Groove clip looping not working ( for me!)

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hi all,

Okay I'm trying to add a hi hat track to my backing track as the karaoke version click track sounds awful. ( its a quiet ballad and i don't want it coming through the monitors and being heard by the audience)

So I am trying to add a hi hat track using the CW SI drums. I can do 4 bars pressing alt 2 and hitting f sharp( hi hat) but i want to repeat this all the way through the song; but groove clip looping just doesn't work; I tried bounce to clip but still no joy. I know I'm doing something daft, clues please?

[Glenn Stanton]

the groove looping requires it to know the number of beats for the duration of the clip - and sometimes it guesses incorrectly. so you edit the clip and set the specific number of beats. this also implies your clip is generally set to line up properly with the snap setting to make it more repeatable.

e.g. if i have a clip 4 measures long in 4/4, my clip needs to have 16 beats. regardless of the # of instrument events.

this generally works for MIDI as well. however there is no "loop construction" like an audio track has.

Edited March 12 by Glenn Stanton

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Thanks.

Odd, I cant ever remember this being a problem in the past; anyway I looked and "loop construction" is greyed out?

[Glenn Stanton]

yes MIDI doesn't need it - you just need to make sure your notes are within the boundary and trim the clip to the number of bars. in my MIDI clip, the notes are random, but the clip was 4 measures (via trimming) and so the groove clipping worked just fine.

Edited March 12 by Glenn Stanton

[David Baay]

I like to use the Groove Clip section of the Clip Inspector to set Beats in Clip. Loop Construction is for audio, and I think you're wanting MIDI.

Here you go:

 

 

4-Beat Closed-Hat Click.mid

Edited March 12 by David Baay

[Glenn Stanton]

this is the MIDI groove clip edit in the inspector that David is mentioning

[John Vere]

Because I often have the same issue for these things it’s super quick to just use the step sequencer.
That will easily create any drum machine type beat and then it is automatically a groove clip. I drag it out and then I bounce it to clip so it then can be edited. 

And don’t forget you can also use the metronome and change it to any sound. 
If you need it as part of the export you insert an Aux track and record the metronome that way. But a midi track is easy to use. 

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

I'm still confused , here's a screenshot. You can see the 4 measures of hi hat I've managed to create!

I used the step sequencer as per Johns post a while back, but it seems to just do one bar, not sure where to go from there?

[sjoens]

Options:

1. Right-click the clip and select Groove-Clip Looping (this also checks the Inspector box shown in Glenn's post).  Once you see the corners turn beveled you can drag the clip out as far as you want.

2. Click the Draw Tool dropdown and select Pattern. Now left-click the clip to select it and hold the cursor at the end of the clip until it turns into a paint roller.  Now click and drag as far as you want.

Edited March 12 by sjoens

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Thanks all, loads there I didn't know, will try tomorrow to get it sussed.

[John Vere]

The step sequencer creates a groove clip. Only one, that’s the whole idea. You’ll see it has that angle upper right corner that signifies a groove clip. Grab left mouse and drag. Best to zoom way out so it goes faster.  

Then another option is I’m pretty sure there’s  a bunch of midi loops that came free that shows up in the browser. All those are always groove clips. Same with you can drag midi patterns fro SI drums.  
Of course I have a video about all that 

 

[sjoens]

Nice.  Actually... all 4 corners are beveled on a groove clip.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Thanks all, appreciated these comments so.. here we go... if I don't post again its worked!

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Well that didnt take long, I'm back! Yes its a groove clip but it wont drag, nothing happens with the cursor. tried the smart tool but that just crops it. Something is off I assume?

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

To expand; the cursor turns to an arrow but...then nothing happens no dragging. I used to do this all the time so cant understand what setting has changed.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

I'm still looking to see if I can do this fix myself; I opened a standard template, and created an SI drum kit track. Then I went to the step sequencer and programmed 4 measures on the hi hat. I right clicked for groove clip looping and this time the cursor changes shape and I can drag the clip along to create a complete track . I always used to do this with no problems, dozens of times in the past, but with my latest track it stopped working. Either there's a gremlin in CW out to get just me, or ( more likely) I've inadvertently changed a setting. 

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

And now, just to add to my stress, I opened another ( different) track and tried to extend the drum track. ( i don't want anyone to think I am not trying to suss things out myself instead of relying on the forum all the time) and this time the groove clip looping worked fine. It didn't line up though so I deleted it and did it again. This time guess what? it didn't work. No change of cursor not able to drag, and yes the right hand corner of the clip has changed to indicate looping is on.

I am now pulling what little hair I have out. CW is SO inconsistent, I literally did not change one setting, and it decided not to work.

[Glenn Stanton]

so, using the smart tool you're seeing this icon on the edge of the clip you're trying to extend?

in this example, it was a single measure using Step Sequencer to create the MIDI and then groove loop it then stretch using smart tool. so far, i have not be able to reproduce this issue - in existing or new projects.

Edited March 13 by Glenn Stanton

[David Baay]

2 hours ago, RICHARD HUTCHINS said:

Then I went to the step sequencer and programmed 4 measures on the hi hat. I right clicked for groove clip looping and this time the cursor changes shape and I can drag the clip along to create a complete track .

If the clip was created in Step Sequencer, it's already a Groove Clip, and there is no need to right-click for anything. Just hovering over the edge of the clip will display the slip-edit cursor as Glenn's screenshot shows and left-click will grab the edge to roll it out.

I know you want to figure this out for yourself, and I'm all for 'teaching a man to fish', but did you try the Groove Clip I shared?

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

17 hours ago, David Baay said:

If the clip was created in Step Sequencer, it's already a Groove Clip, and there is no need to right-click for anything. Just hovering over the edge of the clip will display the slip-edit cursor as Glenn's screenshot shows and left-click will grab the edge to roll it out.

I know you want to figure this out for yourself, and I'm all for 'teaching a man to fish', but did you try the Groove Clip I shared?

I did, but embarrassingly, didn't know what to do with it! Remember you are dealing with someone with the ability of a small Hamster when it comes to CW!