EXCLUSIVES

Apple® Loops Round Up
Words by David Hutchinson
March 2004

Since its release this past summer, Apple SoundTrack 1.0 ($299 individually; $999 bundled with Final Cut Pro®) has done for the Macintosh® what Sony®'s ACID® Pro 4.0 did years ago for Windows' significantly eased the process of creating loop based musical compositions. Indeed, both hobbyists and professionals will readily appreciate how SoundTrack's ease of use translates into more experimentation and productivity.

Creating a loop-based musical composition is as simple as dragging one or more drum, percussion, bass, piano, or other instrument audio clips from the left-hand side of the SoundTrack interface over to the track list at right. For each inserted clip, SoundTrack automatically creates a new track. (Alternatively, you can add a clip to an unused area of an existing track.) Clips are automatically aligned to the nearest measure, beat, or other musical interval so they are always in sync. The beauty of SoundTrack is that the tempo and key of each audio clip is automatically adjusted to match the default tempo and key of the entire composition. Nevertheless, the tempo and key of individual clips can still be set independently of the mix. This allows composers to quickly create custom chord progressions and harmonic effects.

How does SoundTrack do all of this? Each audio clip has been converted into an AIFF file and formatted as an "Apple Loop," Apple's proprietary format for SoundTrack samples. Each Apple Loop is tagged with markers that denote its attack transients (for tempo matching), key signature (for key changes), and instrument categories (for keyword searching). Keyword descriptors help SoundTrack to catalog an audio clip and make searching for individual clips in a sea of thousands of Apple Loops that much easier.

Apple SoundTrack ships with over 4000 loops and one shot audio clips, including drum and percussion loops; acoustic and electric pianos; acoustic, electric, and rhythm guitars; basses; etc. The included sample library nearly fills an entire DVD-ROM which compares very favorably with the total sample count included with ACID Pro 4.

No doubt many SoundTrack users will be content to stick with the thousands of Apple-provided audio clips, but those composers eager to break out of the manufacturer-supplied library will find 6 third-party Apple Loop libraries from which to choose. SoundTrack also supports the import of ACIDized' WAV files (which we'll get to later) and the import of user-created samples.

PowerFX Apple Loops

Having contributed many of the audio clips which ship with SoundTrack, PowerFX has now released two solid extension DVD-ROM libraries ($199 each; www.powerfx.com) that are packed with new loops and one shot instrument and folley effects. Of the two, it is the DV Composer's Toolkit that will appeal the most to musicians. This title adds hundreds of urban, dance, techno, Middle Eastern, and pop-oriented sounds to a SoundTrack composer's arsenal. The audio clips are organized into four main styles and each style includes multiple example arrangements (some better than others) to help guide composers.

For soundtrack composers, PowerFX has created Massive Effects, a collection of hundreds of one shot and atmospheric backdrops for film and video work. Included with Massive Effects are the sounds of animals, the weather, household gadgets, weapons, machinery, transportation, science fiction effects, and more. If you will be using SoundTrack's QuickTime® capabilities to score music to video, Massive Effects is very likely a must buy, but even non-soundtrack composers can use Massive Effects' atmospheric and applause effects to create live ambiences for studio recordings.

AMG Apple Loops

If the offerings from PowerFX cross the musical spectrum, the four CD-ROM titles we reviewed from AMG (www.samples4.com) focus more directly on the dance and hip hop music scenes. They are 160dB: The Drumm&Bass Interface ($55), 2Step Ahead ($110), Dark Side of the Groove ($110), and Ultramagnetic Beats ($110). (You must purchase more expensive licenses of these titles for audio-only use, but for audio to video scoring, the prices quoted above are accurate.)

Everything a dance artist could ask for is included with these titles evolving motion pads, searing synth leads, solid bass lines, one shot effects, and drum and percussion loops galore, We especially appreciated the organ riffs and processed beats included with the 2Step Ahead title and the human feel of the live jams featured on Dark Side of the Groove.

Acid Fanatic ACID Loops

SoundTrack users are not limited to using Apple Loop-formatted audio clips. SoundTrack can also import the thousands of ACID formatted WAV files available for download or purchase over the Internet. We tested four CD-ROM titles (702 Meg, Ambient Sphere, Electro-Chemical Grooves, and Subconscious Programming) from ACID Fanatic (www.acidfanatic.com), a widely recognized source for ACID loops in the Windows world. Providing good bang for the buck, these titles range in price from $14.99 - $29.99.

Batch loading even a large collection of ACID loops into SoundTrack was simple. Unfortunately, while the all-important attack transients and key signature carried over without incident, the keyword tags (specifying a sample's genre, instrument category, and mood descriptors) remained empty. To make the imported ACID clips searchable, it was necessary to input the keyword tags for each clip manually.

On a positive note, Apple's provided SoundTrack Loop Utility application does have a batch mode for assigning keywords to a group of similar sounds. Since ACID' libraries tend to be organized into sub-folders by category, batch cataloging sounds may not be as daunting a task as it first seems.

The Bottom Line

Each of the Apple Loops and ACID titles we reviewed are worthwhile investments. Indeed, mixing and matching audio clips from different manufacturers can result in cool new compositions that redefine the musical landscape.

The $200 cost per title for the PowerFX clips provides purchasers with two solid expansion packs with flexible user licenses. Although inexpensive at $55 to $110 each, be conscious of licensing restrictions attached to the AMG clips. If you will be using these sounds in audio only projects, make sure you budget for the more expensive editions of these titles. The surprising news is the Acid Fanatic titles. Don't be shy of Windows-centric ACID loop libraries. The titles we tested imported their attack transient points and key signatures into SoundTrack without difficulty.

Despite the wide variety of Apple Loops from which to choose, there are still a number of instrument categories which remain unaddressed.

Chief among these are vocal effects. We would like to see an Apple Loops version of Spectrasonics Vocal Planet for example. As well, the included acoustic guitar samples are not as pristine as we would hope.

Indeed, all of the orchestral instrument categories could use a little beefing up in a subsequent version of SoundTrack. On the new features front, we'd like to see integrated surround sound support and support for nudging sound bites forwards or backwards at 1/128th of a beat intervals.