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Editing loops

Having watched several G/Band tutorials on loops, I still can't quite understand exactly how to create a loop in such a way that the pause between them is accurate. Each time I make a loop there's a one- or two second gap between them. How are these gaps closed or shortened please?

iPad 2, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Jan 18, 2013 6:28 AM

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20 replies

Jan 18, 2013 9:43 AM in response to léonie

Forgive me, Leonie - the problem I'm having concerns a loop I have created in'real instruments' on a MacbookPro.


My less-than-expert operation leaves a short pause at the end of the piece I' m trying to loop, and when I drag the corner, and listen to the result, there's a gap between the loops. I really need to know how to edit each end of the loop before looping it.


Does this make any sense?



Best,


Nick

Jan 18, 2013 11:23 AM in response to gaginker

Regions are the colourful elements in the timeline - in your case the passage you want to loop.


If there's silence at the end of the region, you can get rid of it by dragging the right margin of the region in. You do that by hovering the cursor arrow over the top right corner of the region until it turns into a cursor symbol (not the circular arrow, that's for looping), then you can grab the right margin and move it to the left until you have found the point where you want the loop to end. Then use the circular arrow mode to loop the loop.

Jan 18, 2013 11:26 AM in response to gaginker

Nick,

just a short answer, before Christoph can get back to this discussion.


You can trim the ends of your custom loop by cutting it. I'd look at the loop in the track editor, so you can see the wave form and can tell where the silence starts. Adjust the slider, so you see the waveform enlarged and can trim exactly. To cut the loop, use the keyboard shortcut "⌘T" after postioning the cross hair.


User uploaded file

Only, I do not see, how cutting off the silence will help. You will want to cut exactly at the boundaries between measures, for your loops to stay in sync with the beat of the music.


It might be preferrable to drag the waveform to extend the sound into the silent region with the flextime editing tools. If you enable "Follow Tempo and Pitch", you can drag the blobs in the waveform to make the sustain longer.

Jan 19, 2013 3:01 AM in response to gaginker

We are fortunate to have such helpful allies, we idiots.

Pretty soon you will be a helpful ally too, just wait and see!

BTW, thanks for the golden star 🙂 - just in case you do not know - you can award points to more than one post and give Christoph green solved mark; this will help other posters to easily find the solution -you can award one "solved" mark and two "helpful" stars.


Cheers

Léonie

Jan 19, 2013 11:24 AM in response to gaginker

Much as I hate to bother Christoph and Leonie again, am still unable to effect a smooth transition between loops. This time I actually counted the vertical lines in Track Editor between the previous music bars and made that number the gap between the loops - or thought I did. What happened was that even after cutting (Command-T, thanks Leonie), it didn't disappear, but remained there, with a "no effects" notation.


It might help if I knew how to move regions. Is there a keyboard shortcut for that?


Sorry to be a pain.



Nick

Jan 19, 2013 12:43 PM in response to gaginker

Really, no need to apologize, Nick! We like to answer questions. This way we discover new aspects of GarageBand that we missed before. 😝


What happened was that even after cutting (Command-T, thanks Leonie), it didn't disappear, but remained there, with a "no effects" notation.

I should have explained in more detail:

After cutting a region, you can select the cut-off part of it and press the "delete ⌫" key; then you can reposition the loop in the timeline by dragging it with the mouse where you want it (select the region, hold down the mouse button and drag).


But have you tried Christoph's suggestion (Re: Editing loops), to shorten the loop by dragging the border? That might be easier than cutting.


Regards

Léonie

Jan 19, 2013 2:32 PM in response to gaginker

but my cursor made a grey rectangle in the region when I attempted to drag and drop.


Click right into the middle of the loop to select it, Nick. It should turn a little darker to show it has been selected. Then hold down the mouse button in the middle of the loop while you drag it along the track in the timeline.

Editing loops

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