Example Elastic Audio Workflow

In this workflow, you will be introduced to some common Elastic Audio tasks for working with loops:

Create and configure a new session for this workflow.

Locate and preview a loop in DigiBase at the session tempo.

Import the loop at the session tempo on a tick-based, Elastic Audio-enabled track.

Change the session tempo to change the tempo of the clip on tick-based, Elastic Audio-enabled tracks.

Quantize the audio to apply a Groove Template to the rhythm.

Transposition the clip to match the pitch of the imported audio to other audio and MIDI in the session.

Create and configure a new session

1 Create a new Pro Tools session.

2 Set the session’s Main Timebase ruler to Bars|Beats.

3 Be sure to display the Tempo and Meter rulers.

4 Use the default tempo of quarter-note equals 120 BPM.

Locate and preview a loop in DigiBase at the session tempo:

1 Open the Workspace (Window > Workspace).

2 Navigate to the folder where you keep your drum loops. Double-click the folder name to open a volume browser of just the folder’s contents.

3 Select the loop you want to preview.

Audition Paths for previewing are selected in the I/O Setup window (Choose Setup > I/O and click the Output tab).

4 Click the Preview button to preview the loop at its native tempo.

5 Click the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button so that it highlights.

6 Click the Preview button again and the file previews at the session tempo.

7 Notice that if the loop was sample-based to begin with, the column to the left of the file name initially indicates that DigiBase is analyzing the file. When the analysis is done a check mark appears in that column, the file’s Duration is now measured in Bars and Beats instead of Minutes and Seconds, the Sample-based icon is replaced by the Tick-based icon, and the detected tempo of the file is displayed in the Tempo column.

8 Repeat the preceding steps to preview other loops at the session tempo.

Import the loop at the session tempo:

1 Make sure that the Audio Files Conform to Session Tempo button is still highlighted. This ensures that the file will be imported as a tick-based, Elastic Audio clip and can be conformed to the session tempo.

2 Drag and drop the loop from the browser to the Track List in the session’s Edit window.

If All Files is selected as the Drag and Drop From Desktop Conforms to Session Tempo option in the Processing Preferences page, you can also drag and drop audio files from the Desktop and they are imported as tick-based Elastic Audio.

3 One of the following occurs:

If there are no tracks in the session and the file is tick-based, you are prompted to either import the tempo from the file or use the session tempo. To keep the session tempo and have the loop conform to the session tempo, click Don’t Import.

– or – 

If there are tracks in the session, the file is imported and automatically conformed to the session tempo.

4 A new tick-based audio track is created with the Default Elastic Audio plug-in enabled.

5 Since you chose to not import the file’s original tempo, you will notice that the loop conforms to the tempo map and Bar|Beat grid of the session. A Warp indicator appears in both the clip in the track and in the Clip List.

Also in the Clip List, notice that there are two clips. One is the sample-based whole file clip (the imported source file) and the other is the tick-based Elastic Audio–processed copy.

You can also conform clips on Elastic Audio-enabled tracks to the session tempo using the Conform to Tempo command (see Conform to Tempo).

 

Dragging and dropping a tick-based audio file from a DigiBase browser to the Track List

Change the session tempo to change the tempo of the clip:

1 Change the tempo from the default 120 BPM to 110 BPM (see Tempo).

2 Notice that since the clip is on a tick-based, Real-Time Elastic Audio-enabled track it automatically conforms to the new tempo.

Quantize audio to apply a Groove Template:

1 Select the clip on the tick-based, Real-Time Elastic Audio-enabled track.

2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Quantize.

3 In the What to Quantize section, make sure Elastic Audio Events option is selected.

4 From the Quantize Grid pop-up menu, select a Groove Template.

5 Set any other options.

6 Click Apply.

7 In the following figure, notice that the audio has been quantized according to the selected Groove Template. In Warp view, you can see that Warp markers have been added at every Event marker near the Quantize Grid and were used to apply quantization to those events.

 

Quantized audio events (Warp markers) in Warp view

Transpose the audio clip down a whole-tone:

1 Select the clip on the Elastic Audio-enabled track.

2 Choose Event > Event Operations > Transpose.

3 Select the Transpose By option.

4 Enter “–2” semitones.

5 Click Apply.