Keeping a Loop Flexible

Cubase
#1

Loop 1.jpg
Loop 1.jpg1920×1026 141 KB

I’ve created these 4 measures to use as a loop. Note that each instrument is on its own track, and some of the instruments are using different drum kits. The tracks have different volumes. I’d like to use this section of “loop” in a song, without losing the ability to change instruments, mix them separately, or even edit notes or velocities, EVEN if I copy this to multiple parts of the song. In a perfect world, I’d make any change to the original loop and that change would apply throughout the song wherever it was used.

Can this be done? If so, how? This is all that’s done so far. Where would I go from here?

Thanks!

Dave

#2

It would be great to treat this group of items as one single object – to place it in the project in multiple iterations, but to be able to open it up and make changes that will be present in every occurrence.

#3

Read the sections of the Ops Manual for these two topics

  1. Shared Copies for MIDI Parts. If you just duplicate a Part (normal copy) the two will be independent and changes made to one will not be reflected in the other. But the duplication can also produce Shared Copies where any changes made to one copy will be reflected in all the copies. You can later dissolve the Sharing to tweak each Part individually.

  2. The Arranger Track. This lets you build each section (verse, chorus, whatever) once but have it play back multiple times over the course of a piece. When doing this if you use the same section in different parts of a song they will be exactly the same. But after you’ve sorted out all the common stuff you can Flatten the Arrangement Chain to make independent changes throughout the song. It’s a quick way to block out the basic structure (or explore structure variations/alternatives) for further refinement.

#4

This is great! I had searched YouTube for a video answer, to be sure I could see how it worked and how to get there. I was afraid the manual would be hard to navigate for these topics because of unfamiliar nomenclature. Now that I know what they’re called, I’ll look up both of these things.

Thank you, Rodger, for your careful explanation and quick answer.

Dave