Inaccurate loop length

[darudevil]

Could someone please explain to me why does this happen, or if I'm doing something wrong, so I can fix it?

1) I take 5 kick samples, put them on 1,2,3,4 on the first bar, then 1 on the second bar.
2) I merge them.
3) I cut the loop at the second bar first beat, to make a 4 kick loop (to be used as sidechain trigger in this case; and yeah, I know I can use sampler etc, but that's beside my point). Logic shows it's cutting exactly on bar 2 first beat and the length is 1 bar.
4) I loop this over the whole track, say 200-300 bars.
5) I zoom in on bar 310 and I see that the kick is not accurately on the beat anymore. The difference is small, sure, but it IS off, which bugs the sh!t out of me!! And it does trigger the sidechain early.
6) I've tried to tweak the loop/region length in arrangement and sample editor to make it accurately EXACTLY one bar, but the loop is pretty much always off by some fraction. What the hell am I missing here? I'm using Smart Snapping, but I've tried other options too, to no avail.
7) When I Convert Loops To Real Copies, the ones later in the arrangement, after 200 bars start being of by one, two, three, even 5 ticks the further the time goes. (So it's not just a visual thing, but actual timing issue)

[ski]

Midi loop length distorts over time?!!!

[David]

Logic shows it's cutting exactly on bar 2 first beat and the length is 1 bar.

Make sure there's not a dot after the length numbers. You can click-hold the region to see if it's 1 0 0 0 (exactly one bar) or 1 0 0 0. (not exactly one bar).

I use the Marquee tool to quickly cut regions to an exact number of bars.

[EricBradley]

This is ski and fader 8 beating around the bush:

http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=61977

[darudevil]

Ski to the rescue!

Thanks for the info, and to let you know, I did search for "loop length not accurate" and a couple of others, but didn't come across this.

Aggrevating. I call it a bug, I don't care. Using scissors should be accurate "smartly". What does Logic (developer) think I want to do when I'm not zoomed in and I snip at 1st beat (or 16th for eg)? Duh.

[darudevil]

Same result with Marquee tool.
And while cutting with scissors there's no . in the end. And neither is with Marquee tool. And, David, I understand that you like Marquee tool, and I'm glad it works for you, but it's a workaround which shouldn't be needed, the scissors should "just work". Sillyness this is, tiny little thing that has now been around for several updates.

Regardless of me probably sounding grrrrrrr-ey, which I am, thanks all for chiming in, I know it's not your fault!

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

Have they changed the behaviour of the scissors in L9?

They always snip exactly to the bar for me.

[David]

David, I understand that you like Marquee tool, and I'm glad it works for you, but it's a workaround which shouldn't be needed

I know, and I agree with you, I was just trying to provide a workaround.

[ski]

To the OP, you're welcome!

To the right Rev., if I recall correctly, this problem first cropped up in Logic 8. The thing is, this problem won't happen to you until it does. One day. Out of the blue. When you least expect it. It's inconsistent behavior.

Looking at the date of my own post on this topic in this thread, I'm not sure if I was referring to L8 or L9.

This is ski and fader 8 beating around the bush:

http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=61977

LOL!

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

To the right Rev., if I recall correctly, this problem first cropped up in Logic 8. The thing is, this problem won't happen to you until it does. One day. Out of the blue. When you least expect it.

Oh man, now I'm scared...

[ruari]

The thing is, this problem won't happen to you until it does. One day. Out of the blue. When you least expect it. It's inconsistent behavior.

It's happening to me on a drum loop I've just made, it's a frustrating little bugger for sure

I use the Marquee tool to quickly cut regions to an exact number of bars.

Usually that works fine for me too but not this time, the marquee method is cutting ever so slightly after the bar & either the split region by locators or the scissors are cutting ever so slightly too early. I can't get an accurate 1 bar loop no matter what I'm trying here, even after I've made the edits & tried time stretch to nearest bar I still can't get it.

In the screenshots I've placed the region on 1.1.1.1 & zoomed in at bar 128.

Marquee method

Screen shot 2012-02-12 at 15.14.13.png

Scissors method

Screen shot 2012-02-12 at 15.16.01.png

[redlogic]

Open the file in the Sample Editor.
Make sure Edit > Snap Edits to Zero Crossings is NOT checked.
Zoom all the way in on the region end and set it to exactly one bar.
Go to Edit > Selection -> Region.
You may need to add a small fade out to the region in the Arrange window, if it pops or clicks due to Snap Edits to Zero Crossings being disabled.

[fader8]

Open the file in the Sample Editor.
Make sure Edit > Snap Edits to Zero Crossings is NOT checked.
Zoom all the way in on the region end and set it to exactly one bar.
Go to Edit > Selection -> Region.

While that works, it's a long version of trimming the region by locator in the Arrange.

I've said it before and I still stand by it. Using the locator edit functions is the best way to work in a loop oriented workflow.

[ruari]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but neither of those is working on this loop either. I had already tried the split region by locators & the crop button yesterday but I tried them again to see if it was going to work today.

Even when I zoom in as far as I can go in the sample editor I can only get either 3.3.239. or 1.0.0.0. it's never an exact measure.

I've tried it in a couple of empty projects to see if that helps but nothing I try has worked so far, I've attached the loop here in case anyone here would like to try.

It's not the end of the world for me, more of a mild annoyance.

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

What's the bpm?

[ruari]

128

[fader8]

Sample rate?

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

Works fine for me with "cut by playhead" and scissor tool on Logic 8. Looped it for 101 bars, no problems.

[ruari]

Sample rate?

44.1

@Rev - I've tried cut by playhead too & it's just not playing ball, I'm on 9.1.6 though

[Rev. Juda$ Sleaze]

Weird

Oh, and have you read the forum guidelines? You should put your Logic version in your signature