Hello, & hopefully not goodbye - a looping question

[bibz1st]

What is the max file size of a Licecap one can upload ?

[Lazarus]

You can put the loop into it's own Project Tab to do this.

- Have project you're working on open, then

- File -> New Project Tab
---- stick your loop in there
---- right click the new project tab tab doo dah up the top and check all the stuff in the bottom half of the popup (Run background projects, Synchronize play etc).

( make sure Preferences -> Audio -> Seeking -> Seek on loop point change" is unchecked )

There ya go. Put the first loop point and play cursor at the beginning of the clip/item and If you have a bit of silence at the start of the loop you can Alt + drag the contents of the clip/item back and forward for the start point. Just adjust the end loop point for the end. All independently (apart from starting in sync) of the main project.

[hopi]

Originally Posted by Jeffsounds

OK, I'm not making excuses but I am in the middle of a flu bug. I should have separated those a bit more. I meant doing a licecap instead of all the explanations since someone suggested that Lloyd watch his buddy do it.

Am I even making sense? Think I'll just crawl to the nearest bed and die...

Oh sorry for misunderstanding what you meant to say... hahaha

well then, die and be reaborn... get well soon Jeff

[Fergler]

NOW I get it. What you want sounds really, really useful.

Ok so guys what he wants to do is... (I just tested it in Logic for real this time and things made more sense with the nomenclature)
Regions in Logic are what we call media items so, he wants to loop an item and have the looping follow the item start/end points.

I don't know that this is possible in 'real time', however here is the best I could do:

Bring up the action list (Shift + / , or '?')
Find Time selection: Set time selection to items
Make sure this has a shortcut, for example I use "
Then, with your item in a single iteration, press the button and start playing. Now move the item edges around (probably with snapping off) and just press that shortcut at any time to set the loop to the item. Actually, if you hold the shortkey down, it will stay adjusted to the item constantly.


So my workflow, with the shortcut set up, is thus:
With snapping turned off, and item selected, I hit " and press play.
Now as it reaches the end and returns, while its still playing I decide that wasn't right and drag the right edge of the item to where I think it's right. I press " again.
Repeat a few times until perfect.


Item looping could be a good FR but this will work for you I think!

Edit: Lazarus' suggestion is also really good. Loop will automatically return to the beginning, so if you have just your item in a new project tab it will keep looping that item (no time selection needed!)

[memyselfandus]

Cool idea for a feature request. Someone feel like putting one in?

[Jeffsounds]

Originally Posted by hopi

Oh sorry for misunderstanding what you meant to say... hahaha

well then, die and be reaborn... get well soon Jeff

Thanks... but it won't be today...

[chip mcdonald]

Originally Posted by lloydcole

Hello,

I would like to take and audio file (or maybe a midi file), crop the file to the largest size I might need and then loop it. I would then repeatedly listen to a portion of the project (looping the timeline)as I edit the start and end points until I have a musical transition.

Is another way of describing this to say that you want not just one, but multiple files on the timeline, and you want to both move them forward/backwards in time, as well as alter their individual lengths (the starting and end point)?

I'm not sure if this is relative or not, but Reaper has different settings that lock whether an item/track/sample can be moved forward/backwards on the timeline, and the start/end points of the item, and how you select those versus the timeline.

If you turn all of the locking off, you're free to juxtapose both the relationships of all of your onscreen items/tracks relative to each other, ignoring the grid/tempo, as well as the lengths of the items/tracks.

So if you want a bunch of short (2 second) "samples" to "loop" against a long (3 minute) "sample" (item), you merely drag them left/right as Reaper is playing back, listening to the result. You can copy/paste an area of something you want as a "sample", or adjust it's length and drag the right edge of it, which will duplicate it as long as you like - which is effectively the same as having it "loop" for that duration.

Uhm... also, there is the concept that you can set Reaper to loop between two locations on the timeline, but still manipulate the items freely forward/backward/shorter/longer while it's looping...

Yikes, what an unwieldy post. Sorry.

/ as the pop star scurries away in fear...

[bibz1st]

Originally Posted by bibz1st

What is the max file size of a Licecap one can upload ?

Anyone ?

[xpander]

Originally Posted by bibz1st

What is the max file size of a Licecap one can upload ?

That would depend on where you would upload your captures. The file size limit for the Stash here is really small (like couple of MBs), but I don't know the exact limit. Many free image hosting sites, eg. imgur will allow much bigger files. Then you would just copy/paste the links in here.

[bibz1st]

I meant if one was added to one of these posts, on KVR forums its only 256kb.

[beingmf]

Hey Lloyd,
I made the transition from Logic to Reaper a few years ago, and one fascinating result of that step is a different musical outcome. It's definitely worth trying (why do I think of your song "Patience" right now?).
And yes: "different" as in "better" - not that I would want you to change your songwriting style as it literally changed my life in '84 (we're label mates now btw.).

While Willie, Fergler, Chip and others already pointed out how your request could be materialized, there's always a 2nd and a 3rd way in Reaper to accomplish something that you have in mind.
I do think "loop section" is what you missed:



Left: item properties / right: SWS action. Bind it to a key and it should be faily easy.

Another way would be tweaking regions' start and end points and either split the item or render it straight away (render dialog -> regions).

[Fergler]

Originally Posted by beingmf

Hey Lloyd,
I made the transition from Logic to Reaper a few years ago, and one fascinating result of that step is a different musical outcome. It's definitely worth trying (why do I think of your song "Patience" right now?).
And yes: "different" as in "better" - not that I would want you to change your songwriting style as it literally changed my life in '84 (we're label mates now btw.).

While Willie, Fergler, Chip and others already pointed out how your request could be materialized, there's always a 2nd and a 3rd way in Reaper to accomplish something that you have in mind.
I do think "loop section" is what you missed:



Left: item properties / right: SWS action. Bind it to a key and it should be faily easy.

Another way would be tweaking regions' start and end points and either split the item or render it straight away (render dialog -> regions).

Take a look at my post again, I don't think you are quite catching what he wants to do. (it took us *all* while to figure it out )

He wants the looping to following the item length so that the transition from the end of the item to the beginning of itself can be corrected.

For this I think Swamp Ape's suggestion is the best and quickest answer.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by Fergler

For this I think Swamp Ape's suggestion is the best and quickest answer.

Did Swamp Ape post in this thread?

[xpander]

Originally Posted by Fergler

He wants the looping to following the item length so that the transition from the end of the item to the beginning of itself can be corrected.

AFAIS this is correct. However, there were few more crucial points. He wants the item to play continuously while he adjusts the looping ie. the item start and end. But he doesn't want to play back the whole item while doing this, only enough of the item end and start so he can monitor the looping point. Wittis solution was closest to this, added with an action Loop points: Set loop points to items after each edge adjustment.

The reason for only wanting to monitor the end and start was that the item (loop) could be even several minutes long, so waiting for so long to hear the looping point would make adjusting it really hard if not impossible.

However, as I understood it, Lloyd could've already stretched or ghost copied the original item to make it so long to begin with (to roughly fit the song), before starting to adjust the item edges. If stretching, wittis solution could still be used. Hardly possible to stretch short items for many minutes though, without degrading the audio. We don't have ghosted audio item copies like Logic does, so in latter case I don't think there is an easy solution. Unless the original source length would already be enough to monitor the looping within the context of the song and once adjusted, copying it over the rest of the song as needed.

Only Lloyd himself can see what approach would suit him the best, if any.

[bibz1st]

I think it would be useful to see a video of the process within Logic, then there is no confusion as to what exatly he wants

[xpander]

Yes, and seeing how exactly he would do his thing with Logic. From what has already been told...

The underlying logic of working with looped (or repeated) media items is that the repeated items are duplicates or aliases of the original media item, so that when the original media item is edited, the others change accordingly...

...I gather it won't be that easy in Reaper. Anybody with Logic, Fergler?

[beingmf]

Originally Posted by xpander

If stretching, wittis solution could still be used. Hardly possible to stretch short items for many minutes though, without degrading the audio.

I don't think it's about stretching. I thought it's about fine tuning the item's edges while looping is active. But who knows - Lloyd, you should chime in ((:

[lloydcole]

Well, thanks so much for all the input, and I do hope that this discussion will help with the development of Reaper, but I am loth to fully embrace a program where one of the key aspects of my work requires a workaround when very simple solutions exist elsewhere.
For the record, I just bought Reaper (full working musician price ), a few months ago and I've spent a great deal of time with the Geoffrey Francis book on flights, etc, trying to get a handle for Reaper thinking...
However, after making computer music since 1986 (MOTU Performer version 1 on what became known as a mac classic)... I own most of the DAWs out there except Pro Tools. I'm reasonably Logic Savvy, but I've avoided it the last few years because the footprint (2.5 GB!) offends me, the loops offend me, the graphics put me in a bad mood and the instruments are rubbish for the most part... however...
Here's what I just did to be sure I wasn't remembering something which didn't exist...
I recorded a fairly complex drum part from my modular synth into Logic. I didn't know the time signature or the BPM (that just came from an analogue square wave LFO), I just liked the sound of it. I made some very rough chop edits to get a loop almost working and then I checked the 'loop' option for the region. I then fine tuned the start and end points until the loop was perfect while cycling the timeline a couple of bars before and after the region ended, so I could hear the transition from end to start without having to stop and start...
I then exported the region as a stereo wav file.
I imported the file into Ableton Live making sure all auto warp stuff was disabled. I dropped it into a session clip slot. Live guessed that it was a 4 bar loop. I counted and it wasn't. It was 15 beats, so I dragged the warp maker in the clip edit window from 4 bars, to 3 bars, 3 beats, and Live automatically adjusted the tempo to loop the clip, without altering its length.
This all took about 15 minutes at the most.
I then sent midi time code from Live to the modular (I have a Flame Clockwork module which will slave to midi clock). Disabled the LFO as clock master and made Live, via Clockworks, the clock master. Sync was spot on. The loop played perfectly with the original.
I may end up doing a fair proportion of my work in Reaper, but not these types of things.
I now have very simple, basic templates in Live, Logic and Reaper and I can share loops (audio files cut to the right size) between all three programs.

[chip mcdonald]

Originally Posted by lloydcole

I made some very rough chop edits to get a loop almost working and then I checked the 'loop' option for the region. I then fine tuned the start and end points until the loop was perfect while cycling the timeline a couple of bars before and after the region ended, so I could hear the transition from end to start without having to stop and start...

I think, in Reaper parlance, what he wants is a snapping setting where *selection* snaps to *media item*, so that as you adjust the media item length the selected loop follows it?

Although I think you can do this already with SWS?

Lloyd: Reaper is very flexible, at the expense of not making the flexibility obvious at first glance. You can basically turn any action/set of actions into a button on the toolbar - which is a one-time hassle I know, but IMO a DAW is really a set of shortcuts to controlling data in very specific ways. Most DAWS decide on a certain set and turn them into "obvious" features, Reaper just puts them all out there and hopes you find it.

4 bar loop. I counted and it wasn't. It was 15 beats, so I dragged the warp maker in the clip edit window from 4 bars, to 3 bars, 3 beats, and Live automatically adjusted the tempo to loop the clip, without altering its length.

I think Reaper can do that as well, but again.. SWS macros?

Feature creep is Reaper's worst enemy.