Looping midi regions when there are notes across the bar line.

[toysun]

Not sure how to manage this. I write a 2 bar bass line, the line musically starts with, say, a 3 8th note pickup into beat 4 and that sustains into the first bar. I can understand how to mange the first bar of this, but how do I get this to loop? Re-attacking the note causes it to sound again. Is the secret overlapping loops?

Hope the explanation is clear.

Thanks,

John

[polanoid]

You need to uncheck the "Clip Length" checkbox in the Region Inspector, then the notes will sound until their end and not only until the end of the region, even if they are looped.

[toysun]

Hi, I was so excited to try this, but it's not working. I realize that a visual is going to help. Please note the below is unquantized, but that's what we want musically. We like the timing. The problem is the sustained note across the bar. It's a 2 bar phrase, but it starts ahead of beat 1.

[polanoid]

That note looks like it’s completely inside the region so I don’t understand what the problem is?

[toysun]

It is, but since it's a 2 bar phrase (albeit one that goes over the bar line) I'd like to loop it. I guess, seeing your post, that I could just use repeat objects and just string it out, but the ideal would be to trim it to the 2 bar phrase that it is musically, and be able to loop it.

 

[polanoid]

ah ok. in that case the note at the start of the 2 bar region will of course override the one shortly before the end because it’s the same pitch. so you should make a copy of the region, delete the first note from that and loop that copy.

[toysun]

I tried that, but it didn't work. Can you confirm that you can have a note that sustains past the end of the region and loop that? I can't seem to get that to work.

Thanks

[polanoid]

33 minutes ago, toysun said:

I tried that, but it didn't work. Can you confirm that you can have a note that sustains past the end of the region and loop that? I can't seem to get that to work.

Thanks

yes, I can confirm that, with Clip Length switched off. Can you post your project so I or others in this forum can have a look?

[polanoid]

Here's an example project where it works as I think you want it to. The red notes do sustain beyond the end of the region (also in the looped area). Note that, because of the note at the start of the first region, I have made a copy of that region, deleted the first note from it, and looped the copy.

Note sustained over region end.logicx.zip

Edited September 28, 2023 by polanoid

[David Nahmani]

3 hours ago, toysun said:

I tried that, but it didn't work.

It works here as @polanoid described. Are you looping the region, or working in cycle mode? 

[polanoid]

Ah! Indeed there might be a misuse of the word "loop" here. @toysun, if you're trying to achieve this in cycle mode (sustaining notes after a cycle jump) you're out of luck. 

[toysun]

Thanks everyone for digging in. The attached project should help illustrate the issue. I've also included a workaround which is to divide the line into 2 overlapping bars. This works, but I bet there is a better way to do it.

Best,

John

Super Rainy Day.zip

[polanoid]

11 hours ago, toysun said:

Thanks everyone for digging in. The attached project should help illustrate the issue. I've also included a workaround which is to divide the line into 2 overlapping bars. This works, but I bet there is a better way to do it.

Best,

John

Super Rainy Day.zip 1.17 MB · 0 downloads

That's interesting/weird. Turning Clip Length off doesn't seem to work for that region. I will investigate further. Stay tuned. Maybe someone else has an idea as well.

[polanoid]

Switching Clip Length off and on again seems to fix this for me!? Do you have that too?

[toysun]

I don't know how to get that to work - I can't seem to get a 2 bar region with a note that extends past (or before) the region limits. If I make the region into a 2 bar, as soon as the end or beginning of the region moves past the note, that note disappears. This is true whether I have Clip Length on or off 😞
See my bar 19. If I drag the beginning of that to bar 20, that first long note disappears... (my cycle is set to the 2 bar phrase I want to repeat)

[polanoid]

why would you edit the left region border?

[toysun]

Well, I'm trying anything I can! 😀
I'm trying to make that into a 2 bar loop, when Logic seems to need it to be a 3 bar loop, which of course, doesn't loop correctly from a musical point of view.
You said you got it to work with Clip Length off, correct? And you were able to make a 2 bar loop that looped, with the anticipated beat 1? Would you post your working file? Maybe that would help me.

Thanks for hanging in on this!

[polanoid]

4 hours ago, toysun said:

Would you post your working file?

Here you go. Changed right border of region, switched Clip Length on and off again (that this is necessary looks like a bug in Logic to me), looped the region - voilà, last note plays over the region end.

Super Rainy Day polanoid version.logicx.zip

[toysun]

Ok, at least it is a bug! (and I'm not crazy). I never remember this as an issue (if you check my signature, I go way back with Logic, but really haven't used it much since the Apple redesign, so big route back for me).

Thank you so much for helping, we (it's my daughter's music) really appreciate it. Good for her to see how a community works online.

Best,

John

 

[polanoid]

2 hours ago, toysun said:

Ok, at least it is a bug!

I wonder how to replicate it though as this doesn’t happen in my projects…

[toysun]

I think I've found the source of the bug. If any kind of "follow tempo" function is used, it seems to break the clip length concept. Even after I tried to kill off variable tempo (tempo maps?) the bug remains. 
This doesn't surprise me, as in my very long Logic history (albeit, I've been away from it for many years), most of the automatic functions to accommodate "out of time" content by using variable tempo didn't really work. Others may have better experiences and maybe it just works better, but here it certainly seems to be the cause.