CAN DP HANDLE LOOPS the WAY LOGIC DOES ?

[Vato]

I am a lover of DP. I recently used LOGIC for a while and found it was great for my pre production. It allowed me to just grab a loop and pull it in.
With DP I have to do my pre prod in Garage Band, then export that to DP making sure to match the BPM of Garage Band. Is this step necessary ???
There has to be a better way. Keep in mind that I use loops for 90% of my pre prod. If all I need is a click then DP is a snap, but I dont usually do it that way.
VATO

[bleach30]

I'm probably not going to be much help but..
Are you using pre maid loops? If so you can drag and drop the loops into the TO window and a track will be created automatically. Then you can, under the Audio menu, select set sequence to soundbite tempo. I may be leaving a step out as I do not do this often. You could also,once the loop is imported, play it and use the Tap Tempo function and tap along with it to set the sequence tempo. Hope that helps more then hurts.

[HobbyCore]

Or you can goto the wave editor, analyze tempo (tempo tab). If the audio file already has a tempo, this isn't needed.

Then go back into the sequence editor and select your loop, and goto audio->adjust sequence to soundbite tempo.

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Or you can just drag and drop the loop into the sequence or track overview window. Assuming the project is at the tempo you want it to be you can goto audio->adjust sounbites to sequence tempo. You can also goto region-quantize and select 'beats within soundbites' and set the options as you wish to quantize the beats to a previously made tempo map or to adjust the loop in a specific way.

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What is it exactly you want to do btw? I'm not sure I understand your post completely. DP6's loop handling is at least on par with logic, if not easier as well.

[Vato]

Vato Here-
Say- these are great responses- from people who obviously have used both.
But if theres no reason to be doing pre prod outside of DP - Im listening. What about auditioning the loops B4 you commit to them. In this way Logic lets you look at an organized list- while allowing you to simply click on it and listen.
I dont know about you but- I dont have a brain that can remember what every loop sounds like in my library. Garage Band alone came with a staggering amount of loops- which pooled with all the other apple loops is astronomical. Is there some way to get DP to behave that way. Auditioning really helps.
. I agree with the workflow of DP. It is like the big titty of audio apps. Easy to work with.( Excuse the Pun)
Vato

[HobbyCore]

Vato Here-
Say- these are great responses- from people who obviously have used both.
But if theres no reason to be doing pre prod outside of DP - Im listening. What about auditioning the loops B4 you commit to them. In this way Logic lets you look at an organized list- while allowing you to simply click on it and listen.
I dont know about you but- I dont have a brain that can remember what every loop sounds like in my library. Garage Band alone came with a staggering amount of loops- which pooled with all the other apple loops is astronomical. Is there some way to get DP to behave that way. Auditioning really helps.
. I agree with the workflow of DP. It is like the big titty of audio apps. Easy to work with.( Excuse the Pun)
Vato

(if you're using leopard, may work in tiger too)
Open Finder. Select a file and hit the spacebar. It's easy to integrate finder into one of your window sets. You can drag and drop as you'd expect.

[Vato]

I really appreciate all the input. Mr. Steele has put a great deal of time into making this site top shelf.
I just want to say that , while I will be eventually getting DP6, I will just for now get LOGIC 8. I have just noticed that LOGIC is way less CPU hungry as well as giving me the intuative loop support I need. I think DP will always be easier for me to some extent, however, I haven't had a chance to dive into LOGIC the way I have with DP. Anyone here who has actually used LOGIC will know what Im talking about when I say LOGIC is an APP that really does excel this way. Being able to use a media browser that is built right in ,allowing auditioning of loops (mid or audio) is a big plus for me. All the " quick swipe comping" that LOGIC is boasting is not all its cracked up to be though. DP does this- just different.
VATO

[FMiguelez]

.

You also may want to try converting at least some your loops to REX format. DP's time stretch is not the best there is, and, depending on the amount of stretching, your loops may sound like total crap. With REX, at least in theory (I almost never do this), you get to keep the attacks and most of the slice intact, and as long as the difference between the sequence tempo and the loop tempo is not that great, it might be a better option. Just try it with the same loops, and do them both ways. Then you can listen and decide which one sounds "less-bad".

If you must work with loops:
If you construct your OWN original loops, as you probably should, then you can record them at different tempos, so you always have one that is closer to the sequence's tempo, thus needing less processing either way. But unless the tempo is practically the same, you will always get some artifacts. They may be unusable, or, if you're lucky, they may be just ok.

Also, there may be more suitable apps out there to work exclusively with loops. I understand Live is great for this. Also, on the PC front, Acid is not too bad. But don't get me wrong. It's not that DP can't handle this work. Of course it can, but you may have an easier time with a specialized app for this purpose...

Just my 2 pesos.

Good luck.

[David Polich]

UVI workstation is a free plug-in that runs in DP and will load Apple Loops.

http://www.uvisoundsource.com/

[carrythebanner]

You can also get REX-like action using DP's beats. Import a loop, analyze it for beats, tweak the beats in the Sound File Editor (if necessary), then use Audio > Create Soundbites from Beats. The slices will then maintain their relative position when you make tempo changes, just like REX slices. I generally prefer using this method to using DP's time-stretching when making a loop faster than its original tempo.

[TOD]

I had the same issues with DP. There are so many steps required to audition a loop in your song's tempo.

My solution: Ableton LIVE rewired to DP.

LIVE has a great browser that let's you audition your loops while you play your track in DP at the correct tempo. Instant gratification and no fuss. Once I find the loops I like, I just record them right into my DP project.

I know that's an added expense, but I think you can download the demo for free and just use LIVE as a fancy loop auditioning tool.

Tod

[Shooshie]

I doubt they'll ever upgrade Mach5.2, but when it came out it did pretty much every kind of loop known to man. Then... about that time, Apple changed the formats of its loops. There are Apple loops that still work, but those of the new format do not. If Mach5.2 could be updated to handle those loops, it would be the perfect companion to "complete" Digital Performer. I don't expect a DAW to do all that without help. I mean, half or more of the people who use DP never see a loop employed. Period. Why should they have to deal with all that overhead in a DAW. Mach5.2 is a complete editor. One of the most impressive ever written. It just came out a moment too soon. Had it been delayed again (and we did not want that at the time) they might have been able to incorporate the new Apple format. Still, there are tens of thousands of loops which are perfectly compatible with Mach5.2; just not the newer Apple formats, which are scattered through the jam packs such that you use the ones that work, and forget about those that don't. If I recall correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong, because I really don't remember this well) even the new Apple formats are partially compatible. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I don't use loops much; only a few times, really, and then only for the sake of learning how.

Meanwhile, Mach5.2 is an incredible piece of software that should be on everyone's desktop and running in DP. It's the other half of DP, really, for those who need it, and which doesn't burden those who don't with excess complexity in DP itself.

Shooshie

[Babz]

I am a lover of DP. I recently used LOGIC for a while and found it was great for my pre production. It allowed me to just grab a loop and pull it in.
VATO

Can you explain in more detail what you mean by "grab a loop and pull it in"?

DP can do automatic format conversion, automatic tempo analysis, etc.... Does any of this have anything to do with what you're doing?

Babz

[bzfoto]

The answer is no. Dp can not browse and audition loops the way logic does.
There is a great tool you can use along with DP to audition loops called AudioFinder.
link:
http://www.icedaudio.com/

but I will say that the way DP handles, the user has much more control of the audio then you do in Logic. I have struggled in Logic trying to prevent logic from matching tempo with apple loops. Try using AudioFInder and I recommend trying the Ableton Live trial in rewire mode with DP.

[Resonant Alien]

If your loop's tempo does not match the tempo or your song, Logic is going to be a better app for constructing the loop-based part of your song (at least in DP5.13 - don't know about DP6.01). DP's pitch and tempo change leaves a lot to be desired in this area. I kept getting nasty artifacts when trying to construct drum tracks from loops at diff tempo in DP. I use Logic for all my loop construction now for that reason - then just export the track and suck it into DP for the "real" work that gets done after that

[billf]

While not the same as the Logic browser, you can use DP's built in Nanosampler as a browsing tool:

Build your own personalized library of samples, organized as you wish in the Mac OS Finder and accessed instantly from Nanosampler sub-menus that reflect your customized folder organization. You can even "collect" the samples being used, regardless of their source location, into your DP project folder for easy archiving and session exchange with your colleagues. This is the way sampling was meant to be. Simple. Powerful. Convenient. And CPU efficient. Open as many Nanosamplers as you have samples to play.

http://www.motu.com/products/software/d ... mpler.html