Hi Jim,

I just wonder if anyone has given thought to Prefab Loops, i.e. in the Apple Loops or Sony Fruity Loop format.  I ask because personally, as a Composer/Arranger of Band shows, I have had the need many times to fill a section of music with Battary work and don't want to spend the time myself creating somthing that is a merely a ";Scratch Track"; since the Drumline Arranger does all of their specific writing all I need is a Loop for ";Scratch material"; to complete the demo for the design team to critique.  VDL is a supurb product that broke new ground when it was introduced but is obviously geared for the writer of Battary or Front Ensemble scores.

What would be tremendously helpful (wishlist):

Various Snare, Quint, Bass Drum Loops at different tempi (maybe 4 to 6 differnt tempi) and various lengths 4, 6, 8 Bars (depending on the time signature).  Because Loops have the amazing flexability to be adjusted based on the tempo of the project that 4 to 6 different tempi should pretty much cover gamut with very little audio degradation.

Personally, I would not need Front Ensemble Loops because I would just write that material ";Straight up";.  However from a marketing stand point it could be useful.

Since all of the samples already exist developing various Loops from the current Library should not be difficult.  Maybe it is? I don't know.

So, what do you think?

-Ray

I think it's a good idea...  maybe they can be shared, but I wonder what the best way to do that would be...

This thought has bounced around the cobwebs in my head from time to time. Implementation is the main thing we'd need to consider. As with many things we venture forth with, things are sometimes easier said than done. But this is something we've actually talked about for some time now. If something might come to reality, we'll be sure to let you know. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's good to see there might be an interest in this sort of thing.

It could be something like a subforum where people post ";Royalty Free"; clips in Finale/Sibelius format that can be copied and pasted into other songs.  I'm sure plenty of people would submit something.

[quote author=J Mattson link=topic=2026.msg10322#msg10322 date=1192213607]
";Royalty Free"; clips in Finale/Sibelius format
[/quote]
Now that Sibelius 5 has their ";Ideas pane"; implemented that would be an excellent possibility.�� For myself however, I compose and arrange in Logic, then export to Sibelius for score editing.�� That's why an Apple Loop format would be stellar.�� Both ideas would be of tremendous value though.

I have half a mind to spend the time in the off season and create some generic loops of my own to fit my purposes but you guys at Tapspace would do a much better job. ;-)

Yeah, that's where things get tricky. Apple Loop format would be great for the big Garage Band/Logic crowd, but may not be as helpful for people who use Reason or Fruity Loops (or Finale/Sibelius as mentioned). It'd be tricky to supply all of these different formats. These are good ideas to bat around.

I actually think it would be best to just simply create some 4-bar, single instrument loops... though that gets tricky, too.  You would probably want to make the midi files independent, such as a loop-style-a/snare, along with loop-style-a/bass, and then separate them by tempo categories.  Then insert the midi as needed, working with all programs.  Maybe convert them after, but at first, simple MIDI.

I realized that I used to use the method more during composition than I thought.  For many of my scores, I'd write a 4-bar section, highlight it, repeat it through most of the score, and then go back and put in the ideas.  FWIW, I usually score in what seems to be an odd way, but I'd:

Listen to the original
Plug in the ideas I was sure I wanted to achieve
Vamp the rest
Color in the rest of the ideas
Create and enjoin section transitions
Clean

The weird thing was that I was sort of making these loops every time, but I didn't realize how it would be easier if I were able to throw in a set of ideas that were already there for the taking.  Ah, progress.

With Finale's ability to import Audio Tracks (only 1 unfortuantely) this is an option.�� This feature is still very basic and the loop would have to be the right length.�� If the Loops were different lengths this might give some more options.�� I think the best would be if they were in Midi format.�� You could then import it into the notation environment and then copy and paste that into the file that you are working on with the correct mapping and sound setup.�� It would be nice to import Midi into new tracks on an already existing document...who knows when that will come.�� ��:)

MIDI Might be the easiest achievable option and most versatile at this time.

This would be kind of cool, I tend to write frontline parts to battery ";loops"; to get a groove going, then go back and fill in the real battery beats.

MIDI would be a great option.  Easiest to conform to different tempos, and you can use your own samples.

[quote]Yeah, that's where things get tricky. Apple Loop format would be great for the big Garage Band/Logic crowd, but may not be as helpful for people who use Reason or Fruity Loops (or Finale/Sibelius as mentioned). It'd be tricky to supply all of these different formats. These are good ideas to bat around.[/quote]

I'm not sure it would be as tricky as you think.  Once you have the source material  for the loop, converting it into the different formats shouldn't be that tricky.  It would require different DAW's. i.e. Logic, Reason, Fruity Loops, etc. to render the loop, but the source material remains constant.  The MIDI loop is even easier.  Most DAW's will import these with ease and Sibelius can import these into the ";Ideas pane";.  I'm sure finale could import the raw MIDI file and then the user would be able to do the loop.

I would sure love for this idea to gain traction.  I cannot tell you how much it would help speed up might workflow.

-Ray