Ableton Forum

Say I have a loop with a note that starts a bit before the first measure and just for fun a note that ends after the last measure. Is there any way to mark the start/end of a loop so that these two notes span the loop point? I'm thinking that the answer is, no. (I say, start and end of measure, but it could be any point in time--this is just where my loop "wraps around.")

My current solution is to mark the loop start before the first measure at the beginning of the first note and the loop end at the corresponding point before the end of the last measure. That works for the note that starts before the first measure--it "wraps"--but does nothing for the note that ends after the last measure. I could put a separate, short note at the beginning of loop start, but it would render as a distinct note and not sound like the extension of the note that is supposed to wrap around from the end of the last measure. Got that?

Thanks for any help. Been working with Live for a couple of months and enjoying the heck out of it. I have more questions, but I thought I'd start with this one.

I'm not 100% sure I followed this, but if I did, here's how I'd do it...

Looping a MIDI clip is just a convenient way to repeat the transmission of MIDI data. Another way is to explicitly write that MIDI data.

Try this: start your 'early' note just like you would, then add a measure of time before your loop point, so your first run through the "loop" is actually explicitly written there. That's when you start your 'late' note.

Then loop the time where you want notes to sustain.

I know this is probably confusing. Could you post a picture of kind of what you want to have happen? If I can get the correct functionality in Live I'll post a picture of how I did it.

I'm honored, Warrior Bob. Thank you so much for responding. I misunderstood the "0 new messages" on the forum page. I thought I was being ignored.

This is what I'm talking about:



By starting the loop before the first measure (5) and ending it before the end of the last measure (13), you can see that the first note in the first track effectively wraps across the loop point. (yay) However, see the last note in the first track up there? How can I wrap that across the loop point to the beginning of the first measure, over there on the left? It looks like this little trick of moving the loop point either way off the downbeat only works for a late or an early note but not both at the same time. I have similar issues with the other two tracks, but the firts track best represents the problem.

A follow-up question is then, how can I copy-and-paste--duplicate--this passage several times in the arrangement without having to patch up the note-spanning issues by hand? As I have discovered, that is an error-prone procedure.

I thought I'd follow up my own queries with what I did to solve them. First, I do not believe there is a way to loop a section with notes that span the loop point. One has to change the music so that it is "loopable." Period. Second, while I similarly do not believe there is a way to copy-and-paste a whole note-spanning section, I was able accomplish the same result by finding a point within a section for each clip that did not have "note spanning" and copy-and-paste those sections separately.

First of all, it appears that you are looping the arrangement as opposed to the actual clip.

What you can do is Double Click the clip to have clip view how up. Then activate 'Loop'. Next, make sure that the 'Start' flag is at the start of the notes. Move the 'Loop Start' bracket forward enough so that it is on the downbeat. Now when the clip is Started, it plays the pre-played note (we'll assume that you make sure it is on the appropriate spot on the arrangement grid). As the clip plays through, in time with the arrangement, it will get to a designated 'Loop End' point (which we have not determined yet, stay tuned), at which point, when it ends on the Loop End part of the bracket, the note playing will be carried by the remnance that is still existing at that Loop Start point. (assuming that visually, you can see there is no note end/start action going on). Once that is set up properly, you should be able to draw the melody across the arrangement infinitely uninterrupted.

For the Loop End point, I'll assume that you will be doing an even number of bars. If you have designated a Loop Start point, you can for Loop End either drag the end bracket in clip view appropriately, or type in the length of the section you expect to be looped. Now things ought to loop wonderfully.

Lastly, you can probably just cut the ending of the clip off at the appropriate moment where you want the notes to end.

Hope this gave you some insight on using looped clips more effectively

Edit: after looking at your image more indepth, you have two problems
1. The note that you are trying to carry over from the end is different at the beginning. This will cause one to end, and maybe the other to start (unless the beginning is cut off)
2. The ending of the last note Ends at the loop point. You do not want that if you expect it to carry over. Instead, drag it a little past the looping bracket. That says "note not finished yet, will listen for note to continue at Loop Start". In order for it to work, the start of the loop bracket has to be in the middle of a note, not right at the start (that would be telling Live "start retriggering note at this point")

Thanks for the info, yur2die4. I didn't totally understand what you were saying, but after following your instructions, I think I have it figured out. This is how one wraps a note across the loop point:

1. The note at the start of the loop must be playing before the start point--the note can't start exactly at the start point.
2. The (same) note at the end of the loop must play past the end point. IOW, the end of the note must be after the end of the loop.
3. To have the note play the first time through the loop, drag the left edge far enough to the left and set the start point for the clip at or before there.

Note that this is for a session clip. An arrangement clip is a tiny bit different regarding #2. The note at the end of the loop doesn't have to play past the end of the loop. It can stop exactly at the end point. Weird.