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1Download Raspberry Pi OS
I downloaded the 64-bit Bullseye version of the RPi OS. I could not get all the software components (ESPECIALLY the Pi-Apps store installation of Wine) to work with Bookworm. Download link: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/#raspberry-pi-os-64-bit
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2Extract the OS image and install on your SD card:
I used 7-zip to extract to my hard drive and then used the "Raspberry Pi Imager" program (found here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ ) to image a 64GB micro SD card to be used in the Pi.
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3Initial Pi Boot up and Setup​
Boot the pi up and choose your language, location, username and password, Wifi network, etc.
IMPORTANT: do NOT ALLOW THE PI TO PROCEED WITH UPDATING THE OS AT THIS POINT! When I first did that, I had problems getting a functioning software stack installed to enable the effects. Skip the OS update at this point and proceed with the rest of the steps to get a functioning system. At the end, you can always choose to update your OS once all the software is working together.
Once the desktop loaded, I selected my default screen resolution via the "Preferences - Screen Configuration - Layout" menu, and I used Terminal to install the Python IDLE editor via "sudo apt-get install idle3".
I then used the Terminal ("sudo raspi-config") to select the audio port for sound output and to expand the filesystem and enable SSH and VNC (for potential later use unrelated to this project). Then rebooted the pi.
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4Make your life easy ... install the Pi-Apps Store!!!
I must have found every possible way to crash the pi installing wine by trying to follow online installation guides. Then I discovered the Pi-Apps store and nirvana was found. Instructions can be found at github.com/Botspot/pi-apps. As of October 2023, the Terminal install command was:
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash
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5Use Pi-Apps to install 2 other critical components
Launch the Pi-Apps store on your Pi and browse down to Box64. Installing it should take less than 1 minute.
Then browse down to Wine(x64) and install that program. Installation takes a LONG time. Mine was at least 25 minutes. Have fun reading the install messages that are output to the screen and don't worry about the error messages that it lists ("out of memory", "can't allocated memory", etc.). If it appears to hang for more than 10 minutes or so with no activity and then isn't finished within 25 or 30 min total, you may have an issue and need to go back and check that you followed all the preceding steps correctly.
I went through this whole procedure MANY times before I settled on the procedure listed above which worked perfectly for me.
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6Download the WINDOWS version of REAPER
REAPER is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) program with great flexibility/power and amazing plugins. A separate company, Valhalla, makes several FREE VST plugins for REAPER but unfortunately only makes them available on Windows. This is why we had to install BOX64 and Wine(x64) earlier.
So download the Windows 64-bit version of REAPER from: www.reaper.fm/download.php
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7Get the free Valhalla sound Effects​
Download two key special effects from Valhalla (Windows versions only): ValhallaFreqEcho and ValhallaSuperMassive from www.valhalladsp.com/demos-downloads and scroll down to the "Latest: Version ..." section for each to download.
You can also download their free ValhallaSpaceModulator special effect if you want to for later fun (or for adding into this project if you wish).
After download, unzip any of the files which came in ZIP format.
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8Use Wine to install the Windows versions of REAPER and the ValHalla special effects
Click on your Desktop Menu icon and select "System Tools - Wine Program Manager".
Once that program is running, use it to install the Windows version of REAPER that you downloaded. You will have to navigate to the location of the REAPER.exe Windows installation file on your SD card.
Once that is complete, do the same to install the 2 Valhalla Windows exe installation files on your SD card.
For the Vahalla special effects, you can install any VST2, or VST3 formats offered. You can ignore AUX as that format is for Apple.
The next time you load REAPER, it will automatically search for and find these new VST based special effects.
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9Start Up REAPER and Configure Input/Output Settings
The previous installation using Wine, should have installed a REAPER icon on your desktop. Make sure your USB microphone is plugged in and click the REAPER icon to start the program.
Configure your audio device preferences by clicking "Options - Preferences - Device". For Audio, select WASAPI. For your input device, select your USB PnP device (this should be your mic). For output, I selected "Built-in Audio Stereo". I also selected "Shared Mode", "2 Channels" and typed in "1024 Block Size" instead of 512 (sounded better to me). For Audio Thread Priority, I selected "Time Critical". You may be able to make other selections, but these worked for me. :-)
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10Startup the Halloween Noise Maker program in REAPER
From the project files, download my Halloween Noise Maker program (.RPP file format) and load it via File - Open Project within REAPER. I had sent the program to myself in Gmail, and then used the Pi to log on to my Gmail account and download the program to the Pi (to my Downloads folder on the Pi SD Card). In REAPER, I found the file in the "My Computer - Z: Drive - Home - Pi (or your username) - Downloads" folder. The first part of that looks Windows based because of Wine.
If all goes well, you should hear some spooky sounds coming from your speakers within a few seconds! For safety, do a File Save before shutting down REAPER.
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