Tips & Tricks

Using Drum Sample Tracks to Make Loops

Drum sample CD's, like Groove Masters Drums from East/West Samples, are an excellent source for drum sounds and making your own loops. They are great for quickly getting an idea down, or for trying out several different grooves or tempos.

Oftentimes, an entire collection of beats, fills and cymbals will be on one CD track, and you will have to select and copy the part you need for your tune onto another track. Here is a really easy way to do that:

1. Create 2 new stereo Audio tracks

2. Import the CD track you are going to use onto the topmost of the 2 tracks

3. Turn on both Tab to Transients and Command Focus

4. Press Tab to go to the first transient peak of the part you want to copy

5. Hold down Shift and then press Tab to select the rest of the part. If the last transient is too weak for the Tab to recognize it, hold down Shift and then click with the Selector tool where you want the part to end.

6. In either the Transport or Location Indicators window, make sure the selection is the correct length. This will be exactly one or two measures long if you are going to use it as a loop. Loop play the selection to make sure it sounds right. If there are any pops or clicks, go back and make sure the selection starts and ends on a zero-crossing point!

7. Press C (which copies the selection since you have Command Focus turned on), then press the semi-colon key (which will shift the selection to the track below), then V (which pastes the selection onto the track), then P (which moves your cursor back to the first track so you can do it all over again

So, the flow after you make the selection would be:
Press C, Press semi-colon, Press V, Press P