Time stretching to specific bars?

[braj]

I have GarageBand's loops that I want to use in Metro, but when I import the .AIF files, they aren't in the same time signature as Metro. So, I'll have a two bar loop fit into 3 bars in Metro. It seems that manually time stretching each loop results in small truncations or clicks, and the loops aren't smooth.

Is there a better way to do this that will be 1) faster and 2) sound better? Metro runs much more efficiently and has lots of features I want for composing, but I've found the Apple Loops a great source for drum patterns, and I'd like to have them work well in Metro. I tried this on a friends Cubase and it worked nicely. I just can't figure out how to do the same in Metro.

[Jerm]

The best way is to drag the bar lines to the down beat. This will simply change the tempo without affecting the audio at all.

[braj]

I don't think I follow you. How do I drag the bar lines?

[Jerm]

Use the Scale Tool of the graphic editor.

[braj]

I can't seem to get it to work right.

To use this feature, click on the Scale Tool and position the cursor around the bar line you desire to move. When the cursor is positioned properly over top of a bar line, it will change into the Resizing Tool. When the Resizing Tool icon appears, click and drag the bar line in either direction and let go to lock the bar line in its new place. You may wish to adjust the Zoom amount in order to achieve a finer resolution

Can you define 'bar line'. What does the 'resiving tool' look like?

I'm struggling to get this to work. Thanks.

[Jerm]

A bar line is what separates bar n from bar n+1. The tool when selected looks like this:

[Scoot]

I used this once to cleanly sync up someone elses midi composition.....so it didn't look like it was drifting.

By the end of it, the tempo was about 2-3 times quicker (to make it fit the way he wanted it) and took a few goes to get it right.

A bit of practice is always a good thing.......try it on a few notes you draw on yourself and you can figure out how to use the tool from there.


scoot.

[braj]

When the cursor is positioned properly over top of a bar line, it will change into the Resizing Tool.

This is what I'm not getting.

[Scoot]

Below is the bar move tool in action.
The dark tool is the starting point for the drag and the greyed tool is it's finishing point.

In the first picture I move the start of bar 2 to the end of the fourth note.
The second picture shows you the result and also the tempo change in the transport window.

Then in the second picture, the bar tool is used again to get bar 3 starting at the beginning of the ninth note, instead of after it.

[braj]

OK, that helped a bit. But it seems that Metro doesn't edit loops quite like I'd like. Even using the scale tool on a 2 bar loop, subsequently copying/pasting left gaps that would need to be adjusted again because I'm manually selecting where the change should be made. That's not what I wanted. Cubase allows you to stretch the loop and snap to the nearest bar (or bar segment). I was able to do this incredibly easily without any help. Maybe this could be a future added feature?

I ended up simply figuring out what tempo the loop was in and adjusting it accordingly, and then it worked. But I could just find that info out from GarageBand. I'll probably end up making extended drum loops in GB and then entering them into Metro. That doesn't give me the greatest flexibility, but I'll live. I wanted to avoid GB altogether if possible.

[Jerm]

You might want to take a look at a slicer plug-in like Phatmatik Pro.