How do I record each EMX loop separately into garageband?

crazisato · Post by **crazisato** » Sat May 29, 2010 4:18 pm

I want to record each drum and synth track into their own respective loop tracks within garageband. I want a track that is just bass drum, just snare, just synth 1, just synth 2, etc... So I can dump all those loops and do my own song arrangements within garageband. It'll give me more control to manipulate each track as well.

Here is the problem. I've been setting the bpm exact in GB, and allowing it to count in and hitting play on the emx to sample/record each loop. However, I'm constantly off by a fraction of a second. By the time I get all 15 or so sounds in, they don't sync up anymore. It takes A LONG TIME to correct everything, and it makes me not confident of the track.

Is there a way I could make it that when I hit the record button in Garageband it will hit "play" on the emx? ALSO, just hitting play on the EMX and record on GB seems to cut out the first second of the loop! Maybe my computer isn't fast enough? I'm not sure if

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Tue Jun 01, 2010 7:29 pm

get a usb to midi cord and a recording program that sends midi start/stop and time clock

crazisato · Post by **crazisato** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:32 am

i have a usb/midi cable. How would I go about doing this in garageband or logic?

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:28 am

i use logic to do just this so ill try to help,
PART 1 plug the usb/midi cord into the MIDI IN on electribe, on electribe hit midi, and set to EXT, in logic go to preferences/midi then click "allow song position whateevr" then click MIDI SYNC PREFERENCES in the bottom, a new screen comes up, click TRANSMIT MIDI CLOCK, then set it to your usb joint, then do the same for TRANSMIT MIDI TIME CODE. now try to hit play or record in logic, it should play your electribe,

PART2 now throw in a 4x4 bass drum ptrn, just a bass drum on 1.2.3.4. 1 bar, hit record on logic, after 1 bar stop it, and bring up sample editor which is at the bottom in logic or happens when you double click an audio track, now use the magnifying glass and zoom in pretty good to the first hit and you'll see theres probably a tiny tiny bit cutoff, loop up the first bar to make sure it probly sounds fuked up, go back to preferences/midi and under 'all midi output' set the delay to probably somewhere between 4 and 8 ms, (this is the most annoying part so if anyone knows more chime in, but the reward is good), set the delay and then re-record the 1 bar 4 bass drums, see if it loops, if not zoom in like i said and see how much you need to set the delay to, in my experiance once i found the right delay number i never had to f*ck with it for a long time, then all of a sudden it changed but now its that number since then. this part with the delay only really really matters if you're gonna loop stuff up and chop and edit your tracks like that.

that usb midi wire is awesome, if you have a multitrack computer input you can really get alot out of the electribe with the 4 outs, if not just do it 1 by 1. also with that wire you can record midi into the computer while you're recording audio (or alone) just do the above and also plug the other part of the cord into the OUT of the etrbe, now make a new track "external midi instrument" then when you got it recorded make a new track, software instrument set up whatever you're making then move the green block of midi data onto the software track. hook it up the same way but start with 'software instrument' and you can play whatever synths in logic.

HOPE THIS HELPS!!! hit back if you have any questions

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:17 am

Actually, the problem you have recording the audio from your EMX has absolutely nothing to do with midi. Midi is not audio. The problem is that you need to start recording before hitting play on your EMX, because your built-in sound card is slow - has high latency. If you want to record faster you'll need to buy a better sound card with low latency. After the track is recorded you can edit it to get rid of any extra blank recording time. You can mute all parts you don't want to hear for each recording, or you can send their output to outputs 3/4.

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 4:01 am

dude re-read what the og poster wrote. he wants the sound on the emx to start exactly when he hits record on the computer. that involves midi. it makes it like infinitely easier. its just not the kinda midi data that you use to make musical notes, its midi start/stop data

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:20 am

Dude, I read it. Perhaps you didn't understand it.

>> ALSO, just hitting play on the EMX and record on GB seems to cut out the first second of the loop! Maybe my computer isn't fast enough? I'm not sure if

Even if you use midi to start the EMX at the same time as DAW starts recording, that's not going to solve the latency problem that's described by the statement above. Midi will not solve an audio latency problem that drops out the first part of the track being recorded.

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:56 am

I understand it, thats why i said to set the midi delay back to compensate for your computer.

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:01 am

A better audio card will minimize the latency, eliminating the need to delay the midi, along with giving many other benefits such as higher quality recording and playback. Delaying the midi addresses only a symptom, not the root cause.

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:22 am

lots of problems can be diminished by upgrading your gear! haha. i have a nice soundcard/interface and still need to use a bit of delay to get loops. dont know/think that any audio interface will have 0 latency? man quit tryin to sound like a know-it-all when you didnt even post a real answer to this kids question

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:33 am

Your problem could be diminished by not being such a prat. I never said that latency would be reduced to 0. Of course, there will be a small amount of latency with a good audio card, but it's a hell of a lot better than anywhere near a whole second, as described in the OP. Large latency is a pain in the ass, and if you don't know that, then you don't know s**t all about anything. Putting a huge midi delay in the sequencer is a terrible "solution" to deal with large audio latency.

Apparently everyone but you knows that a good low-latency audio card is better than sticking with the typical crappy audio card that was never designed to handle pro-audio recording. You don't need to be a know-it-all to realize that. Good luck trying to find anyone here who doesn't know the value of a good audio IO card for recording music, besides you, that is. The question isn't whether one should have a better audio IO card, it should be which one is best for the intended purpose. We pay extra for this hardware because it's worth it. I have no intent to have someone buy hardware that isn't worthwhile.

Most good audio IO cards have midi built-in, so spending extra for a USB-midi interface/cable is money wasted when you could use all the other features that come along in the bargain, such as phantom power, XLR and 1/4" pro audio jacks, external gain control, LED level displays, more inputs and outputs, better headphone output and monitoring, 24/96 or higher sampling, digital I/O, and lower noise/distortion.

Since the EMX has 4 outputs, having an audio I/O card with 4 inputs will allow the OP to record twice as many tracks at a time, which could save an enormous amount of time for the task he described. You need a minimum of 3 inputs to record a stereo music track at the same time as a separate vocal track, and the last time I checked, lots of musicians want to do that.

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:24 am

bro sorry if im trippin online, i realy dont care, so sorry...but we can sort it out: i have a good audio card, i still need to send some (about 6ms) latency to get a perfect loop. (dont know your thoughts on that) the OP doesnt seem to have an audio card,,so im just trying to help them use what they got to get the results they want ya dig. also, i believe the "nearly a whole second latency" the op is referring to anyway is to do with hitting play on the emx and rec on the computer at the same time to try and match it up, i dont think thats a proper indication of how things will run when everythings being started from the computer. i mean they were describing that whole situation before they had anything properly hooked up. soooooo ok. im done wit ya.

i hope this all got the op poster up and running.. if you are out there did it?

crazisato · Post by **crazisato** » Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:58 pm

crazy argument guys.

My sound card is an external 2 input 2 output box. It has lower latency but no sound card is perfect. The latency issue happens mostly with hitting record. The processor takes an extra 1/2 second to start the record. It is enough to muff up the first .5 seconds of my loop.

I'll try out your post with logic once I get my studio running (F/N electric blew out from air conditioner, haven't had my proper computer or electribes up in over a week).

If your suggestion starts the EMX when I hit record in logic, I shouldn't have a problem getting a loop out of it with the second time around in a record loop.