FX Management Actions
A set of tools for managing FX: clean up unused FX, open or close FX windows, and check for FX that output mono. When processing Items, only the active take of each Item is considered; FX on other takes are untouched.
Clean Up Unused FX
Permanently delete unused FX in the project, removing only the matching ones while leaving normally working FX intact.
Cleanup uses two independent criteria:
- Bypassed: Manually bypassed FX that are silent but still loaded normally.
- Failed: Plugins that cannot be found or loaded, appearing as offline / red shells in the FX Chain.
Bypassed ≠ Failed: a bypassed FX that still loads normally is not counted as failed; likewise, failed FX are not treated as bypassed. The two sets require their own corresponding actions.
| Action List display name | Criterion | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| FX - Cleanup Bypassed FX (entire project) | Bypassed | Every track’s FX Chain + active-take FX on every Item + Master's FX Chain |
| FX - Cleanup Bypassed FX (entire project exclude master) | Bypassed | Every track’s FX Chain + active-take FX on every Item, skipping Master (Master is never touched) |
| FX - Cleanup Bypassed FX (selected tracks) | Bypassed | Only the selected tracks’ own FX Chains; does not touch Item FX on those tracks |
| FX - Cleanup Bypassed FX (selected items) | Bypassed | Only the active take FX of selected Items; does not touch any track FX Chain |
| FX - Cleanup Failed FX (entire project) | Failed | Every track’s FX Chain + active-take FX on every Item + Master's FX Chain |
Behavior
- First shows a dialog telling you how many matching FX were found; deletion happens only after confirmation. If none are found, a notification is shown and nothing is done.
- Only the matching FX are deleted; everything else is left untouched.
- Bypassed cleanup only: if a track’s entire FX Chain is bypassed (FX Chain master bypass on), all FX in that Chain are treated as bypassed and deleted.
- Selected-scope only: if no corresponding Track / Item is selected, nothing is found.
Notes
- Deletion irreversibly changes the project, but the action is one Undo — press Ctrl+Z once to fully restore.
- Failed FX usually mean you changed machines or are missing plugins. After deletion those FX settings are gone; only delete if you are sure those plugins will not be reinstalled on this machine.
Show FX Chain Window
Open the FX Chain window for selected objects.
| Action List display name | Scope |
|---|---|
| FX - Show FX Chain Window (selected tracks) | Each selected track |
| FX - Show FX Chain Window (selected items) | Each selected Item (active take) |
| FX - Show FX Chain Window (selected tracks and items) | Selected tracks and selected Items (active take), processed together |
Behavior
- Opens only the FX Chain window itself, not each FX’s individual floating window.
- In track-involved variants, selecting Master also opens its FX Chain.
Hide FX Windows
Close all FX windows for selected objects (or the entire project). This is the inverse of Show; Hide closes more than Show opens: Show only opens the FX Chain window, while Hide closes both the FX Chain window and each FX’s individual floating window.
| Action List display name | Scope |
|---|---|
| FX - Hide FX Windows (selected tracks) | Each selected track |
| FX - Hide FX Windows (selected items) | Each selected Item (active take) |
| FX - Hide FX Windows (selected tracks and items) | Selected tracks and selected Items (active take), processed together |
| FX - Hide All FX Windows (entire project) | Entire project: every track, every Item (active take), and Master; no selection needed |
Behavior
- Closes both the FX Chain window and each FX’s individual floating window.
- In track-involved variants, selecting Master also closes its FX windows.
Hide Allclears scattered FX windows from the screen at once, often used after opening many FX to tidy the desktop.
Notes
- Only Hide offers the “entire project” scope (i.e.
FX - Hide All FX Windows (entire project)); there is no corresponding project-wide Show (to avoid spawning hundreds of windows at once and freezing the UI).
Report Mono FX
Scan the entire project, list all FX that output mono, and print them to REAPER’s console window.
| Action List display name | Scope |
|---|---|
| FX - Report Mono FX | Every track’s FX Chain, active-take FX on every Item, Master's FX Chain, and Monitor FX on Master |
Behavior
- Criterion: an FX whose output has only 1 channel counts as a mono FX. Commonly happens when an FX was left in mono mode and collapses the signal to mono.
- Each entry in the report notes its location: track number and name, whether it is a track FX or an Item FX, and the FX name.
- Total count is shown at the end; if none are found, it reports “No mono FX found”.
Notes
- This is a read-only check: it only looks, does not modify or delete any FX, and does not create an Undo.
- Results are output to the REAPER console; use the report to address each FX manually.