output
And every point in that chain gives you something you can test.
That’s why I prefer troubleshooting from the outside in rather than immediately opening Preferences and changing things.
Find the last place where the system definitely works.
Then test the next stage.
Once you start thinking that way, troubleshooting becomes less about remembering fixes and more about understanding your studio.
And that understanding stays useful long after today’s problem has disappeared.
I’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts…
- What was the first audio-interface problem you ran into when you started using REAPER?
- Which part of the recording chain caused you the most confusion—drivers, inputs, monitoring, latency or something else?
- Is there an interface or REAPER problem you’ve encountered that this checklist doesn’t cover?
Let me know in the comments—I read every one, and your questions often help shape what I cover next.