Rea-Sixty

Install

Rea-Sixty is a REAPER extension — one file plus two runtime libraries. ReaPack is the recommended route on all three platforms and keeps you updated automatically.

Rea-Sixty and SSL 360° cannot share the hardware. SSL 360° claims the UF8/UC1 vendor-USB interface exclusively, so it must be quit before REAPER starts. On Windows the two drivers are mutually exclusive at the USB-stack level. Keep SSL 360° installed regardless — you still need it for firmware updates.

1. Before you start

Three things, all platforms:

  1. REAPER on macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel), Windows (x64) or Linux (x86_64). Tested against REAPER 6 and 7 through 7.75.
  2. ReaImGui, via ReaPack: Extensions → ReaPack → Browse packages → ReaImGui → Install. Without it the hardware still works but the Settings window stays empty.
  3. Quit SSL 360° — and its background daemon. On macOS the daemon is SSL360Core; find it in Activity Monitor and quit it. If SSL 360° is running when REAPER starts, the surface never appears and REAPER's Console shows an error.

You need a UF8 or a UC1 over USB-C. UF8-only, UC1-only and both-at-once rigs are all supported.

2. Install the extension

Via ReaPack — recommended, same on all three platforms

  1. Extensions → ReaPack → Manage repositories
  2. Import/export → Import repositories
  3. Paste this URL:
    https://github.com/acklin83/reaper-scripts/raw/main/index.xml
  4. Browse packages → filter Rea-Sixty → right-click → Install
  5. Apply changes, then restart REAPER.

The ReaPack index lives in a separate reaper-scriptsrepository. That is expected, not a typo.

Or by hand

Grab your platform's archive from the latest release and unpack it into REAPER'sUserPlugins directory:

PlatformGoes into
macOS~/Library/Application Support/REAPER/UserPlugins/
Windows%APPDATA%\REAPER\UserPlugins\
Linux~/.config/REAPER/UserPlugins/ — then follow the tarball's INSTALL.txt

libusb and hidapi ship inside the macOS and Windows archives — no separate install. On Linux they come from your distro.

3. Per-platform setup

The three platforms are not equally easy, and pretending otherwise wastes your evening.

Easiest

macOS

Drop three files in, add the surface. Nothing else. The dylibs are Developer-ID signed and Apple-notarised, so Gatekeeper accepts them on first load.

One extra step

Windows

Needs a one-time WinUSB driver swap with a UAC prompt and an "unknown publisher" warning. This takes the device away from SSL 360° until you reverse it.

One extra step

Linux

Needs a udev rule and two distro packages. Do not daisy-chain the UC1 through the UF8 — plug both into the computer.

macOS

Nothing extra. IOKit already grants libusb access to the device class. Go straight to step 4.

Windows — one-time WinUSB driver swap

SSL 360°'s kernel driver owns the devices, so libusb cannot open them until you hand them over:

  1. Action List (?) →Rea-Sixty: Open / Close Rea-Sixty Settings
  2. Settings → About → scroll to "Windows USB driver" →Install UF8/UC1 WinUSB driver
  3. Accept the UAC prompt.
  4. Accept the "Publisher unknown" warning. The INF is unsigned — this is the same friction Zadig produces, and it is expected.
  5. Unplug and replug every SSL surface (UF8, UC1, UF1) so Windows re-binds them.
  6. Restart REAPER.

This takes the devices away from SSL 360°. The two drivers are mutually exclusive at the Windows USB-stack level. To go back, re-run SSL 360°'s installer — it reinstalls its driver and reclaims the hardware, and Rea-Sixty will not see the devices again until you repeat the WinUSB install.

Linux — one-time udev rule

ReaPack can drop the .so into UserPlugins but cannot write to /etc/udev/rules.d/. Install the rule from inside REAPER:

  1. Action List (?) →Rea-Sixty: Open / Close Rea-Sixty Settings
  2. Settings → About → scroll to "Linux udev rule" →Install Linux udev rule
  3. Enter your password at the pkexec prompt.
  4. Unplug and replug every SSL surface (UF8, UC1, UF1).
  5. Restart REAPER.

You will also need the distro runtime libraries:

sudo apt install libusb-1.0-0 libhidapi-hidraw0

Or the equivalent on your distribution.

Plug each SSL surface into its own port on the computer.Daisy-chaining the UC1 through the UF8's downstream port triggersusb usb1-port5: disabled by hub (EMI?), re-enabling…cycles under Linux 6.17 / xhci_hcd. The same hardware daisy-chains fine on Windows and macOS — this one is Linux-specific.

If you installed by hand from the tarball you already added the udev rule via the shell — skip the steps above.

4. Add the surface — the step everyone misses

Installing the file is not enough. In REAPER:

Preferences → Control/OSC/Web → Add → Rea-Sixty

No MIDI device assignment, no port to pick. The extension claims the UF8/UC1 over USB by itself.

5. Verify it actually works

First, confirm the extension loaded at all: Action List (?) → search Rea-Sixty. You should see entries like Rea-Sixty: Open / Close Rea-Sixty Settings. If they are missing, the extension did not load — check that every file from the archive is in UserPlugins, and on Windows that the WinUSB swap completed.

Then, with the surface added, all three of these should be true:

  • The UF8 scribble strips show the colours of your first eight REAPER tracks.
  • Moving a fader changes that track's volume, and on release the fader settles to REAPER's value rather than springing back.
  • Pressing SEL on a strip selects that track in REAPER. If a UC1 is connected and the track carries an SSL Channel Strip, Bus Compressor or 4K plug-in, the UC1 starts driving its parameters.

If something is off, the Troubleshooting chapter in the manual goes deeper — or open an issue. Include the version string from Settings → About; it makes the report far more useful.

Download the latest releaseRead the manual