EDIT (2024-01-03): Quick Adder seems abandoned and not compatible with REAPER v7. Consider nvk_SEARCH instead.
Adding FX or running actions from one single user-friendly command window? Oh, yes please!
Indeed, REAPER comes out of the box with more than 200 FX, and hundreds of actions. It is even more with extensions. In order to be able browse these, there are two dedicated full-featured window: the FX Browser, and the Action list.
Thing is that these windows take quite some space on screen minimal height is still hight due to the number of buttons and options they showcased, like the keyboard shortcuts panel in the action list. I often have these window docked on bottom of the arrange view cause I need to check these often and even in a 1080p screen, the arrange view become quite small.
In order to diminish this visual clutter introduced by these big windows and their long list of text, several scripters have proposed all-in-one alternatives. The basic idea is the same: a unified command palette search field from which you can add/run both FX and Actions. The most popular and the one who received the most attention by its dev (it is still actively maintained) is Quick Adder by Neutronic.
As you can see, Quick Adder has a very nice GUI, which is by itself, a very impressive work of REAPER scripting. The text is big and readable, the layout is clearly understandable: one search bar, one small label column for result type, and result next to it. All what is needed 99% of the time!
It works with track FX, actions and templates. The search is fast and efficient. Best way to use it: map it to a single key shortcut, type your earch, browse results with arrow key and launch with enter key. Simple as that!
Despite being the most advanced of its kind, I personally missed some features which can be found in other action launchers scripts, like substring match highlight and results sorting by relevance instead of alphabetically (I just added such algorithm in my Action List Webpage and it is very convenient!).
Another distinction is that Quick Adder uses a database system, which need re-caching from time to time to handle new actions and FX (this can be set to be done automatically), though the alternative doesn’t use cache and doesn’t seem to suffer from performance issue (not exactly sure why this is needed for Quick Adder but not in the others). These alternative scripts have their particularities, so they will be showcased here at some point in dedicated article.
Anyway, Quick Adder is probably the best of its kind overall, especially for its layout, and it has receives a tons of updates since its initial release. Things I requested which were out of scope at first became integrated (Actions support and Scrollbars), so it definitely worth watching the evolution of this script, and supporting it, as it is shared for free by its generous author! Please consider making a donation if you use it regularly!
All information on the dedicated Cockos Forum thread linked below.
Happy filtering! 🔍
Feature Image Credits: Neutronic
