Loop Clips are great to practice, jam with and as the framework of song. There are lots of software packages out there that can do loop clips in stereo. One of the easiest to use is Cool.

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What's a loop clip? A loop clip is a sound file that at the very end, starts back at the beginning. After a loop clip is built, using the Cool Program you can loop these clips and create a seamless sound file to Jam to continuously. Once recorded, these clips can be saved to Jam to any time you are in the mood.

And its sooooo easy to do. First, you have to have everything plugged in and ready to go. Refer to your sound card help files or manual to set up the desired source to record. This could be a keyboard, drums, guitar or perhaps vocals. It can also be a section of music from a CD or MP3 file.

With music, the less technical headaches the better. That will allow you to focus on the music you are about to make and record..

Once you’re PC is set up, and the Cool Software is downloaded and installed, your ready to build your first loop clip.

Here's an example of a low grade loop clip: B - A.wav (use your right mouse option - save target as to save to your PC)

So, fire up Cool by double clicking the Cool Program icon on your desktop, or by using the start button and finding the Programs/Syntrillium/Cool Edit 96 program.

The window shown below may vary depending on which version of Cool you have. On this screen, you can select two functions at a time with the free version. Use the Save... and Amplify... functions for now. Now click OK.

You should probably check the level of the input signal you are going to record. If you haven't plugged you guitar or whatever into the line in source. Then select Option/Monitor VU Level from the Menu.

The VU Level should be around between -3 and 0 (the red on the black bar at the bottom of the Cool window).  

There are a lot of ways to control input and output levels, depending on what set up you are using. The input signal shown above will only be as good as the original source. 

Now. select File/New from the menu, or click the Button on the tool bar. The screen above will appear. 

 The screen above allows you to select the quality and characteristics of the sound you want to record. The ones shown are middle of the road. Try the various settings when you have time and you can see the difference. When you have the settings you want, click OK.

Now, click the record button. If all is well, you are recording and the screen will look like this.

Notice the values in the bottom right of the screen. You can see how much hard disk space you have to work with, the number of samples taken and how big the file is. Now play something and when you are finished stop (hit the space bar once or click the Stop button with the mouse.

Now, the screen will look kind of like this. Notice the waveform is displayed in the center section of the screen. At this point, if you don't like what you recorded, you can just hit the delete key and start again with File/New.

When you are creating a Loop Clip, you want to stop playing when you are just starting to play the same chord that started the clip. So, it will sound as if it is just repeating the part. 

If you need to hear what you recorded, just click the Play button or hit the spacebar to start the file playing. If you have white space to the left and right of the wave form, you will just hear a slight hiss. There is a Play Line that shows what you are hearing, when. 

Click the right mouse button and hold it down, then drag to the left to the start of the wave form and then release the mouse button.

The white space highlighted above represents the selection that we will delete. Make sure that the start of the waveform is about where the downbeat of the first chord is. Press the delete key and the screen will look as shown below.

If you didn't get it right, you should be able to use the Menu Option Edit/Undo to replace the deleted portion. Now we do the other side.

This may be a bit trickier. We need to edit the right side so that it is at the almost exact same spot as the down beat starting the wave form. To do this, you might want to listen to the file first. I typically just start by deleting what I know is wrong and deleting a little at a time until the loop file sounds seamless. It takes a bit to get the hang of it, but once you do, its really fast. Now, place the cursor just outside the wave area to the right of the screen. If your cursor is too far to the right, the cursor will appear as a hand. We want it to look like an arrow. Just like before, you'll click the right mouse button down, drag to the left this time, and let go of the mouse button when you it is just inside the right wave form.

Once you feel you have it in the right spot, hit the delete key.

Now you are ready to see how you did. It does usually take some trial and error to get the edit just right.

If you didn't edit enough, the clip is a little long. The you can clip a little more off one of the sides. You may be able to use undo if you clipped too much, or you may have to start over.

You can also use the Space Bar instead of pressing the Loop button. 

To hear the clip loop, you need to set the Option/Loop Mode setting on the menu. To do that, select Option/Loop from the Menu. When you do this, the Play Button changes to Loop.

Once the Loop starts playing, watch the play line. This will give you an idea of what to do if the file does not sound like it is looping properly.

Also, you can start the clip towards the end by single clicking the left mouse button in the wave somewhere.