Loop Point Automation

EDIT - Putting the new video here too.

After going back and reading through the various threads over the years and looking at the ideas and suggestions, I think I’ve come up with something that should address all concerns.

The first thing to bear in mind is that this needs to work all the way down to looping individual waveform samples (see above). It would be rather complicated to send time-values to a loop-point with this level of precision, so instead it is moved forwards or backwards in time relative to its original position. The second thing to note is that you may also want to:

1. Move both loop-points together
2. Move them at different speeds
3. Move them in different directions
4. All of the above

Taking this into account, I believe the following approach would work best:

Selecting from the Snap menu changes the time-value that the loop-points will move to: Samples, Seconds, Whole (%), Markers, Beats, 8th, 16th, 32nd, 64th, 128th. The Range parameter alters the numerical range of the sliders and will be particularly useful for hardware mod-wheels. With the Link option enabled, the Start and End parameters will move around together, requiring the use of only one slider.

The Loop type is inherited from the Sample Properties, but can also be changed here. The icon just after this toggles whether loop-points can cross over each other, swapping their Start and End statuses. The second icon toggles Link-mode behaviour in the following way: if a loop-point reaches the start or end of the sample, the other loop-point will continue moving towards it, decreasing the loop size (loops will, of course, remain at least one sample apart at all times).

• 100000000000000000000!!!

So long awaited feature!

Please, give it a go!

oh man oh man I’d love this!! Good ideas Achenar.

This could be sooo awesome !!!

in previous Renoise versions there were hackarounds which let you automate loop markers, am waiting for one in Renoise 3 so you can link up the macro controls to start & end

What hackarounds?

op-1 has lfo-able loop points and I can confirm they’re pretty sweet to have.

+1
!

This is the most tantalizing thing about Renoise! Turning off interpolation, loading a low kHz sample and noodling around with the loop markers creates the most amazing tones, but apart from sampling the output it can’t be captured or automated. For me this feature would be the holy grail of samplerdom. I’ve built machines in Reaktor which do this but I can’t get it to produce sample-level reporting about the current sample so it’s hard to control in the way that I want to (and also I’m not talented enough).

If loop automation could be implemented like Achenor suggests it would open up so many sonic vistas.

One proviso I would suggest is that the resolution of control needs to stay as high as possible - sweeping smoothly and precisely through a range as low as a millisecond and then all the way down to the single sample level needs to be possible. Nobody wants the resolution to crap out just when the interesting ultra-short loop zone has been reached. I’m sure a lot of people want the feature for wavetable-style pad creation, rather than beat chopping effects, and this goal requires careful attention to the resolution that is implemented!

This is exactly what I had in mind when considering how a device like this should work. Values in Renoise are stored as 32-bit numbers, so having access to high resolution via the Range parameter isn’t an issue. One thing worth bearing in mind though is that when you get down to the individual sample level, you get different sounding results depending on the Sample Rate you’re using.

I get the impression that by the time this is actually implemented, I will have lost a) interest in the idea my marbles or c) the will to live

Saying this as someone who was waited YEARS to mess around with loop points in renoise. I`d recommend using NI Battery.

This is a great idea.

Numerology can do this with its built-in sampler. The results are anything from crazy sampling down to granular synthesis.

Yes!!!
This is an old idea.
I hope R3 will DO IT.

I made a video going into more detail and updating some ideas.
You can download the sounds, music, narration and title card used in the video here: http://duncanhemingway.com/downloads/1-SLA.zip

Superb! Nice work :]

Haha, you actually used Protracker in this demo?

Yup, took a while to figure out how to transfer the samples in the right format and then record the Amiga video, but it was worth it.

• • 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000!!!

This would be awesome. I was just trying to do this last night with various samplers. Got it sort of working in Kontakt (Source - Modulation - External - Constant - Drag and Drop Midi CC - Automate), but I’d prefer/love it in renoise.

I’ll award many virtual respects if you/anyone implements this.

Great video Duncan. Will be a handy feature indeed.

Nice job A, this needs to happen (finally).

If this is the new bar for making suggestions I may never make one again! />

Great video Duncan!