Drum and audio loop going out of sync despite being matched up

Hi there,

 

I have a problem when looping a sample and a section of drums.

 

When I first line them up at the start of the track they appear to be perfected aligned. However, as the loop progresses the audio sample becomes ever so slightly out and therefore the drums do too.

 

I've screenshotted what it looks like further down the grid

 

Is there any way to ensure a software instrument and a sample are perfectly aligned and stay that way along the entire track?

 

Your audio loop is slightly longer than the desired number of bars. Let's say it's 2 bars long, when you check its length (hold down the bottom right corner of the region) it should be 2 0 0 0 and not 2 0 0 0. (see that last dot at the end? It means the length has a few samples more or less than 2 0 0 0). Try cutting the loop with the Marquee tool. If all else fails, don't loop the region but repeat it so each repeat ends up exactly on the downbeat regardless of the loop's length.

Another method is to zoom all the way in (as I think it already is in the screenshot) then resize the loop until it aligns. The . after the length should indeed disappear.

 

Another method is to zoom all the way in (as I think it already is in the screenshot) then resize the loop until it aligns. The . after the length should indeed disappear.

The problem is depending on the project tempo this may or may not work. In fact if you look at your .gif the . is still present at the end of your length reading. I've had better success with the Marquee tool.

No, you missed it. The dot disappears just before I release the hook. I think both methods achieve the same, you are just completely smitten with the marquee tool!

The three 'jumps' you can see in the gif are actually single samples.

 

You're completely right I was looking at the - 0 0 0 0. and missed that the length was actually 2 0 0 0

I just have to put in a vote for my favorite tool for length and position operations since LP5, both in arrange (tracks view) and in piano roll, the event float ! I would select the region, hit option e (to open event float), doubleclick the length, type "2" and hit enter.

EDIT forgot position edits

Typical LP X. You want to do 'thing x'? OK, here's 27 different methods.

Well, maybe not 27, but there are more than these three.

For example, your method can also be used in the (region level) Event Editor (which doesn't float). So that's method 4. Method 5 is to do the resizing in the Track Editor (instead of in the Tracks Area).

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for all the help guys. I repeated the sample manually, which wasn't as quick and easy as hitting the L key, but definitely did the trick in terms of getting everything in time.

Goot to hear. Next time though, you can select the region and use Edit > Repeat Multiple... to make multiple repeats in one go.