How do I create additional instances of a sample? – Forum Post & Discussion Thread : macProVideo.com

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Zero
Posts: 2

Joined: Feb 15th, 2012, 04:19

How do I create additional instances of a sample?

Feb 15th, 2012, 04:56

I'm an expert with Acid Pro, but I'm new to Logic and having a hard time getting the basics down. I can't find a fast way to lay down a bunch of copies of a sound. If, for example, I drag a kick drum sample into the edit area, Logic makes a new channel for it and puts one kick down for me to start with. Then I'd like to put a few more kicks in to make a beat. The only way I've found to do it is to click on the original sound, copy, drag the playhead to the new location, and paste. This is really time-consuming. Doing it this way, a three-second drum loop with snares and hihats took more than ten minutes to make. In Acid, I can just click where I want the new sound to go and the program will just put a new instance there. The same loop would have taken about one or two minutes. I played around with the different tool tips and I thought the pencil tool was what I wanted. However, using this just creates an empty audio region with no sound in it (even though the new region is still labelled as "kick whatever"). Why would I want an empty audio region? I know I must be doing something wrong. Can anyone tell me what I'm missing? I'm using Logic Pro 9 on a new MacBook Pro running OSX 10.7.3
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Rounik Admin
Posts: 8713

Joined: Dec 16th, 2006, 08:13

Re: How do I create additional instances of a sample?

Feb 16th, 2012, 06:12

Hi Zero, Logic Pro is a very deep application with many different ways to achieve the same desired effect. However, some ways of working will require you to learn the "Logic' way - which may not necessarily seem logical ;-) OK. First thing... if you want to repeat an audio region in the Arrange area, rather than Option-dragging it choose the Repeat Regions from the 'Regions' local menu in the Arrange area. Here you can choose to repeat the region by different increments, e.g. every beat, bar, etc. You could build up a one bar loop and then pack it in a folder and then repeat the folder too... Alternatively, you could bring in your own samples into Ultrabeat and then quickly program a pattern there. This is generally considered an easier way to program beats as working with MIDI data is more flexible than audio. Either way, I'd recommend checking out the Logic 101 tutorial-video which'll take you through all the steps needed to build a song from start to finish. Give Logic Pro a little time... it certainly has a very different workflow than Acid and other DAWs, but IMHO it's worth taking the extra time to learn how it works. Hope this helps :)
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Zero
Posts: 2

Joined: Feb 15th, 2012, 04:19

Re: How do I create additional instances of a sample?

Feb 17th, 2012, 10:13

Thanks, Rounik. I tried the "repeat region" method and the command-R shortcut does help a little. I don't think it's going to quite get me the speed I want, though. There's a dialogue box that always pops up in between and it doesn't seem to let me just breeze past it with default options by hitting enter; I have to physically move the mouse over and click "ok". It is faster than the way I was trying it, though, so I'm excited about that. I'm not familiar with Ultrabeat, so I'm going to find out about that and try that next.
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Rounik Admin
Posts: 8713

Joined: Dec 16th, 2006, 08:13

Re: How do I create additional instances of a sample?

Feb 18th, 2012, 05:02

Hi Zero, The fact you can't hit 'Return' in the Repeat Region window is a really annoying bug(!) - sorry about that. However, Logic is highly customisable and you can create your own keyboard shortcuts for virtually any command (in the menus and not!) which can give you much more flexibility than using Repeat Regions anyhow! So, if you wish to work using audio regions in the Arrange area to create drum patterns without touching the mouse here's what I would do: (Note that I've assigned key commands (KC) to certain functions. You can do this in Logic Pro > preferences > Key Commands). Set these ones up (or learn the existing kcs): - Forward - Forward by division - Rewind - Rewind by division - Pickup clock 1. Import your audio samples (e.g. kick, snare, hh, etc.) on to separate audio tracks in the Arrange area. Bring them all to the start on 1 1 1 1. Set the Division value in the Transport display to /16. 2. Command-A to select all and hit 'M' (to mute regions). Use the Up Arrow key to go to the first track. The kick should be selected. If not, hit the right arrow key and then hit 'M' to unmute it. 3. Command-C to copy the selected kick region. Use the KC for 'Forward by Division value'. Hit Command-V to paste the region. Continue until you've created the pattern you're happy with. 4. Hit the down arrow. The snare region should be selected. Hit 'M' to unmute and copy it. Let's say you want the snare to start on 1 2 11 (not 1 1 1 1). Either delete the first one and then create you pattern or use the KC: 'Pickup clock' to move the region to the position of the playhead. 5. Continue this process until you've built up a pattern. I find I can build up an 4 bar pattern with 8 tracks very quickly this way. Hope this helps :)
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