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3. Sample editing and Patterns

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We’ve seen and heard how dramatic an impact Loopcloud’s effects can have on your audio, but there’s a lot more you can do with both sample editing and Loopcloud’s Patterns which take the software in a whole new creative direction. Load up an audio file… 4

Things get even more interesting when you check out some of the Patterns that you can use in Loopcloud. These apply certain rhythms and effects to samples to give them a completely new feel. They can be equally applied to individual samples – to create new loops – or loops. Hit the Pattern button to open a drop-down menu of Patterns. 7

Some other Patterns introduce some of Loopcloud’s on-board effects as well as the rhythmic audio patterns. We especially like the blissed-out dubby effects brought in from the FX and Atmospheres folder. 2

First check out the sample editing suite of tools as shown. Rather like DAW audio edit tools, these allow you to perform a number of tasks on your sounds. Here we’ve taken the Scissors tool and simply cut some of the samples up. The Slide tool next to it is great as it allows you to move a sample along forwards or backwards, so you can easily change the start and end points of hits within a loop. 5

Load in an individual sample like a bass note, for example. Now you can create something quite spectacular from an individual sample. Using the Patterns menu, load in an Arpeggiation from the first drop-down option. Instant melodic riff! Experiment with the different arpeggiated patterns here. 8

We’ve saved possibly the best feature of the Patterns area of Loopcloud until last (in fact probably the most creative feature overall!) and that’s the fact that when you have a Pattern you are happy with, you can swap the sample at its core out with any other sample, instantly. This really can take your music making in all sorts of directions, so have fun with it! 3

The Reverse tool flips a segment around. There’s a Pitch tool as well, but that’s only available if you subscribe to the Studio Plan. The Pencil tool does work though, and allows you to paste samples in at distinct points and intervals. You can also zoom in and out of a sample or segment using the Zoom (magnifying glass) tools. 6

It is also a great way to create instant drum loops from single hits. Here we’ve loaded in a clap sample from the Downtempo Drums folder from the free pack of samples and applied the Techno Plucks 2FX pattern to it to create a new loop.