HOW TO Loop in Logic Pro and export to Ableton

Prepare your project

You can access Live Loops from within an existing Logic Pro X project or you can start a new one via the Choose A Project window. Let’s start a new Live Loops project.

Record a new loop

You can import existing audio files to the Live Loops view or record your own playing. We’re playing live bass guitar here: just add and record– enable a new track, select the box you want to record into and click Record.

Sort out stems

To export tracks as stems, select File > Export > X Tracks As Audio Files (or as MIDI if exporting for use in a MIDI app). You can also extract individual regions to add them to the loop library for future loopiness.

Add a loop

The grid in the center is where loops live, organized by instrument. This time though, they’re also organized by columns. To add a loop, drag it from the Loop Browser to the appropriate square.

Add the live bits

In a live performance, you can now trigger individual loops by clicking them, or an entire column by clicking the footer. You can also set up a new track such as a vocal mic, enabling you to sing over the top of loops.

Label everything

This looks a bit complex but it’s quite simple: it enables you to set how Logic names each exported track — for example, here we’ve got the project name, the BPM (which we’ve entered manually) and the name of the track.

Add some variety

Each column can contain multiple loops, so you might have the first for your intro and the second for your verse. You can adjust how loops behave — so to reverse a drum loop, Ctrl-click it and choose Reverse.

Bring the band

What if you want to export a backing track to play along to? No problem. Open your project, make sure that the Cycle bar at the top runs from the start to the end, and then select the track(s) you want to export.

Import the audio

Once you’ve exported your stems, you can drag them into a live app such as Ableton Live, shown here, and organise them into songs. You can also add effects such as compression to ensure consistency across your set.