Looping in cakewalk

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phillymac

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Hi everybody,

I'm new to pc recording, and also to cakewalk (pro audio 9). I'm very much into r&b and hip-hop, which involves a lot of looped-up beats. I use a asr-x pro as my beat machine, and also a sound module (yamaha mu-50). What happens is I lay my hi hats down first (usually in step recording) because it's easier for me to stay in sync when I lay my drums. Next the low end, then the snare. So when the loop goes back to the starting point, it's a little offbeat, what can I do to end this, what can I do to get a smooth flowing loop going?

Phillymac
 
What's up phillymac. :)

I don't have Cakewalk 9 in front of me right now, so bear with me.

open the toolbar that represents loops

draw and highlight the portion/length of music you want to loop on the time line bar toward the top of your window.

on the "loop' toolbar press the button to the immediate right of the numbers.

that will automatically set the loop function to region you just higlighted.

You can make adjustments accordingly.

This bit of info should put you on the right track, and I'm sure that some other people on this BBS will offer you some more information.


peace

spin
 
Looping

When I loop, there seems to be no delay in CWPA9...
(Are you using anything besides CWPa9 as a driver? I know that WinGroove creates some serious delay, I am gonna post something about that here.)

BUT what I would like to know is how to loop different tracks differently. EG if programming drums, I might want the hihat to continue one rhythm while the other bits do other stuff... is the only option to cut and paste repetitions?

thanks

NS
 
thanks for the advice, now I have my loops right where I want them. Now I can move on to my next adventure. Once again thanks

Phillymac
 
:)

no problem phillymac.




NS, you might need to elaborate on exactly what you are trying to accomplish.

spinsterwun
 
What I am trying to do.

I am getting into a bit of experimental stuff, using both midi and audio.

Some of the stuff involves repeating various sections.
For an industrial NIN like song, I want to loop a drum section to play over and over.

At the same time, I want to loop a guitar riff, which lies over different measures and (obviously) on a different track.

Ultimately I want to run multiple independant loops in one song. The only way I have managed to do this is to copy the stuff I want and paste it with as many repetitions as I want. I just wonder if there isn't a different way to do that.
Thanks
 
sure, but first I'll give a description of what type of gear I'm running so you can get a better picture:

asr-x pro
yamaha mu-50 module
midi keyboard controller (okay, a cheap $150 yamaha keyboard ps-270 with midi in and out)
computer-pc
aardvark lx6 w/ cakewalk pro audio 9

I want to use cakewalk to sequence both the x-pro and sound module (I'm still trying to figure out how to plug my midi cables to these two devices to do this-also the lx6 has the midi in/out ports, any suggestions?). I've been able to loop my beat with the x-pro, but I'm not for sure how to turn this in to audio using cakewalk. If you could give me some insights on how to do this I would appreciate it a bunch.

Phillymac
 
NS,

I would set up each of my tracks firts for ONE whole repitition.

Example...

Track 1 Lay down your drum track for one rep.

Track 2 Lay down you guitar riff/sample for one rep.

Track 3 Lay your HiHats for one rep.

etc.

Then highlight the necessary lenght of the timeline (at the top your window panel).

Press the button to the left of the numbers (on the LOOP toolbar).

In essence, set up every thing you want to hear in the different patterns you want to hear it for one full cycle.

THEN, set it up for LOOP.

If I am not fully explaining this to you properly, please post us back.


Phillymac,

How many INS/OUTS do you have on your soundcard (ANALOGUE and MIDI)?

Does your ASR X PRO have the expanded OUTPUTS?

With the proper amount of INPUTS, you could hook all of these devices up to your computer.

Or you could run them through a board (mixer).

Or you could hook up the keyboard and the sound module to the ASR-X PRO .

Then, run the ASR-X PRO to the computer.

But, since the ASR doesn't have multiple MIDI INS/OUTS, then you can't do this (it only MIDI-IN-THRU-OUT).

You will need to get multiple MIDI IN/OUTS or a mixer.

If you only have 1 MIDI IN/OUT, you can not totally utilize all of your devices at the same time. :(

That is why I prefer using the MPC, because it has 2 MIDI INs and 4 MIDI OUTS. :)

Or...

COMPUTER MIDI OUT/ASR MIDI IN/ASR MIDI OUT/YAMAHA MIDI IN/ YAMAHA MIDI THRU/COMPUTER MIDI IN.

You will have to unhook something in order to use your MIDI keyboard.

Maybe you could purchase a Midiman MidiSport 2X2 or 4X4 (it connects to your USB).

OR..........

Let me see if you can hook it up like this...

COMPUTER OUT/YAMAHA IN/YAMAHA THRU/ASR IN/KEYBOARD OUT/COMPUTER IN

But, in that case you won't be able to hear what you are playing (on the keyboard), but then you might be able to hear it.?.?

Post me back and we will figure it out. :)

peace...

spin
 
Thanks for responing. First, as to the midi in/out questions, I will probably have to use one instrument at a time because I don't have multiple in's and out's on anything. My soundcard, module, and the x-pro only have one set of midi in/out. My soundcard has a dsp mixer built in so I can use this to hear one of instruments while recording my midi tracks from another.

As for looping situation, I've ran into another problem. I have no problem as far as setting up the loop features, I can get my midi tracks to play and loop the way that I want them. But how do you record them to audio? What I mean is when I tried to record, the audio tracks I record loops as well. I thought it would (the audio track) would be more like tape, recording continuously, instead of looping back like the midi tracks. Is this the way it should happen or am I doing something wrong? I didn't want to do a whole copy/paste thing just to build my audio tracks If I use the loop feature, I hope you got an idea of what I mean, please help

Phillymac
 
Thanks!

I understand that bit, have to loop all tracks together. It is not that much of a mission! I just wondered if there were other ways of doing it!

Is CAL at all an option? I don't REALLY have the time to learn another coding language, but it might be useful!

Thanks again!
 
Phillymac,

To address the MIDI IN/OUT problem, you could purchase the Midisport Midiman 2X2 or 4X4. :D

Now to address the recording issue...

You could(?) try this...

Loop the tracks you want to record.

Solo the tracks that you have looped.

Arm the track/s you want to record onto.

Record for as long as you want.

(I think you have to change Cakewalks RECORDING FUNCTIONS and the way it writes & rewrites recorded material).


See if that works. :)

I know you can do this in Acid 2.0, but I don't know if this solution will work in Cakewalk.

NS,

I don't know anything about CAL, so I'm not in a position to answer anything about it. :)

peace...

spin
 
phillymac,

I also posted this reply to your post in audioforums:

When you hit record in Cakewalk, the tracks all go together. You cannot loop parts of a track and then expect to isolate them as if they were independent entities. It works like a multi-track tape recorder -- the whole tape moves, you can't have single tracks moving a little and then shuttling back to a predefined spot and then playing forward, over and over, while the rest of the tape just marches forward.

The only way to do it in Cakewalk 9 is to copy and paste your loop clips. It's also a pain to work with because you have to fiddle with loops to get them to match rhythmically with other ones...

The new version, SONAR, has a nicer way to work with loops. Have you ever used ACID? In that tool, you put your clips where you want and drag them so that their duration is as long as you want. The looping and beat-matching is taken care of automatically by the software. It's a real treat and a very intuitive way to work. Well, SONAR has a similar feature called groove looping that works essentially the same way.
 
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