Emulator Composite.book - Creative

7 - Editing a Sample
Looping and Loop Processing
How to Loop a Sample
Looping has gained a reputation for being something of a black art. In actuality, it's
really not that difficult to loop most sounds, especially with all the looping tools
provided by the Emulator X.
The Attack portion of the sound is the beginning portion of the waveform. The attack is
usually composed of changing harmonics and is difficult to loop. To get a smooth
sounding loop, move the loop start and end points into a portion of the wave where
the sample looks and sounds repetitive and is steady in amplitude. Changes in
amplitude between the loop start and end points will be heard as sharp clicks or pops.
You don’t want this.
1. Select a sample from the Tree by double-clicking on the sample name or icon.
The Sample Editor window appears. You can also select samples by double-clicking
on the sample name in the Voice Processing window, or by selecting a sample and
choosing “Open Sample”from the Preset menu.
2. Press the Select Loop button to jump to any pre-existing loop.
3. Magnify the waveform using the Zoom button if necessary. Look for a region of the
sample near the end where the wave looks repetitive.
Initial Settings
4. Place the Loop End marker near or at the end of the sample by dragging it into
position. Position it at a zero crossing by holding the Right Control key and
pressing the left or right arrow keys. (See page 183 for more information.)
5. Use the Autocorrelate Loop (Ctrl + K) feature in the Sample Loop menu to get you
into the ballpark.
Listen & Adjust the Start Point
6. Make sure Loop Play in the transport toolbar is turned off and select Play. The
sample will play and continue playing within the loop boundaries.
7. While the sample is playing, slowly drag the Loop Start marker forward and back
through the sample. Notice how the character and pitch of the sound changes. Try
to match the pitch of the loop with the pitch of the sound. This will give you an
idea of the proper loop length. Try to find a point where the loop sounds
“smoother” with less “ticking”.
8. When you get just a soft “tick”, try holding the mouse over the increment and
decrement buttons on the loop controls above the waveform display. This will
move the loop one sample at a time.
9. Try Autocorrelation again. Autocorrelation only moves the Start point, so if it
doesn’t find a good loop, move the Loop End point slightly and try it again.
Can’t find it?
10. Repeat step 7, moving the Loop End marker this time. Visually examine the end of
the waveform and try to find an area that looks similar, then move the markers
around in that area.
Note: Some sounds
truly cannot be seamless
looped. Percussion
sounds and ensembles
are notoriously hard to
loop.
If you’re just learning,
practice with an easy
sound such as your voice
saying “Ahh”.
Looping is an art
which takes a bit of
practice to learn. Auto
Correlate works best
when you have already
found a fairly good loop
point by ear.
184 Emulator X2 Operation Manual