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Re: crossfading



On 11 jan 2007, at 16.31, aaron leese wrote:

> I'm not sure if this posted last time, there is almost never NO  
> reponse on this list.
>
> I was just wondering if anyone else is interested in being able to  
> crossfading between loop ..... seems like a useful feature to  
> me ..... especially for DJs who use crossfaders ad nauseum.
> but I don't know if I have really seen it done much before.

I am! I'm definitely interested in crossfading between loops and I do  
it quite often in my sets.

> If your not sure what I mean by crossfading between loops, please  
> check out this demo:
> www.flyloops.com/drum1.swf

Yes, I hear you. The guy on the video seems to use a dj mixer and  
those do all rely on a global crossfade control fader to morph  
between two channels, typically carrying a turntable signal each. I  
guess what you are interested in is the MORPHING quality? I mean, a  
lot of loopers do "cross switching" all the time, jumping from let's  
say beat three in loop one to beat there in loop two and eventually  
back again. But there's no simultaneous fading happening here, no  
morphing, just a direct switching.

Don't know if you're interested in loose feedback on the topic, but  
since this is a discussion list - here we go...

A very simple kind of crossfade between two mono loops is to use the  
pan knob for a stereo channel; if the stereo channel is played back  
in mono the pan knob will work just as a crossfading volume contol.  
Myself I have done a lot of crossfading with an analog filterbank  
that gives the option to use filter cut-off for to morph from one  
signal chain into another one (picked up the idea long ago from  
hearing mixes by ARmand van Helden). For anyone using Ableton Live  
there is a built-in corssfade function: each track/channel can be  
given an "A" or "B" suffix to bind them for either side of the  
crossfade controller. When looping with many looping devices or with  
a multi channel looper I do crossfades by using the volume faders. In  
Mobius I have certain scripts (binded to physical MIDI buttons on my  
Faderfox hand controller) that either Fade In or Fade Out the loop  
playing on a certain Track/Channel. To set off an automized crossfade  
I simply press two buttons: FAde Out for the playing loop and Fade IN  
for the silent loop that I want to take over. I tend to prefer long  
crossfade times for this because I play instruments at the same time,  
but also because I find that more musically interesting. To create  
glitchy stuff (that many DJ's do on a dj mixer/turntables) I rather  
like to use the direct slice cutting of a loop - inserting chunks of  
new audio here and there.  Speaking about Fade In/Out, the AU looping  
plug-in Augustus Looper already have built-in support for doing that.  
The GUI have a button named "Fade" and it fades in if the volume is  
down and fades out if the volume is up - even better than my  
scripting fix in Mobius! When running multiple Augstus Loop plug-ins  
this function gives a crossfade functions.

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
http://tinyurl.com/fauvm (podcast)
http://www.myspace.com/looproom