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[BlueSkies]

I have quite a long sample - uploaded below - that I want to loop, but wherever I have the loop points the sample 'pops' on looping. I've managed to get quite close to the sound I want through trial and error, but the loop is still noticable. What's the best way to deal with this? My knowledge of editing samples is pretty much nil.

[n0dae]

Hey BlueSkies, I can't say this is the way of doing loops but it may help you out. I thought it was quite helpful. Here's the Tutorial. I played around with your sample for a second and found a descent loop.
Sure hope it helps you out a little. You will also need Aduacity for this its free check it out.

[raina]

Nil is a good place to start but making a good or perfect loop takes a lot of practice, and still it doesn't work every time. The cross-fade filter is your friend but it doesn't do all the work for you. First you try to look for similar wave characteristics and place the loop points on the "same" spot on the wave form. The loop may still sound wrong even if there's no pop, so you might need to move the other loop point back or forward one or more "cycles" of the wave form. You may get lucky by doing this only, it works with simple samples. But if there's something like a reverb kicking in during the sample, the cross-fader can help even the loop out.

I took a quick stab at looping your sample and it came out pretty good, although the sound "color" did change a little. That means the cross-fading introduced some wave cancellation which could probably have been avoided by moving the other loop point a cycle back or forward before selecting a region encompassing it and applying the cross-fade. <- That monster of a sentence is also supposed to give you a hint on how to use the cross-fade function (which can be found in the Advanced sub menu of the sample editor context menu).

[BlueSkies]

Thanks for the replies.

I've read and reread your post raina and played around with the editer but I'm still totally lost. At each stage, which loop point is "the other loop point"?

What is cross-fading, fundamentally? What region do I select to apply it? It seems unless I select the entire sample, I just end up changing the waveform within that selected area, just making the sample jump when it passes that point.

How else did you modify the sample? Since I see the size is reduced in your version.

[raina]

"The other loop point" is the loop point of your choosing. You cross-fade by selecting a region, in the middle of which you have one loop point.  From your description it sounds like your selection is too small to really be a fade at all, and it ends up highlighting the loop instead of blending it. Here's an image I made when somebody asked this same thing on the old forums:



That is a proper selection for cross-fade.

No other modifications were made, except I minimized the sample which deletes the data after the second loop point. Basic optimization as that sample data is never played.

[BlueSkies]

Okay I finally Got it! I managed to reproduce my own version which sounds pretty much the same as your edit.

Thanks for the help.