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Looper's Delight
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On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 6:04 PM, Michael Carlson Music <music@carlsonarts.com> wrote: > This is exactly the challenge I am tackling lately conceptually. Since > my > looping has been primarily based on narrative lyrical songs rather than > text-less ambient textures (I'm trying to be descriptive, not making > judgments), I'm trying to envision a way to create short, one-measure > loops > that can accompany vocal melodies similar to how an arranger keyboard > uses > "styles." If I created a one-measure loop based on a major chord, for > example, I want to be able to transpose it to cover the I, IV, and V in a > major key. Then, if I have a loop based on a minor chord, it could cover > ii, iii, and vi in a major key. Then, I could step through the loops in > sequence to follow the chord changes in a song, similar to how you can do > with a vocal harmonizer such as the VoiceLive. (1) My opinion, best on testing this out, is that using digital pitch-shifting to by force make a loop stay the same length when pitch transposed does not sound good enough. Might work for a "stand-up comedian looping show" but a lot musicality is simply list in the time-stretching procedure. (2) A second alternative is to use Speed Shifting (like a sampler does); this keeps the timbre full and punchy but messes with the timing as the length of the loop is changed according to pitch transposition. But Speed Shifting works fine with non rhythmic loops; if you for example make a bass line that works with all A, B and C major chords and then on a parallel looper creates seamless chord loop. Then Speed Shift the chord loop to follow the song's chord changes while singing over it. This technique might as well add some cool musicality to the sound. (3) Finally you can start out the performance by recording all chords needed for the song as separate linear loops. If you record only two bars of each chord your "performance kick-off" will only take fifteen bars of playing to set up those chord loops so you can start singing while stepping through them to create the song structure. Here's a tutorial video I made for doing this: http://www.perboysen.com/how-to-use-chord-progression-in-live-looping/ While doing that you may as well create the same number of synchronized chord loops with a different instrument part. After that run-through you are left with two loop tracks containing a full song structure chord loops setup and you may mute or fade one of them to create a break-down or whatever (maybe "chords+bass"). This approach is technically possible within Mobius and Ableton Live as far as I know. If using Live you have to record each loop as a clip, since its Looper plugin is not multi loop supporting. In Mobius you use Focus Lock to make your looping commands affect the second (or more) tracks loop slots as well as the selected track's loop slots. Sometimes it makes sense to use three parallel loops in order to have one rhythmic loop that keeps the beat going all through the changing of loops on the other two loop tracks. > And, as the building blocks for each one-measure loop, I'd love to be > able > to sample brief syllables like "bop", "dit", and vowels "oo" "ah", and be > able to play those on a keyboard to help the loops evolve over time from > more percussive effects to smoother, quieter ones, and vice versa. Wow, that's a really cool idea! Unfortunately normal samplers lack this live sampling function but you can use Mobius for this if set to one shot, or you could use Crossfade Loop Synth. Both will speed shift the sample to follow pitch of the the keyboard you are using to play it (or sequence it, like I did in the experiment on the link below) http://www.perboysen.com/steppophonic-looperformer-please-steal-this/ You can also do it in Live if you don't mind boring the audience some extra seconds to work on the computer screen; you need to first record a clip and then go into clip edit mode to set the start point at the word/syllable you want to play from the keyboard. Then set the clip launch properties to legato and play ahead. > The shorter the loops get, and the smaller the audio chunks that I want > to > capture, though, the more it starts to feel like I need to use a sampler Ableton Live by definition IS a sampler, an extremely versatile sampler. > with an arpeggiator or a keyboard playing "styles" rather than a looper. > I think some kind of combination of sampling, looping, and voice-to-MIDI > will allow me to become the whole band and sing whatever song I want in > my > own a cappella style. > Does this sound crazy? Not at all! As you see it is indeed possible to mock up such a system. The question is whether or not you will get bored before it is finished and decide to become a guitar aided troubadour instead ;-) Greetings from Sweden Per Boysen www.perboysen.com http://www.youtube.com/perboysen