REAPER Audio Workflows

How to save and reuse FX chains and track templates in REAPER

By StudioRescue Editorial

Published August 28, 2026

If you find yourself adding the same high-pass, compressor, and de-esser to every new vocal, and dialing in the same settings each time, you are doing work REAPER can do for you. The fix is to save your setup once and recall it whenever you need it. This is one of the biggest time savers in the program, and most people never turn it on because REAPER has two similar-sounding features and it is not obvious which one to use.

Here is the short version: use an FX chain when you want to reuse the plugins on a single track. Use a track template when you want to reuse one or more entire tracks, including how they are wired together. This guide covers both, where REAPER stores the files, how to move them to another project or computer, and the couple of places beginners get tripped up.

FX chain or track template: which one you want

They overlap, so it helps to see the difference plainly before you save anything.

• An FX chain is the plugin stack from one track. It remembers which plugins are loaded, their order, and every setting, but nothing about the track itself: no volume, no routing, no sends. You drop it onto any track and the processing appears. Best for a reusable vocal chain, a mastering chain, or a go-to drum-bus stack.
• A track template is one or more complete tracks. It remembers the FX chain plus the track name, color, input, volume, pan, folder structure, and the sends between the tracks you saved. Best for recalling a whole setup, like a lead vocal feeding a reverb bus and a delay bus.

A simple rule: if the thing you want back is just plugins, save an FX chain. If it is the whole track or a small group of tracks with their wiring, save a track template.

Save and reuse an FX chain

Say you have built a vocal chain you like. Maybe it is a high-pass, ReaEQ, ReaComp, and a de-esser. Here is how to keep it. If you are still assembling that chain, our walkthrough on how to build a REAPER vocal chain with stock plugins covers the plugins to use.

Save and reuse a track template

A track template is the right choice when the routing matters, for example a vocal track that sends to a shared reverb bus. If you have not set up sends before, see how to use a vocal bus in REAPER first, then save the result as a template.

Where REAPER keeps these files

Both file types live inside REAPER’s resource folder, which is the same folder that holds your themes and other presets. To find it, go to Options → Show REAPER resource path in explorer/finder. Inside you will see folders named FXChains and TrackTemplates.

This matters for two reasons. First, you can organize your saved setups into subfolders there, and REAPER will show those subfolders in the menus. Second, moving a chain or template to another computer is just copying the file into the matching folder on the other machine. That is how shared or purchased templates get installed: drop the .RfxChain or .RTrackTemplate file into the right folder and it appears in REAPER after a restart.

The two things that trip people up

Most template problems come down to one of these.

• Sends to tracks you did not include get dropped. A track template only keeps the routing between the tracks you selected. If your vocal sends to a reverb bus and you saved only the vocal, the send disappears when you load the template. Select the bus as well and the routing survives.
• Missing plugins load empty. A chain or template only stores which plugins to load and their settings, not the plugins themselves. On a computer that does not have a given plugin installed, that slot comes in offline. Stock REAPER plugins are safe because they are always present, which is one more reason to build reusable setups from stock plugins. If a third-party plugin will not appear, see how to install VST plugins in REAPER.

What this will not do

Saving your setup is about recall, not about making the audio sound better on its own.

• A saved chain applies the same settings every time. It does not listen to the new recording and adjust. A high-pass at 90 Hz is a sensible starting point, but you should still check it against each vocal and move it if needed.
• A track template does not carry your whole project settings, like sample rate or render options. For a full session starting point, that is a project template, which is a separate feature.
• Neither one fixes a bad recording. Reusable processing saves time on good takes; it will not rescue a clipped or noisy one.

If something is not working

1. Your saved template is not in the menu. Make sure you looked under Insert track from template on the track panel right-click, not the Track menu’s save option. If you just copied a file in manually, restart REAPER so it re-reads the folder.
2. The routing came in wrong. You almost certainly did not include every track in the send path. Re-save with the bus and any parent folder tracks selected.
3. A plugin slot is offline. That plugin is not installed on this machine. Install it, or rebuild that slot with a stock equivalent so the template is portable.
4. You want a whole vocal session, not just tracks. That is closer to a session setup. Our guide on how to set up a vocal template in REAPER covers what to put in a reusable vocal starting point.