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Loopy Pro Verse/Chorus threshold recording problem
I´m using threshold recording with a guitar to loop. But if I try to make a verse/chorus looper I run into problems.
When activating record on the chorus section ahead of time, normally what happens on my Boss Rc500 is that the recording on that section is armed and will start immediately when the verse part has ended muting the verse at the same, but right time.
But with Loopy Pro - the verse part gets muted with this action. So pressing the chorus ahead of time mutes the verse part before it has ended, so you sit in silence and what for the chorus to start recording...
Any workarounds ? Or things I can do in the menu
Comments
Can you post screenshots of the global clip settings and your layout and maybe a demonstration of what is happening? I am not 100% clear on how you have it set up and what is happening.
Also what is being recorded ? Are you using the mic, audio interface, AU?
Is the audio threshold detecting audio before you are intending to record?
Yes, as soon as you arm a loop, it mutes the one that´s playing.
Arming a loop does not normally stop a playing loop. So, it would be useful to see the settings and demo.
Are there groups involved?
It happens when you have a group of loops that play one at a time with threshold recording. I wouldn't say it's a bug, but it definitely makes it less functional.
That might be a bug. @Michael ?
And that is a pretty specific use-case. Outside of that situation, audio threshold recording won’t normally impact already-playing loops.
Audio-threshold recording (by design) short-circuits recording start quantization. So, if you use audio threshold recording, even if arming doesn’t stop playback of other one at a time loops, the actual recording would stop the loop.
How would you be using audio threshold recording even if the arming didn’t stop a playing one-at-a-time loop?
Im using an audiointerface with a guitar plugged in..
I´m Trying to replace my Boss Rc500 pedal that has two loops (A-B). They play one at a time. While loop A is playing I can press record on section B ahead of time. Then A will finish and at that point recording will start on section B muting section A.
With loopy pressing record on section B ahead of time will mute section A before it has ended.
I actually only need threshold recording for the first loop A. Perhaps there a way to only have threshold recording for that first part and then having the rest on normal record mode ??
A couple of things. Set the global to not use threshold. Then open the settings for the particular clip and tap override for record and turn audio threshold on.
I am still curious as to why that clip is being turned off when you queue recording. Do you have them in a one-at-a-time group?
If that doesn’t do it, please post screenshots of the layout, settings and information such as whether you have groups or anything set up.
I sort of fixed the problem. I now have two groups with two loops each. I only have threshold recording on the first one and then it works when arming loop B.
But then there are other problems... On the RC500 when switching between loop A or B then every loop plays from the beginning when the other Loop finishes. On loopy this does not happen.
Is it possible to make an RC500 Vers/Chorus structure on Loopy?
That means:
Two loops that plays one at a time and they can have completely independent timing and length - they do not relate to each other in any way other than when one plays the other don't.
While loop A is playing you then press loop B and then it records when section A stops.
Switching between loops as follows:
While loop A is playing you press loop B ahead of time and it starts from the beginning of its own loop when loop A finishes and vice versa.. (with loopy the non playing loop B keeps circling around muted and then it does not play immediately when loop A ends- you have to wait for the muted playhead of loop B to travel all around the loop . Is there a way to make Loop B restart regardless of it's own length when Loop A finishes ?? Basically the playhead of the muted loop restarts when the playing loop ends...
Overdubbing:
You can overdub a loop only at the length of the first loop. But you can jump in and out when ever you fell like it. That means on a 4 bar loop you can press overdub perhaps only on bar 2 and it will always play at bar 2. Then you can later do an overdub on bar 1 and it will aways stay at bar 1 etc...
Thanks a lot for the help
@xmortenx : a few things.
Audio threshold recording. Did you try my suggestion of setting the global clip setting so that audio threshold recording is off and then enabling it for just the one loop where you need it? If you don't know how to do that let me know.
Phase Lock vs free
You wrote: "loop plays from the beginning when the other Loop finishes. On loopy this does not happen.:
This sounds like you have Phase-Lock turned on. It will be worth your while to read the manual to understand the various settings and/or watch some of the great video tutorials out here.
Here is a quick explainer about phase-lock vs. free loops. From what you describe, I think you want to turn phase lock off.
PLAYING LOOPS END TO END. If you have free loops and play start/stop quantization is set to loop in a one-at-a-time group, if you tap a loop while another is playing, it will start playing when the first loop finishes.
If you want it set up so that when one loop is playing the next loop will start recording when the playing loop is finished (when loop lengths are unrelated) it is a little more complicated but once set up, you can save it as a template and never do the setup again. I'll discuss it in a follow up if you answer a few questions:
Question 1: is it acceptable to set it up so that you could queue recording of Loop B a measure or two measures before Loop A finishes or do you need it totally automated so that you can queue at any time while Loop A is playing and have recording start when Loop A gets to the end? (The former is much easier to set up)
Question 2: are you interacting with loopy by touch or midi commands?
Overdubbing
You can overdub any length you want. You can also set things up so that overdubbing isn't quantized. There are many ways to set that up.
Please either reply to this message or @ me so that I get a notification. Otherwise, I might not see your post.
And it's an amazing feature. I use it on the first loop and I love it that you can start recording at any time and always get a perfect loop. It would be perfect if the playing loop would also stop at the threshold point though
You could set that up with follow actions
Thank you a lot for you suggestions.
I have spent the whole night and day reading watching and videos while trying to build a Verse / Chorus looper inside Loopy pro... But I keep running into limitations. Perhaps Loopy is not build for this. With Quantiloop Pro it takes a second to do this..
I need two loops - A and B that each have their own independent timing and are supposed to cut each other off at the end of each others cycle when engaged. If B is not to cut A off abruptly when pressed ahead of time then you need to set its recording timing to master or loop. But then when you overdub on B you can not drop in and out of recording since it is set to master or loop so you overdubs will have to wait for the play head to be in position.
Making one more loop to support B is not possible since the group setting "mutual exclusive to A" only functions if you set all loops in group B to play and start together..
Trying to make just one group with two loops that can "only play one at a time" also ends up end in a dead end on the B loop side. Again to not to make B cut A of abruptly when pressed B needs to have its recording settings set to master or loop but then again dropping in and out of overdubbing is not possible since B is set to master or loop.. ?
Everything I have tried ends of with loop B not being able to drop in and out of overdub freely.
Can anyone please confirm if it will be impossible to do this inside Loopy Pro - so I do not chase the impossible here ?
Thank you again
@xmortenx : I’ve tried to address some of this in earlier posts. But since there was no response to the suggestions or questions, I am not quite sure what didn’t work. Rather than try to address all of the many implicit questions, let’s deal with one at a time. Trying to deal with all at once may lend itself to confusion.
For playback, if you want one at a time loops that play to completion when a new loop is tapped that is simple.
The simplest way is to put them in a one at a time group. Set the play quantization (both start and stop) to loop. Make sure phase lock is off. It is pretty much for when loops are the same length.
Let’s get this straightened out. Then discuss the next issue.
Here is a demonstration of the play setup
@xmortenx : when you reply, can you post a screenshot of what you want your project to look like. It would be helpful to see the number of loops and buttons you want. It will be much easier to discuss concretely and without confusion.
Btw, on the Discord, I posted a template that shows one method of how to have different record quantization when overdubbing than when doing initial recording:
https://discord.com/channels/922977925182132245/1149198699772256256
@espiegel123
Sorry watched your video and forgot those questions
I loop guitar and guitar only.
1 = It would be best if you could press B any time and it would just start playing/recording when A finishes.
2= I planned on using touch, but to do this I need the first recording to be hands free threshold recording and unless you can do some magic trick so threshold recording is only for the initial recording - thenI will be forced to use a midi controller. But I would prefer this setup to be touch only
I have screenshots ready and as you suggested I have a two loops in group that play one at a time. With these settings I can get everything to work with the only caveat that loop B can not overdub freely since Loop B has to be set to some kind of sync to wait for Loop A to finish and then overdub has to wait for the loop to go round...
But my design does not have to be the basis of anything. I will take whatever design that gives me: Two independent loops. That can have separate timing and length. That plays one at a time and waits for the other to finish. Is able to drop in and out of overdub instantly.
Here are my initial screenshots:
Re overdubbing: see the discussion and template that I posted that has quantized initial recording and unquantized overdubbing
https://discord.com/channels/922977925182132245/1149198699772256256
That template could be modified so that initial recoding is threshold and overdubbing isn’t.
Also, as I explained, you can easily make loop a use threshold recording but not loop b. Did you try that?
If you are ok with changing your requirements for recording to be that loop b’s recording gets queued one or two bars ahead of time that is trivial to set up.
A little complexity is added to be able to queue the recording by tapping at any time during loop A’s playback.
I am working on example of that.
It would be helpful if you could describe how you want to end the loop b recording. Are you going to end it and have it loop or do you want its recording to end and loop a start?
I will end both A and B by pressing them. I play guitar and when I want to end the loop I just tap it while strumming a long chord.
Would it be possible for you to build a Loopy Touch version of a Boss Rc500 ?
Two independent loops that play one at a time Loop A and Loop B (loop B can be any length and does not have anything to do with A with regards to timing)
When pressed they wait to play/record until the other loop finishes
They can both drop in/out of overdub instantly
There is Undo/Redo button pr.
There is an Stop all / Clear button
If it's way easier to que loop B 2 bars ahead of time then it might work. The only drawback is you have to remember this while playing but if I think about it I normally press B when A is about to end
Ps, I do not use the metronome or think about bars or anything when I loop. I just record section A and then Section B without giving any thought to the timing or internal workings of the looper
Here is a demonstration of a few things:
audio threshold for initial recording but not overdubs
no quantization for overdubs but there is quantization for initial recording (though the quantization doesn't really come into play in)
@xmortenx : I don't have any looper hardware.
When you say that the two loops have unrelated lengths, do the lengths have to have full number of beats or they need to be able to be any length? (i.e. one loop might be four measures long -- since loopy will use the initial loop as a time base -- and the other might be 8.3 measures?)
Undo/Redo
Stop All (but since there is only ever one loop I am not sure where 'all' comes in) and Clear
are all easy. Just add widgets to the layout and assign those actions to the widgets.
The Two loops unrelated lengths are just to make sure that you can play what ever you like on Loop B without having to worry about A. Sometimes you want B to completely different to A like the Beatles etc..
So the answer to your question is A can be any length and B can be any length. They have no timing relation other than they wait for the other loop to finish..
I'll try to find some time to implement a version of what you have described.