Simple perfect looping

boaf · Post by **boaf** » Mon May 08, 2006 10:47 pm

So I've created something loop-worthy in Reason. My idea for a perfect loop, anyways.
I've got it all rewired into Live and I'm going to create a perfect loop out of it (for background ambience in a game). Should I just record Reason to an audio track and cut the sample so that it makes a nice loop? Or is there some professional way to do this so that it truly creates a perfect loop...which means (in my opinion) that you could split the length of it anywhere and it would still sound flawless (if that's understandable).

I think I've confused myself.

ILTK · Post by **ILTK** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:11 pm

If it's just background ambience and not something with a beat that you can loop easily, the easiest would be to use an audio editor that can do destructive crossfade looping.

For example, using SoundForge select a partion of the audio you want to loop smoothly, then go to Special menu\Edit sample, set sample type to systaining loop and hit OK, then go tools menu\crossfade loop and adjust the crossfade and then you have a loop that will loop forever smoothly.

If it's for a game, if you have a game with a level editor, like quake, unreal tournament etc.. you can useually browse the audio content from the level editor and hear how they do it, loots of good ideas can be snagged doing that.

lord toranaga · Post by **lord toranaga** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:21 pm

i would use the export as loop feature in reason.

that seems the easiest to me.

boaf · Post by **boaf** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:26 pm

Are there any free alternatives to SoundForge that would give the same effect?

boaf · Post by **boaf** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:27 pm

lord toranaga wrote:i would use the export as loop feature in reason.

that seems the easiest to me.

That would work if it were not for the pops that would occur. Simply using the loop exporting doesn't create a perfect loop, does it?

lord toranaga · Post by **lord toranaga** » Mon May 08, 2006 11:43 pm

I'm not really that versed in reason. I just know of the feature.

boaf · Post by **boaf** » Tue May 09, 2006 12:06 am

Ah. Okay, thank you for trying to help anyway.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Tue May 09, 2006 12:37 am

if it is looping correctly in reason, then it seems to me that simply starting and stopping the recording using global quantization should be all you need to do.

actually i don't see why you'd even have to be too worried about that - after recording, just dragging the start/end of the clip, or splitting it, at a bar grid, should do it

boaf · Post by **boaf** » Tue May 09, 2006 12:45 am

longjohns wrote:if it is looping correctly in reason, then it seems to me that simply starting and stopping the recording using global quantization should be all you need to do.

Maybe I'm just ignorant, but could you explain this a little further?

longjohns wrote: actually i don't see why you'd even have to be too worried about that - after recording, just dragging the start/end of the clip, or splitting it, at a bar grid, should do it

You mean, like take a section of the reason sample (possibly ReWired into Live) and just cut out a part that loops well?
That sounds plausible but I'm looking for exact looping. That will theoretically sound good to the human ear, but there is bound to be a gap in there somewhere...or maybe frequencies won't line up correctly....or maybe I'm just ignorant again!

Thanks for your help.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:46 am

this is a thing which is looping in reason, right?

so to capture the loop all you need is to record for at least the length of the loop.

when the programs are rewired, the transports are locked together. set the global quantization in live to 1 bar. arm the live track which is recieving the reason audio. press play on the transport.

wait until a time within 1 bar of the end of the loop. press the clip record button for the slot you want to hold this new clip. when the next bar begins, it will start recording the clip.

within 1 bar of the end of the loop, press the same clip slot button. when the bar comes around, it will stop recording and start playing back.

if the loop is longer, you can use 2-bar or 4-bar quantization and give yourself even more breathing room for hitting buttons.

because you stopped and started the recording using quantization, it is automatically perfect in length.

------

OR

simply record for a while in arrangement view. then set the grid to 1 bar and split the clip at the beginning and end of a loop cycle.

make sure warp is off for the clip, and consolidate it.

if you would like, you can now turn back on warping and set the clip to loop. then you can drag out the length of the loop for as long as you'd like, in the arrangement view