not able to loop

[gilbertati]

hey guys

i have this 4 measures wav loop
i can manage to make it play on my ESX1 but i cant make it loop

plz help

[Ruso]

you gotta turn the loop into either a stretch or slice sample. Hit the sample button and find the sample... when you have found it, hit the down arrow until you get to the Strch Step value, and turn the wheel to change it... since it's a 4 bar loop, you want it set at 64(each bar is 16).

Now you can assign it to the stretch parts.

If you need more detail, read it in the manual under stretch part.

[gilbertati]

if i wanna make a repertoire for my band

for each song i can use only 3 loops ??
or i can put more loops ?

for example : drum loop,Bass,Keyboards,Brass .... ???

[TrondC]

the ESX only has 2 stretch parts, so if you want to have more than 2 loops playing, you need to assign the other looops directly to the drum parts, but this requires that the loops are EXACTLY in the same BPM as the song.. can be quite hard to acieve, but not impossible. if you're after playing back a lot of loops, the ESX is not your choice, it's much better for one shot samples and single drum hits. get an MPC instead :p

[gilbertati]

thanks for your help

what should i do other than assigning the loop to the stretch part ??

should i do something to make it loop ??

[Ruso]

I'll respond to this one more time.... esx is NOT a loop sampler. It is designed for short one shot samples like drums vocal stabs and single cycle waveforms. It does allow you to use loops however it is only feasible to store a dozen or maybe a little bit more.


If you want to play looped samples and lots of them tempo synced and have a couple effects get yourself a roland sp404

[MagpieIndustries]

Don't listen to Ruso, he is full of s**t. The esx can handle plenty of looping, and chopping loops and rearranging them is one of the things the esx is great at.

One way to get more than two parts playing at the same time is to mix them down...Take two of the loops, play them at the same time, and resample the esx's output (read the manual to see how). You now have a new sample containing both loops. Replace the original two loops with this new one and the third loop you wanted to play.

If you use a fixed bpm for your song, the same as your loop's bpm, you can simply assign loops to the one-shot drum parts, and trigger them at the start of the bar. This would let you use at least 9 loops at the same time, perhaps more if you use the synth parts for the same trick.


If you are going to have drums, and bass and guitar parts, you might want to rethink how you are structuring the samples. I'd recommend not using a long loop for the drums. Try taking the drum loop, and doing the time slice operation on it. Next, assign the slices to the one-shot drum parts, and re-enter the beats at the right steps. Not only will this handle tempo changes in a reasonable way, but you can rearrange the beat to make different variations, avoiding having to have lots of different complete loops. You can now use the bass loop on the stretch part.

[gilbertati]

thanks man for the big help
i was starting to feel sad that i bought the ESX now i have hope again

i was reading some reviews about the roland sp404 and that its not recomended for live situations

i have one more question
if i assign a 4 measures loop to the stretch part it will loop continuesly ??

Don't listen to Ruso, he is full of s**t. The esx can handle plenty of looping, and chopping loops and rearranging them is one of the things the esx is great at.

One way to get more than two parts playing at the same time is to mix them down...Take two of the loops, play them at the same time, and resample the esx's output (read the manual to see how). You now have a new sample containing both loops. Replace the original two loops with this new one and the third loop you wanted to play.

If you use a fixed bpm for your song, the same as your loop's bpm, you can simply assign loops to the one-shot drum parts, and trigger them at the start of the bar. This would let you use at least 9 loops at the same time, perhaps more if you use the synth parts for the same trick.


If you are going to have drums, and bass and guitar parts, you might want to rethink how you are structuring the samples. I'd recommend not using a long loop for the drums. Try taking the drum loop, and doing the time slice operation on it. Next, assign the slices to the one-shot drum parts, and re-enter the beats at the right steps. Not only will this handle tempo changes in a reasonable way, but you can rearrange the beat to make different variations, avoiding having to have lots of different complete loops. You can now use the bass loop on the stretch part.

[MagpieIndustries]

thanks man for the big help
i was starting to feel sad that i bought the ESX now i have hope again

i was reading some reviews about the roland sp404 and that its not recomended for live situations

i have one more question
if i assign a 4 measures loop to the stretch part it will loop continuesly ??

You just need to trigger it on the first beat is all, it should loop fine after that. Set the esx's pattern size to 4 measures.

I would definitely recommend the esx for live use, as it has some awesome features, but you need to understand that it's not able to sample loops live, and this is the one HUGE disadvantage. You need to stop it and edit loops, but when you have done that, it's possible to rearrange and add effects and so on in a live setting.

[Ruso]

Don't listen to Ruso, he is full of s**t. The esx can handle plenty of looping, and chopping loops and rearranging them is one of the things the esx is great at.

One way to get more than two parts playing at the same time is to mix them down...Take two of the loops, play them at the same time, and resample the esx's output (read the manual to see how). You now have a new sample containing both loops. Replace the original two loops with this new one and the third loop you wanted to play.

If you use a fixed bpm for your song, the same as your loop's bpm, you can simply assign loops to the one-shot drum parts, and trigger them at the start of the bar. This would let you use at least 9 loops at the same time, perhaps more if you use the synth parts for the same trick.


If you are going to have drums, and bass and guitar parts, you might want to rethink how you are structuring the samples. I'd recommend not using a long loop for the drums. Try taking the drum loop, and doing the time slice operation on it. Next, assign the slices to the one-shot drum parts, and re-enter the beats at the right steps. Not only will this handle tempo changes in a reasonable way, but you can rearrange the beat to make different variations, avoiding having to have lots of different complete loops. You can now use the bass loop on the stretch part.

f*ck you dude. Don't be rude to me I am telling facts. And all I'm doing is trying to help. And don't accuse me of being full of s**t.

ESX can do a few loops but he wants to record his BAND and play his band back through the esx. That's not what it's for. Mangling loops, yes. Recording 8 bar loops and filling your machine with them is not.


Your solution to what he wants to do is to mix parts together into ONE loop!? You're telling him to take two parts and put them together and claiming I'm full of s**t. You're telling him that what the machine is made for? No, it isn't... and what I said was that that's what more traditional types of samplers like the more affordable SP404 IS for.

What you're saying is that to record the band's songs, he should play Loops recorded at a bpm independently from the tempo of that machine, thus defeating the purpose of having a machine with a midi clock... And you're saying this is the right way to use the electribe?


Don't be an ass and don't talk s**t about people.... it's just polite. And get your facts and techniques and what he is asking before you do decide to talk s**t to people because if you don't it makes you look even more of an ass.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like arguing and I'd like to be civil in this situation, but you don't just say "Don't listen to someone they are full of s**t".


What he wants to do is use the electribe as a playback devide for his band. If that's what he wants to do for multiple songs, his electribe will be full in a handfull of tracks of tracks, less if his band has many elements that he wants to toggle independently . The ESX handles loops great, and you're able to sync them, and tweak them at your will, shuffle slices around, create drum breaks... sure! I'm not saying it can't. I'm saying that's what the machine is designed for and the SP404 is designed EXACTLY what he wants to do... and will do a MUCH better job at what he wants to do. It is designed to do that.

Unless I'm wrong and don't understand what he's asking, and please, do correct me if that's the case and I'll take all I said back.

[MagpieIndustries]

you are a very angry little boy

[Ruso]

I'm 22 and I probably have more experience with audio production then you even if I am younger then you.. which I suspect I'm not, and if I am it's not by much

An apology would be nice. But if you want to get on my bad side then be it. I did no wrong to you and you are being a ass for no reason. If you think continuing to insult me is going to make you look any better then I'll enlighten you that it won't. It takes more of a man to apologize then it does to keep insulting. It also takes more of a man to walk away from a fight instead of starting one. You are so far wrong in both scenarios.

[TrondC]

easy guys to be short: the ESX can act as a loop sampler, but I would not reccoment it, as it just takes out way too much of the limited sampling time. sure, It could be fun to store 9 loops using all the sample time, but unless they are all drum loops, making more than 1 or 2 songs without them all sounding the same very hard. if your aim is to make ONE song with the esx, then sure, loop up the memory, but be aware that sound quality and timing issues WILL degenerate each loop, + you'll have to erase the memory and load new samples for each song. so, it can be done, but there are so many other machines that are a thousand times more suited for this. sure you can play bass tones on your banjo, but I'd still rather use a bass guitar.. uhm, you know what I mean right tools for the right job or something..

Oh, but don't despair! If you are prepared to let the ESX guide you instead of you guiding the ESX; I can almost guarantee you'll get results that are way more interesting than you would with an SP-404 or MPC or whatever..

good luck with your ESX; it's a fantastic piece of kit, but perhaps not 100% suited for what you want to achieve. give it a try, and if it doesn't work, sell it and get an SP-404 instead

[xmlguy]

MagpieIndustries was completely out of line and ruso has every right to respond the way he did. The SP-404 sounds like a much better tool for the job described. The SP-404 supports 1GB Compact Flash and directly plays and samples from the CF card, unlike the ESX-1 which only handles the ancient 128MB SmartMedia. The 404 is far better for playing long music loops to handle a full gigs worth of music. The amount of sample time the ESX can handle is measured in minutes, while the 404 can do many hours.

There is a certain amount of overlap in the function of any sampler groovebox, so I'm not saying that the ESX-1 wouldn't be able to handle the job, but ruso was completely right in suggesting the 404 and everyone reading this thread can now judge for themselves who's full of s**t.

Having an ESX-1 and a 404 is worthwhile because they complement each other in different respects. I got my 404 for $200, and I frequently see them for under $300. The SP-606 is another good option if you can find one for a good price, even though it handles only 512MB CF cards, it has velocity pads and an LCD display for visual editing of samples for clean loops.

[MagpieIndustries]

I simply answered the guy on how to do what he wanted, with the kit he had, so get off my case. I enjoy being hard on Ruso, cos he gets so excited about it.
I think he's full of s**t ever since this thread, where he says, and I quote "electribes are the right tool for any job. This has been brought up many times. You are only limited by your abilities, not by your electribes".