I really want to love my OP-1, but the whole ‘cant record a loop without having zero crossing pops’ is driving me fucking crazy.
So I started writing my loops with bars of silence on either end of the loop…which is ridiculous because I sit there with my buddy who has a sampling keyboard from the 80s and effortlessly sings notes into it and loops it without any sort of clicking or poppping AT ALL.
Another thing I’ve figured out is that sometimes the pops and clicks in the tape player are really only there when you are looping, and it doesnt transfer over to my computer… other times… no, it’s there. So don’t totally give up until you’ve checked it in your DAW.
OR just copy and paste the section you are working on over and over so you only have to hear the pops and clicks occasionally.
There was a huge thread about this on the Ohpeewon… I wish we still had it.
I think I’ve settled into a workflow that mostly avoids pops and clicks. Unfortunately though, it means I tend to avoid using the approach where you add layers to a continually recording loop. I still do loop based work, but I tend to build my loops up in such a way that no sound crosses a loop boundary. (I agree though, to have to do this is a shame and it limits what you can do with loops). When I’m happy with a skeletal loop and want it to play over a number of bars, I’ll lift and drop it that number of times onto tape and shift into a more linear workflow (something akin to the arrangement view in Ableton). Once I’m in that mode, I’ll add all my longer, pad-type sounds in separate passes on top of the looped material on tape.
Sometimes, I still encounter the pops in the most annoying of places and will end up having to do something creative, like make a feature of it somehow, or hide it with a big crash, or something like that
I don’t remember where I read this, and I tried to find the link to the blog that mentioned it, but
Shift+COM, then hit button 4 to access OPT mode for the USB charge, and if you turn the blue encoder left and right, it switches between a green lightning bolt and a red X, counter-clockwise for the red X to disable the mode.
I disabled it and it actually reduced the noise. If it’s already in that mode and you still hear noises, maybe a slight FX over the tape could hide it… A really subtle spring FX.
Also, there are sometimes click sounds that appear on the actual tape itself, even after erasing the full 6 minute tape. Let the tape play over a blank section. If there’s a click, set a loop area for about 20 seconds around that area, start recording to give it something to pick up, then LIFT all 4 tracks in the section (shift + up arrow). That clears it away without having to figure out which of the 4 tracks had the pop. Since it can lift up a total of 22 seconds, just go as close to that loop length as possible to save time.
I always do this if the song style needs to be especially clean.
@THSC That’s the point of the USB charge disable thing. That option (I assume) isolates the grounds of the USB cable and the OP-1 (USB data transfer still works, because it’s a differential connection, doesn’t need a common ground). Less chance of ground loops and ground noise and such that way.
I recall from previous threads that tape loop clicks are caused by the OP-1 jumping back at the wrong place in the sample memory, i.e., the start/end points are stored using a timestamp that has not enough resolution to point to the correct place. Simply cross-fading may not be the solution here and the fact we still have those issues appears to confirm that it can’t be easily fixed by TE.
A ms fade in (from zero) and fade out (from zero) is usually enough to add silence @ the crossing, but quick enough to no dampen the audio.
Got Audioshare on the iPhone or iPad? When you use it to crop loops, this option is user-definable, and enabled by default. It’s pretty much perfect at eliminating pops @ zero crossing.
I recall from previous threads that tape loop clicks are caused by the OP-1 jumping back at the wrong place in the sample memory, i.e., the start/end points are stored using a timestamp that has not enough resolution to point to the correct place. Simply cross-fading may not be the solution here and the fact we still have those issues appears to confirm that it can't be easily fixed by TE.
A little more attention to correcting their flagship problem would be highly appreciated. PO units are great, but the real TE investors suffer while their crew prances around the altar of a $50 toy.
A ms fade in (from zero) and fade out (from zero) is usually enough to add silence @ the crossing, but quick enough to no dampen the audio.
Got Audioshare on the iPhone or iPad? When you use it to crop loops, this option is user-definable, and enabled by default. It’s pretty much perfect at eliminating pops @ zero crossing.
Yes, I get that part already, sorry for not being precise enough…
As I said earlier, on Elektron Octatrack there are Fade IN / Fade OUT to solve this “plop” problem.
What I don’t understand is why you say "all but the most aggressive pops"
Doesn’t it mean that it doesn’t do the job efficiently enough ?
+ I thought you were referring to my sentence above yours, but maybe your “Right” was addressed to OP
