Create new song (from blank template)
How to create a song with ...Loops song editor (walkthrough & video tutorial)
Technical requirements:
- desktop or laptop computer with mouse/mousepad
- latest version of google chrome Web browser (at least Chrome 66+ from April 17 2018
https://caniuse.com/?search=audioworklet)
Instructions:
A) General knowledge about the ...Loops song editor Web app
This is the ...Loops (music system) song editor
This music system allows to split a song between several participants
so that each user may control one channel/instrument of a song (during a live performance)
Sarah may control the drums while Tom controls the basslines, for instance.
You can see several boxes (actually iframes inside an html page: for the more knoledgeable users)
the first six correpond to sounding channels/instruments
one channel may have one instrument playing at a time (sometime it is possible to switch between instruments inside a channel)
each one of thoe channels may emit sound (when programmed to do so)
The 7th one is the sound generator:
this where you can start and stop recording the general audio output of the Web application
If speaker icon (of sound generator tab) is red crossed
click on it to resume WebAudio playback capability
The 8th box/rectangle area is the so called "conductor" role where one might:
adjust each of the (other) sounding channel volumes
the song's tempo (a Beats Per Minute value)
& other features I will explain later.
This ...Loops session (meaning the channel config)
has 2 main sounding instrument types:
sampler that renders pre-recorded sounds
synth that renders sound for which the timbre/tone and other characteristics you can modify on the fly.
Let's check a sounding channel of the sampler type, the drum channel:
to do so one may click "toggle" button at top left corner of rectangle area
You can see there are 16 steps numbered from 1 to 16:
each one of these 16 columns of the pattern editor (the matrix you see here)
correponds to a 16th note of a looping bar ( a bar devided in 16 parts)
In this case each line correponds to a different drum sound
It is a step sequencer where one may
program/draw, save & change note patterns on the fly (with those previously saved)
There is also a place where you can automate your pattern changes
in a list/sequence way
by adding or removing already saved patterns into the "played-patterns" area.
When the "patttern sequencer on" button is activated, the automation takes precedence/overrides
any manual changes
The 4th drop down menu from the left is the "kit change" selector where one may change soundkit/program:
a soundkit is a distinct collection of sound.
A "synth" instrument is like a "sample" instrument
- except now each line (of the pattern editor matrix) correponds to a musical note of a different pitch value
notes from bottom to top = lowest to highest notes pitch wise.
There is also a preset editor where one may tweak a synth timbre/tone using provided sliders
- all slider values may be saved in a preset using the save preset button
- one may also change presets on the fly while notes are being played
You may get more info on each parameter by hovering your mouse over each param name, like this...
B) Recreating 1978's Giorgio Moroder - The Chase with the ...Loops song editor Web app
To get the structure of a song I try to retrieve:
- an audio version of it to deconstuct it in parts/pieces, by ear:
- a ".midi" (midi sequence file version) of it to get the note patterns/sequences
Example with Giorgio Moroder - The Chase:
https://onlinesequencer.net/270118#t128
We can hear & visualize that the main bassline for "The Chase"
is a 2-bar loop
The midi file/sequence gives us the following bassline note sequence:
for bar 1: a#1 (a sharp one), c2, c2, c2, a#1, d#2, c2
for bar 2: f1, g1, g1, g1, f1, g1, g1,a#1, g1
First we need to set up the song's BPM: 126 (in conductor box)
To enter notes just click on corresponding step of note matrix
columns left to right represent time
lines up & down represent different note pitches or differents sounds in case of a drum kit.
if you need to wipe out matrix to start again from scratch just change pattern to "reset pattern"
After a pattern is completed name & save it using "save pattern" button: "Bassline A", for instance
repeat (previous step) for second pattern: "B"
Than to automatically switch between these 2 patterns (each pattern's length is 1 bar)
- add those freshly saved patterns to the "played-patterns" area
- then enable pattern-sequencer by clicking corresponding button (green when on red when off)
To obtain desired synth tone
tweak available sliders
Like for patterns, you may save your "slide set" as a preset
by clicking "save preset" button
Now let's start to organize these building blocks: (note patterns and tone presets) into parts
The first part that I have identified (from beginning of audio track until 31 seconds)
is a 16-bar sequence
of 2 instruments:
the 2-bar bassline loop + a 4/4 (four to the floor 1-5-9-13) kick drum sequence
https://onlinesequencer.net/270118#t1
Let's program the drum machine now
Once we have the desired (channel/instrument) combination
we may save the result as a "part".
The 'save part' function takes a snapshot of all loaded channel,
- for each channel the list of patterns playing inside its pattern sequencer (ptnSeqList)
+ the current preset playing (for a non sampler instrument)
To save a part we need to activate each channel's pattern sequencer
(a channel with a pattern sequencer turned off (red) is a free flowing instrument not controlled by the conductor's part sequencer).
For this 1st part we only have 2 channels playing
we need to set the other (player 3 to player 6) channels' pattern sequencers to "reset/empty/silenced" pattern
to make sure the other channels will remain silent during
the parts' playback process (especially when last part has sounding notes that need to be muted now)
Once we are satisfied with result
we go to the conductor role/tab
to name & save part using "save part" button: "1 - bl + kick"; for instance
This newly saved part appears in "available parts" box
The 2nd part (identified while playing Giorgio Moroder - The Chase's audio file) from 31 seconds to 1'08"
is a 20-bar sequence
of 2 instruments:
the 2-bar bassline + a 4/4 kick drum + a snare drum (playing at steps 5 & 13)
To create a variation of an existing part
lock that (source) part by ticking corresponding radio button (in part sequencer box of conductor role)
the engine will loop that part without periodically re-sending (and overriding/erasing user's choices), per channel
- pattern sequencer's list of played patterns
- preset of that part
This allows you to make a variation of a part and
save it using "save part" button
So now I will create a new drum pattern adding the snare drum
Now we may setup duration for each part (in bars)
To unlock and continue playback of part sequence tick playback radio button (this is the last radio button at the bottom, located inside the remove part button)
when this happens part's sequence's "playhead" jumps to next part
We repoduce these steps for other parts/channel...
3rd part 1'08" to 1'28"
is a 10-bar sequence
with 2 main melodies:
- mel a, 6 bars
- mel b, 4 bars
4th part 1'28" to ~1'48"
is a 10-bar sequence
+ 4 or 8 more bars where mel b's volume is faded out?
~1'58" to 3'03"
repetition of 2nd part with phaser & various effects
~32 or 36 bars
3'03" to 3'38"
18 bars
8 bars of subtle "part3" (mel a & b) * 2
last 2 bars are cut (from original part 3 which is 10 bar long)
mel a has 8 bars, mel b: 10 bars
melody + bassline from 3' 38'' to 3' 54''
bar 45 to 52 included (8 bars) of
https://onlinesequencer.net/270118#t688
When you are satisified with the part sequence (multiple parts with each a playing time in bars)
click the "Save & DL song" button (within conductor tab/page of the ...Loops song editor)
This will save the song (inside your browser via Webstorage) allowing you to recall/re-import it in the editor later [and export it as a .json text file (song score)].
You may study the "complete" structure of this song (in your own browser) by clicking here:
Giorgio Moroder - The Chase
Are you ready to create your own music track?
If so, head up here:
...Loops song editor
Thank you!
Dewi ...Loops
...Loops song editor general troubleshooting:
When saving song (a list of parts)
make sur part radio button is checked inside "remove part" green button
otherwise song saved will only contain currently looped part
If you want to update, delete or rename
an existing pattern, preset or part
press F12 on your browser
(in Google Chrome)
locate the application "sub tab"
"storage" than local storage
than the domain the webpage is currently on:
https://loops.solam.co
there you have key value pairs you may browse modify and delete.
Save (ptn, pre, part) as frequently as you can
this is beta software a bug may happen
but if that happens you may be able to retrieve your (browser Webstorage) saved data
after refreshing page
The expected context of work is desktop or laptop computer with a mouse device.
Within same browser session
we cannot re-import parts from a song we just saved (internally).
we need to refresh page to be able to re-import parts saved at previous browser page session
Please individually save each channel preset before saving part (a collection of multiple channel patternSeqList and preset states)
so that those presets are more accurately recalled later.
Split your first part into 3 parts
with first 2 parts at 2 bars length to facilitate
part sequencer startup
...Loops - recreating drum & bassline parts of Mr Fingers - Can You Feel It (Youtube video tutorial - enable subtitles on Youtube to watch it)
