Apple Loops in Ableton?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
adamdegraff
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 4:27 am

Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by adamdegraff » Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:09 pm

Is there an easy way to use apple loops from Logic Studio (and Garage band?) in Ableton? Obviously, I could bounce them out, but I'm looking for an efficient system to incorporate my vast library of apple loops into Ableton.

Thanks!

kent_sandvik
Posts: 489
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2003 6:45 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by kent_sandvik » Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:05 pm

AppleLoops are AIFF files with the additional AppleLoops info embedded inside special metadata tags. Ableton Live imports and plays AIFF files. No problems. In addition, Ableton Live does all the work on the fly and generates .asd files which are pretty close to the metadata info in AIFF files (and why I still don't know why Ableton Live can't do the same thing as creating all these .asd files, understanding WAV issues but the again they could use proprietary chunks for that, too.)

doghouse
Posts: 1450
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2008 5:30 pm

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by doghouse » Sun Oct 21, 2012 2:27 pm

Apple has been distributing loops in the compressed .caf format for some time now.

Can Live open those? I've never even tried.

adamdegraff
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 4:27 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by adamdegraff » Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:46 pm

Guess I'm more wondering.... from ablton's file browser (wow, what a smart idea to have everything right there, super accessible, super easy to drag in) is there a way to access apple's loops that I'm not seeing? If not, I may just start converting them into ableton accessible files on a per use basis. Seems like a worthy project as some of the apple loops and samples are quite good. UNLESS, you all have an idea of a more efficient way of doing this.

Thanks!

ttilberg
Posts: 587
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:55 pm
Contact:

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by ttilberg » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:26 pm

Adam, I just looked into this as well. I have Garageband with the basic stock loops that are installed, which appear to all be .caf files, which Live doesn't appear to recognize.

You'll find the location of the loops in general in /Library/Audio/Apple Loops/etc

I would point your Live browser to that folder and see if anything shows up -- perhaps as someone above has recommended, you'll find some .AIFF files, depending on what's installed.
Tim Tilberg - Duluth, MN | SoundCloud - Arsenal
2011 13" MBP w/8GB ram | Live 9 Suite, Reason 6.5, FXPansion DCAM/Etch/Maul, Izotope Ozone 5

adamdegraff
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 4:27 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by adamdegraff » Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:36 pm

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

pepezabala
Posts: 3501
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2004 4:29 pm
Location: In Berlin, finally

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by pepezabala » Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:14 pm

apple changed this some time ago, I noticed accidentally when teaching ableton one or two years ago, showing some tricks with follow actions just using apple stock loops on my old macbook.

then I was recommending to the students that they will find a lot of loops to play with on their apple machines. :oops:

all the rich kids with new macbook pros did not have them, all the poor kids with older second hand macbooks had the apple loops in aif.


you might find old install CDs from apple that still include them.

most of them stock loops suck a lot - but that's actually good, because it forces you to work creatively, reedit, change sound, reverse, split etc....

jonny72
Posts: 790
Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:43 pm

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by jonny72 » Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:53 am

Live has never supported CAF. Not sure why, I raised it as an issue at the time but the Ableton staff replied saying they had no plans to support it.

You just need to find a converter to convert them to another format. There are 3rd party utilities but Automator and Finder will convert them to Apple Lossless which will work.

Some of the Apple loops are good plus you can get the entire library by buying MainStage ($30) which is pretty good value.
MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 - OS X 10.7.4

foxymethoxy
Posts: 97
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:43 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by foxymethoxy » Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:46 am

There is a program called MAX that can convert .caf files to wave in batches.

kent_sandvik
Posts: 489
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2003 6:45 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by kent_sandvik » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:16 am

Oh I forgot the ne .CAF format, especially as when I make AppleLoops in Logic they are saved as AIFF ones.

Anyway, you could use the free Switch tool to batch-convert CAF to AIFF. You should find the installed Apple loops inside ~/Library/Audio/Apple Loops and/or /Library/Audio/Apple Loops .

--Kent

mgunthe
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:02 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by mgunthe » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:52 am

I have been wondering about this too... no success yet.

Fat_Stanley
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:46 pm

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by Fat_Stanley » Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:32 pm

I use AudioFinder ( http://www.icedaudio.com/ ) to organise my sample library and, where required, convert caf files to wavs for use in Live. It can also do batch conversions if you want, although all the conversions obviously come at the cost of hard drive space being guzzled up.

Young-Ho Lee
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:08 am

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by Young-Ho Lee » Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:10 am

Try "Easy CAF Converter for Logic Pro" on the Mac App Store.

According to an app description,

"The Easy CAF Converter for Logic Pro automatically converts Apple Loops installed with Logic Pro 9 and X to uncompressed audio formats (aiff and wave).

With the Easy CAF Converter for Logic Pro, musicians using other major DAWs (e.g., Cubase, ProTools, Ableton Live, and Studio One, etc.) can now easily use the rich set of apple loops of Logic Pro in their music productions."

I have used this app to convert apple loops of Logic Pro 9 and X.

The conversion result was awesome, and I am already using those loops in my music.

App Store location:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easy-ca ... ls=1&mt=12

Machinesworking
Posts: 11408
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2004 9:30 pm
Location: Seattle

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by Machinesworking » Tue Apr 15, 2014 5:54 am

Young-Ho Lee wrote:Try "Easy CAF Converter for Logic Pro" on the Mac App Store.

According to an app description,

"The Easy CAF Converter for Logic Pro automatically converts Apple Loops installed with Logic Pro 9 and X to uncompressed audio formats (aiff and wave).

With the Easy CAF Converter for Logic Pro, musicians using other major DAWs (e.g., Cubase, ProTools, Ableton Live, and Studio One, etc.) can now easily use the rich set of apple loops of Logic Pro in their music productions."

I have used this app to convert apple loops of Logic Pro 9 and X.

The conversion result was awesome, and I am already using those loops in my music.

App Store location:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/easy-ca ... ls=1&mt=12
It's super crazy Young-Ho Lee how the developers name is Young-Ho Lee? Either that or you're a specialized bot. :lol:

re:dream
Posts: 4598
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2007 9:42 am
Location: Hoerikwaggo's sunset side...
Contact:

Re: Apple Loops in Ableton?

Post by re:dream » Tue Apr 15, 2014 6:59 am

Does the converter work, though?

Post Reply