Working with loops

[Deleted User]

Maybe this is not as hard as I think it is...
When working with loops with sustained sound at the end, the loop cuts off the tail of the sustain (reverb tail or longer sustained sound) and would sound different when the loop plays again, different than if the instrument had been played through un-looped. Not to mention, there is probably a little dip in the sound at the loop end/start of next loop.

So how does one make this sound right/better?
1. Record the loop keeping the sustain tail, then use two different track to overlap the tail of the ending loop with the start of the next loop?
2. Overlay the loops on the same track?
3. Live with the chopped off sustain and try to bridge it with more FX?
4. Other?

Recording loops dry and adding FX later is an option, except for guitar strings or piano that might ring out past the end of the last bar.

Toastedghost

The new soon to be released Loopy Pro has the ability to record the reverb tail of a loop so thereby not cutting short the sample

seonnthaproducer

For production, Record twice the number of bars you need, then overlap them. Also record to a metronome.

Say you need a 4 bar loop, record an 8-bar loop, then brush through using a 4- bar selector.

In a live performance, if you feel a loop is bad, record it again BEFORE you start overdubbing.

wim

The key is to "play through" the loop. Start playing before the loop recording will kick in and keep playing until just after the loop recording stops. This effectively wraps the FX tail into the start of the recording for a smoother loop.

If not using a looper, I do as @seonnthaproducer says, but actually record up to three times the number of bars, then trim the loop to use only the middle set.

robosardine

This reminds me of the disappointment felt by many when some hardware Grooveboxes were sold with this very issue. The one that sticks in my head most is the Roland MC 808. All effect tails, reverb, delays etc etc we’re totally and abruptly stopped when changing to another pattern. The interesting (and hopefully useful in some way) thing is that Roland repeatedly and steadfastly maintained that this was a creative design feature - though many people weren’t having it 😏

[Deleted User]

I get recording them longer than 4 bars or whatever the bar length happens to be.
But to keep the tail or sustain (like a cymbal crash ringing out or reverb tail) but arranging this on a timeline like in MT DAW or Cubasis is just overlapping the longer clips on the same track? Or maybe stagger them on two tracks so that loop 1 tail on track 1 overlaps loop 2 start on track 2?

wim

Yes.

[Deleted User]

@wim said:
Yes.

And that’ll do it Nice to hear someone confirm what I thought was the right way