DrumJam and Loopy with Audiobus
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2012 6:11 pm
This is a post I made to the Audiobus forums here, but thought it good reference material.
=======
I find that using DrumJam (or another app) as the MIDI clock master, and Loopy syncing to that works more reliably. It is possible that something in the clock start mechanism of Loopy injects some spurious clock ticks that might be confusing some apps. I'm working with Michael on figuring that out.
First, make sure that only one app is sending the MIDI clock... the easiest thing is to go to each app and make sure that none of them are actively sending clock to Loopy. Then in Loopy's MIDI settings, choose the app that you want to receive clock from. You can do it the other way as well, the important thing is to make sure that only one app is sending clock.
In Loopy's Track Management settings you want to turn Synchronize Tracks to ON, and Count-In recording to ON. I prefer to turn Count-Off recording to OFF, so that I can choose how long the loop will be (quantized to nearest bar) in the heat of the moment, and also allows for loops of varying bar lengths.
Now, in this example where DrumJam is the clock master, you'll want to hit play in DrumJam, and let it run for at least a bar before you hit the record for Loopy. Loopy will wait until a bar boundary before starting the record automatically. Then when you want to finish your loop, hit record again sometime during the final bar you want to record. It will automatically finish at the next bar boundary. Loops made in this way I find are almost always perfect.
If you are recording built-in loops from DrumJam you'll want to mute them after you finish recording them as a loop into Loopy, the easiest way is to turn the L.Vol down all the way, or mute all the components on the mute/solo page, or use the Fade Out button in DrumJam which will fade the loops but not send a MIDI clock stop message.
If you want to record a live pad performance instead of loop patterns, you'll want to just mute all the instruments in the current pattern or turn L. Vol all the way down before you hit Play. That way the clock is started properly and your pad playing will be quantized appropriately with the loop boundaries. Or you could connect DrumJam's Instrument Output port in audiobus instead of the main output, by hitting the blue disclosure arrow on the DrumJam entry in the Audiobus Input slot list, and choosing it.
In just testing this I realized that v1.1.1 of DrumJam is mysteriously missing its Play/Pause audiobus side-panel button, which makes it easier to use when it is the clock master. I'll fix that shortly for the next update, sorry!
=======
I find that using DrumJam (or another app) as the MIDI clock master, and Loopy syncing to that works more reliably. It is possible that something in the clock start mechanism of Loopy injects some spurious clock ticks that might be confusing some apps. I'm working with Michael on figuring that out.
First, make sure that only one app is sending the MIDI clock... the easiest thing is to go to each app and make sure that none of them are actively sending clock to Loopy. Then in Loopy's MIDI settings, choose the app that you want to receive clock from. You can do it the other way as well, the important thing is to make sure that only one app is sending clock.
In Loopy's Track Management settings you want to turn Synchronize Tracks to ON, and Count-In recording to ON. I prefer to turn Count-Off recording to OFF, so that I can choose how long the loop will be (quantized to nearest bar) in the heat of the moment, and also allows for loops of varying bar lengths.
Now, in this example where DrumJam is the clock master, you'll want to hit play in DrumJam, and let it run for at least a bar before you hit the record for Loopy. Loopy will wait until a bar boundary before starting the record automatically. Then when you want to finish your loop, hit record again sometime during the final bar you want to record. It will automatically finish at the next bar boundary. Loops made in this way I find are almost always perfect.
If you are recording built-in loops from DrumJam you'll want to mute them after you finish recording them as a loop into Loopy, the easiest way is to turn the L.Vol down all the way, or mute all the components on the mute/solo page, or use the Fade Out button in DrumJam which will fade the loops but not send a MIDI clock stop message.
If you want to record a live pad performance instead of loop patterns, you'll want to just mute all the instruments in the current pattern or turn L. Vol all the way down before you hit Play. That way the clock is started properly and your pad playing will be quantized appropriately with the loop boundaries. Or you could connect DrumJam's Instrument Output port in audiobus instead of the main output, by hitting the blue disclosure arrow on the DrumJam entry in the Audiobus Input slot list, and choosing it.
In just testing this I realized that v1.1.1 of DrumJam is mysteriously missing its Play/Pause audiobus side-panel button, which makes it easier to use when it is the clock master. I'll fix that shortly for the next update, sorry!
