The short guide
Understand the idea
A cue point marks a place to start in a source. A loop repeats a selected window of that source. This exercise lets you choose both, then schedule an exit and inspect which source bar plays in each of eight output bars.
What you can explore
- Tell a source cue apart from the bars of the playback path.
- Choose a one-, two- or four-bar window and see how it repeats.
- Plan an exit that continues forward or returns to the beginning.
A worked example
Repeat bars 3 and 4, then move forward
Set the cue to source bar 3, choose a two-bar loop and leave after four output bars. Choose Continue forward. The source-bar map becomes 3 → 4 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8. Play the path and notice the repeated pair before the later notes arrive.
- Cue
- Source bar 3 is the remembered starting point.
- Loop
- Two source bars repeat until four output bars have played.
- Exit
- Continue forward starts at the source bar after the last one played: bar 5 in this example.
Start with a place you can recognize
Each source bar has a supplied pitch, so you can recognize changes by ear or by its note label. Tapping a bar saves the cue; it does not start playback. The cue names the source location that will begin the next preview, not a headphone-monitoring function.
Source numbers and playback numbers answer different questions. The source bar identifies the musical material. The output bar counts where that material appears in the eight-bar result. Keeping both numbers visible makes repetition and movement easier to understand.
Repeat a small window instead of the whole phrase
The window can contain one, two or four source bars beginning at your cue. It repeats until the chosen exit after two, four or six output bars. The source wraps after bar 8, so a window starting at bar 8 can continue through source bars 1, 2 and 3.
An exit at or before one full window moves on before the window starts again; a later exit lets it repeat. The exit can arrive partway through a four-bar window. That is intentional: the saved exit boundary decides when the repetition ends. These controls describe a scheduled plan, not a live test of tapping a loop-release button at the correct instant.
Decide what happens after the repeat
Continue forward uses the source bar after the last one actually played, including when the loop exits partway through its window. Return to bar 1 starts the source again from its beginning. The map shows the exact sequence used by the player, so an unexpected result can be traced to a visible choice.
The preview runs once for eight bars at 120 BPM, about 16 seconds. Edits stop sound, and the next Play starts from your saved cue. Quiet mode keeps the same source-bar sequence. Your local progress and downloadable text recipe preserve the plan; they are not an audio export or an automatic app transfer.
Common questions
What is the difference between a cue and a loop?
A cue remembers a starting location. A loop repeats a window of material. Here your cue chooses the first source bar, and the loop length decides how many source bars repeat.
Is this the same as a headphone cue?
No. This lesson teaches a remembered source position and a scheduled playback path. It does not simulate separate headphone monitoring or a full DJ deck.
What happens if the loop reaches source bar 8?
The eight-bar source wraps to bar 1. The playback map shows that wrap explicitly, so you can follow every source bar in the result.
Is a musical loop the same as an audio delay?
No. This exercise replays selected bars of musical material. A delay creates later copies of sound according to an effect’s timing and feedback settings. Both use repetition, but they organize it in different ways.
Published by TunePal. Interactive examples for beginner music producers.