What am I trying to do if I want to make loops of recorded drums?

[junplugged]

I want to record live drums, edit loops, and sync them up to midi clock and arrange them, and be able to change the arrangement.

What is this called? What do I need to do it? anyone doing this??

[MadAudio]

I call it making drum loops. I've been getting into this lately because often the commercial drum loops I have don't have the kick on the beats I need, and editing them can sometimes sound choppy. I record my drum beat to a click, and repeat a beat for 30 seconds to a minute (or longer if it's a more complicated rhythm - just enough times to make sure I've got a solid one in there somewhere). I then mix it down to a single file and then throw it into either Sound Forge or Acid for editing. Using a click helps keep you in time, and you have the advantage of knowing the bpm from the outset.

[junplugged]

ok, so I can make wave files and usb them to pc, no trouble. Then I guess software would be the way to go, rather than any hardware. But then I'll have to export the wave to my multitrack, or I guess I could use my old sequencer to trigger them? But then I'd need a decent card to go from pc to mix the audio into the multi.

I'll go look up the software....could I get an old sampler and assign the loops to note names and edit the loops on the hardware? I'd need a lot of ram tho. Hmm....

[ssscientist]

Here's a great program that, once you get the hang of it, will give you GREAT drum loops and the most bang for your buck.

Fruity Loops.

Download the demo and see if you like it as much as I do. You can use your own samples or the ones that come with the package.

[junplugged]

I did not know that FL could import your own loops! Gotta try that, thanks.

[junplugged]

looks like I can't slice up the beats w FL? Then I see there's an add-on called Beat Slicer, but since there's also a $250 add-on called Beat Creator and $99 for Beat Quantizer, I guess I can't quantize my sliced beats w/ out it, so it's adding up to more than Acid....

Creator has crossfades to fill in the gaps, nice....

[ssscientist]

Originally Posted by junplugged

I did not know that FL could import your own loops! Gotta try that, thanks.

No, it's not loops that you can import just individual drum sounds.

It works like many drum machines still do - a GUI of 16, 24 or 32 boxes going across the screen with the drum samples on the left vertically.

The process of rendering a loop to a .wav file for use in another program or sampler is so easy in FL --- that's why I still use it every time I sit down to write something...

[MadAudio]

You could probably even use Acid Express for the loop creation, and that program is FREE from Sony.