Stretch a recorded GarageBand loop?

léonie wrote:

provided you enable flex and "follow tempo and pitch" in the smart controls

Minor correction léonie, the Flex controls are in the Audio Editor, not in the Smart Controls,

With the Flex Time feature you can only correct the timing "inside" the audio file or have it adapt to the current Project Tempo (Follow Tempo), but I haven't found anything how to time expand/compress the entire Audio Region itself. No hidden key combination that I know of.

You cannot do that in GarageBand. This is a more advanced feature available in Logic Pro X where you just opt+drag the Region Border to time compress/expand it.

The only wat GarageBand stretches an Audio Region without altering its pitch is with Apple Loops. For that, you have to convert an Audio File into an Apple Loop (drag it over the Loop Browser). However, the Audio Region has to fit into the current Tempo, and when used in a different Project (with a different Tempo), it automatically adjusts to that Tempo, so you still can't manually stretch to a specific length.

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich - LogicProGEM.com

(Author of the "Graphically Enhanced Manuals")

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

I'm confused. I've had versions of GarageBand for years, and I seem to remember that stretching audio was a feature.

If you record audio into an audio track in GarageBand and lower the tempo of the project or change the automation of the tempo track, the audio will play slower (provided you enable flex and "follow tempo and pitch" in the smart controls

If you save a region of an audio track as a loop with "File > Add to Loop Library", and add it back as a loop from the loop browser, the loop will also conform to all tempo changes in the project and be stretched or shrink.

When I want to stretch audio in GarageBand I save the region to the Loop Browser from a project with a high Tempo, then use it in a project with a lesser tempo, but the same key as the original project. The audio region needs to be trimmed to a perfect number of full measures. Otherwise it can only be saved as a one-shot loop, and one-shot loops will not conform to Tempo and pitch.

Thanks, Edgar!

My poor memory. I was posting from my iPad. 🙂

The important item is the "Follow Tempo and Pitch" checkmark for the region: