Tips & Tricks

Quickest Way to Add Loop Repetitions

Let's say you have a loop on a track that you want to duplicate. (You will know it's a Looped Region if it has the loop icon in the bottom right corner.)

Forget the Duplicate command (Ctrl + D) or the Region Looping command (Ctrl + Alt + L), the quickest way to add loop repetitions is this:

Enable the Trimmer tool (F6), hold down the Start button, and drag the loop. A new loop will be created for as long as you drag. Too many? Drag the Trimmer tool the other way to remove loop renditions.

CAUTION: This will NOT work if the Trimmer tool is placed directly on top of the loop icon and then you try and drag. Notice that the Trimmer cursor changes to a Loop Trimmer cursor when it's over the Loop icon. Now you are simply trimming the loop and any of it's aliases, not creating new ones.

So what if you want to loop a region that is not already a Loop? Still easy. Select the region, then Ctrl - Alt - L (Region > Loop), enter 1 in the default Number of Loops field, then Enter. The region now shows the loop icon, and can be dragged as described above.

As you construct your tune, it's lightening fast to drag a gazillion repetitions of a loop across the session, and start layering other parts based on that loop. Then, just start dropping in fills or choruses as needed.