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#139488 12/08/11 04:38 AM
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Often when a new feature is added, its potential may not be immediately evident to everybody. I think the ability to add LOOPS is a feature that would benefit from some user examples. Therefore, the purpose of this thread is to capture the ways you are using loops so others can get ideas and start using this powerful new ability.

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Loops add a new way to make cover songs that sound remarkably like the original.

I've noticed that the intro to MANY songs uses a drum pattern or other instrumental motif that is repeated throughout the song. You may have tried to find a real drum that matches the unique pattern in some song, and came up empty.

Now you can cut the intro to a song you want to reproduce, trim the drum pattern to an even number of bars that captures the full pattern, then add it to the loops directory.

If you start your project with this snippet, you'll be amazed by how much the original drum pattern makes the rest of the real tracks fit the song.

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Another way to use loops in RB:

Good arrangements rarely allow all the same instruments to play through the whole song... in some passges instruments fade or drop out completely, and new instruments or sounds come forward to add sonic variety.

Now the loops can fill in some of those spaces. A shaker here or a tambourine there... the ability to phase new sounds into the mix makes any song sound more interesting and less predictable

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we often see requests for individual drum real tracks. Loops are perfect for that task, and totally customizeable by the user. You could use MIDI to create the snippets as needed, then save the snippets as audio. This would allow the assembly of many different 1 beat, 2 beat, 3 beat, 4 beat etc kick drum loops, drum rolls, hi hats etc.

In fact many such loops already exist, some of them for free on the web

And you can also capture your drum snippets from existing songs.

etc. Use your imagination. The possibilities boggle the mind!

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You can sample environmental sounds and change the pitch to make songs out of animal noises (Remember the barking dogs singing Jingle bells?)

or car doors slamming. etc etc.

Any kind of cacophany can morph into a metered and structured composition.

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Add emotional appeal to a song you've written for some special occasion by adding the voices of grandkids, friends, church members, pets, or any other environmental sounds associated with that special event.

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This reminds me of how ahead of the curve Rharv is. Several years ago he posted a song in which I swear I heard a dog barking in the background. He confirmed it was placed in there by intent

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It is still RHarv's fault though!!


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How do I use loops?
Tried instructions per the manual.
When I e.g. select the strings track and then click on Select a loop for this track, it opens a window. But it says I have no loops in my Real Tracks folder. So, opened the Real tracks folder and the loops shipped with BB 2012.5 are there. They are .bt6 files.
So how do I add them to a track and play them?
thanks.


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What is your RealTracks folder set to in Options > Preferences > Song Generation c:\bb\RealTracks\ or an external drive ?
You should have wav & wma as well as the bt6 files.
I think in the earlier version that you have there was only nature loops and some Tambourines.
You can get plenty of free loops on the net just put them in the loops folder and enter the setting for the loops if they don't show, the later version read the loop info from Acid loops.

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Solidrock, I am not clear about your reply.."What is your RealTracks folder set to in Options > Preferences > Song Generation c:\bb\RealTracks\ or an external drive ?"

ALL my biab files are on my c drive.
In the real tracks/loops folder I see 14 Nature sounds loops,7 percussion loops; all are bt6 files.
Should they not be wav or wma files to be used? I don't know how to convert them yet.
There is nothing else in the Loops folder.


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You are missing the audio files that go with them like wav or wma.
Just do a search for Free Loops, get the loops you need and the loop info like key, tempo or beats and enter that info for each file this will make a bt6 file for each file, these stores the info you entered.
If you have all your files on C:\bb don't worry about the RealTracks folder options.

Download them here: Nature_Sounds_Loops.zip Percussion_Loops.zip


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