using drum loops

Hi there, nTrack has been recommended to me by some friends but I have a question.

I previously used an old version of ACID for music mixing. One major advantage was that I could add drums to my songs as loops, easy to drag them across a section etc.

I gave the nTrack demo a quick try and it seems that I cannot use loops so easily.

Can anyone confirm if there is a way or option setting that would make it easier to drag and repeat loops across an nTrack track.

Please ask if I’m not being clear

Tony

You are correct, n-Track does not handle loops as nicely as other progs. But workarounds are not too difficult.

I recommend enabling “snap to grid” (under the “Edit” => “Grid” menu). The grid makes it quite easy to paste multiple copies of the same short wav file and have everything line up perfectly. The keystroke “ctrl-shift-v” will paste a copy of the wav file that’s in the clipboard at the end of the current track.

But I agree, it would be nice if n-Track could handle looping natively.

hth,
mrtoad

With N you pretty much have to copyand paste.

I don’t use loops, but have mucked around with them to see what all the fuss was about.
I found Acid a lot easier as you can paste, stretch, pitch shift and chop up the loop incredibly easy with Acid.

Acid is not so easy to record and mix audio though.
The one time I did use loops to make a dodgy dance song I rendered some loops in Acid and then imported the wavs into N to mix.

Rich

BPM has become one of the most important things for me when recording music.

Set your songs BPM in n-track. Turn on the grid. If you have a wav in there make sure it’s ends are dragged to fit in the grid, which is your songs bpm. Click once on the wav to hichlight it. Then CTRL+C to copy. Then CTRL+SHFT+V multiple times to loop it.

Note, the grid is not necessarily necessary as the CTRL+SHFT+V command will link your copies perfectly to the preceding section.

Quote (RichLum @ Sep. 01 2005,17:49)
Acid is not so easy to record and mix audio though.
The one time I did use loops to make a dodgy dance song I rendered some loops in Acid and then imported the wavs into N to mix.

My friend is an acid-head (so to speak) and I've got him onto n-track now so he uses each of them for their particular strengths for any given song.

I use Acid to creat my drum and base lines then save as wav. then insert the wave file into n-track…then record my guitars and vocals in n track.

Cruiser

Interesting, I never really thought about using ACID for some parts and nTrack for others. I am quite adept with Acid even for mixing audio what would I be getting from nTrack that I’m not getting from ACID (3.0 by the way)

I’ve never compared the two function for function but my guess is that n-track is specifically built for recording so it’s probably more adept at the finer points of recording than acid would be. As Acid’s main trip is to sequence wav files with recording as a side issue with out a whole lot of development…just a guess tho. besides I like the console view of n track better than Acid. I use them both quite a bit.

Cheers
Cruiser :cool:

Yup, what Cruiser said… n-Track is a very competent multitrack audio recording, mixing and mastering tool. Acid is all about loops, which are short wave files with extra info attached allowing them to be stretched and otherwise manipulated in Acid. n-Track will play the .wav audio part of a loop but can’t handle the additional, loop related data that allows automatic fit to time signature and so on. I have inserted normal and one-hit loops into n-Track songs, copying and pasting as required. The song has to match the bpm of the loop.

Cheers
T.

I create the whole song, drums and bass lines first in Acid from beginning to end with all chord changes in the bass line and tempo required for the song. for cover songs I can do this in about an hour or so.then import the bass wav file and the drum file as separate wavs then playback and record guitars and vocals. What I find cool about this is that when i work on another song I can use a previous drum file and just tweak it for a different song without having to start from scratch. Especially when creating back up for performing cover songs like johnny b good and traveling band, they are pretty much the same as far as percussion goes. :blues:

Cheers
Cruiser

One great thing that you can do ( with acid 4 and Ntrack 3.6 anyway) is in Acid, you can render the tracks and send them to N-track either as a stereo wave or with the individual tracks…in one click. I find N much easier to mix with and you have access to VST in it too. So it is soooooooo cool to set up drum loops or any other type of loop, I record some guitar there too. Then I ship it over to N and take it from there…very nice!

You could also use a program called fl studio (used to be fruity loops) - this is better than acid IMO and even imports native acid loops. More importantly, it is a rewire client which means you can bring it into ntrack as a vst plugin for your rhythm needs (and oh boy does it do that well!!!) and use ntrack for audio recording (which fl studio DOES NOT do so well). Best of both worlds for a song and a dance - a really great combination - each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Hope that helps. Look here -> www.flstudio.com

Mike