Subject:What is AP4 being used for??

Posted by: antonio

Date:12/12/2002 2:48:24 PM

Okay here it goes...........I bought AP4 thinking that I would be able to transfer all of my individual looped tracks(which make up my songs) from my Roland XP-60 keyboard and then add vocals! However, from reading others' posts, I'm not sure what the hell I can do with this software aside from the fact that I can quickly compose new songs by combining pre-existing loops from SF's various libraries. So, can someone please tell me if I can do this or not??! The manual sucks, so I rather just ask you all straight up! I know AP4 is not a multi-tracking software, but is it possible to record more than one track of audio and/or midi?? I was told earlier that you could only save one vocal track in AP4. Is this true? How can I use my keyboard tracks in this software?? Thanks in advance.

Confused,
Antonio

Subject:RE: What is AP4 being used for??

Reply by: spesimen

Date:12/12/2002 4:39:57 PM

>I bought AP4 thinking that I would be able to transfer
>all of my individual looped tracks(which make up my songs)
>from my Roland XP-60 keyboard and then add vocals!

You should have no problem doing this.

>I know AP4 is not a multi-tracking software, but is it
>possible to record more than one track of audio and/or midi??

although you can only -record- one track at a time, you can playback as many as your computer will allow. i typically have between 30-50 tracks in an acid composition, including several versions of vocal takes, drum edits, instruments, etc.


>I was told earlier that you could only save one vocal track in AP4.
>Is this true?

not really. but, you can only record each take one at a time, so you can't say have four different people on four different mics recording four different vocal tracks at once. but they could take turns and it would work just spiffy.

for an example of this, my webpage has some holiday music i made with my sister entirely in acid 4.. the 'cherry tree' song consists of 8 vocal takes where we just took turns improvising different harmonies. it took about 1/2 an hour, really easy tracking in this program... : http://www.sonicwisdom.org/sublimation/sublisten.htm


>How can I use my keyboard tracks in this software??

play the loop on your keyboard, and record it into acid while it's playing. make sure to trim the starts and ends of the loop properly (you may need an editor to do this easily, but you can just line up acid's looping points so it loops right and then do a 'mixdown to new track' command.) if you set acid's tempo and the keyboards tempo to the same value it should be pretty straightforward and you can avoid pitch shifting artifacts and stuff.... just record a bunch of files, one for each loop you want. then go ahead and record vocal takes.

have you tried using the program much yet?? it might be better to just get down to experimenting with it :) have fun!!

Subject:RE: What is AP4 being used for??

Reply by: jtuffen

Date:12/13/2002 5:50:14 AM

Personally, (and I'm a newcomer to Acid) I've been using it as a great (song)writing tool... I take loops, chop them, mangle them with effects (going out to SoundForge if necessary), also use the VSTi functionality to create synth lines etc., and render them to loops (then chop around if necessary etc. etc.). I then render the stack of tracks as separate WAV files - ending up with a stack of up to 10 shortish loops (in mono) which I then send down to my sampler (Yamaha A3000). Now, since Acid has already made sure that all of the loops are the same length, I set the samples to 'loop forever' map them all onto the same MIDI channel and key, then (using the 10 outputs on the sampler) use my mixing desk to 'sculpt' the resulting track - I also have a couple of outboard effects units which I can play around with as well.

I've found that it's a really nice way to work live too, in fact you can hear some of the tracks I've done like this by following this link - any feedback gratefully received!

Like I said, these tracks weren't actually recorded using Acid; but Acid is the tool used to write them...

john..

namke communications

Subject:RE: What is AP4 being used for??

Reply by: Polaris20

Date:12/13/2002 7:14:19 AM

I use Acid to make messed up hard rock/techno/progressive music. I play guitar, bass, trumpet, and sing (badly) and use the Acid library for the rest. I love it, when it works, which it has ever since I did a healthy CPU upgrade.

I generally have about 6 guitar tracks, bass track, 3-4 vocal tracks, and boatloads of drum and synth loops. I am about to tap into the world of VSTi once I find an Oxygen 8 on Ebay for a fair price (and the wife gives an ok heheh).

Subject:RE: What is AP4 being used for??

Reply by: antonio

Date:12/13/2002 9:23:05 AM

Thanks for the detailed response Spesimen! That really clears it up for me! Thanks to everyone else too, who responded!!! I have been spending alot of time with AP4, but I was just creating songs using the loop libraries!! However, you guys have made it clear of some of the wonderful things this software really has to offer! I will dive much deeper into it this weekend!! Thanks again for the responses dudes!!! I'm beginning to love this forum!!!! peace

Antonio

Subject:RE: What is AP4 being used for??

Reply by: fresnog

Date:12/14/2002 4:21:23 PM

EQUINOX TWIN is one of the better songs I have listened to in a long time.
In fact, I am listening to it right now as I type this.
What did you use for the drums on this track.
Perfect drum sound for the winter season.

Fresnog