So, you want to make ogg loops!?

[Mist]

Thankfully, you came to the right place! (Or wrong place, if you don't feel like reading.)

What better way to start off a tutorial than with a table of contents!? That way if there's a specific part you need to re-read, your browser's search function is your best friend.

Table of Contents:
1 (WIA). What is Audacity!?
2.(DNA). Do I Need Anything Else?
3. (CVS). The Canvas!
4. (BTS). Buttons To Look Out For

5. (SEL). Selecting our starting point!

6. (CTF). Cutting The Fat!
7. (SCH). Where to Start the Loop!?
7a. (SCH2). Where to end the loop!?
8. (LIK). Listening is Key!
9. (TST). Testing, Testing, Testing!
10. (WNM). Write Your Numbers Down! Enter Them!
11. (SVP). Save your project!
12. (TST2). More testing!? On MY *.ogg!?

Be sure to type the truncated labels in each number to find what you need faster! Ex: If you want to get to number nine faster, simply type (TST). in your search bar.

1. (WIA). What is Audacity!?

Audacity is the software we will be using to make all of the listed edits you will see in this tutorial. This is the only program required to make the loops, so this tutorial will only be covering how to make the loops using, you guessed it, Audacity. (This includes volume changes, if you feel your loop is too quiet for what you want to use it for). You can download Audacity by clicking http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/.

2. (DNA). Do I Need Anything Else?

Your music, of course! Make sure you know your audio file well, or have at least listened to the song in mind enough times. We'll be pinpointing (to the best of our abilities) in these files where we want the loop to start and end, and we'll want to make it sound as smooth as possible. For this tutorial, I will be using OC Remix #1723: Mega Man 3 - Passing of the Blue Crown. It's a fairly simple track, with an acceptable amount of loop potentiality.

3. (CVS). The Canvas!

If you're already familiar with Audacity's layout, you're welcome to skip this part of the tutorial. If not, scroll on down! You'll need to get comfortable with the layout to make your work easier.

This is what you should be looking at, right now. I haven't loaded in anything, just yet. But we'll be choosing File -> Open (Or if you like shortcut keys, Ctrl + O) to get where we need to go. From there, select your song. As stated, I've already chosen mine. If you're choosing to follow this tutorial down to the same track I'm using, you'll want to download the OC Remix track I've selected for this tutorial. Otherwise, use the proceeding images as a guideline for what steps need to be taken in order to properly loop your desired track.

4. (BTS). Buttons To Look Out For!

Below, I've not only highlighted what buttons we'll be using, but also what we'll need to use them for.

1. File -> Export Audio -- This will allow us to export the file we want to use as our loop to *.ogg format, regardless of the original format of the file you're using. This will also pull up our function window, enabling us to add the proper functions, LOOP_START, to our file.

2. Edit -> Remove Special -> Trim Audio -- This will help us cut down the unnecessary parts of the audio (after all, if you're setting the file to loop after a certain point, the rest of the audio won't be necessary. Let's save some file size, huh?)

3. These zoom tools will help us pinpoint the number we'll want to use for our track. We'll be zooming into our work area, number four.

4. These are the waves for our desired track. Paying attention to the intensities here is very helpful. If you know your track well enough, sometimes you may not even need to zoom in; you can simply place your cursor in the area in which you want to loop, then proceed with the required steps to get your loop going!

5. This area is very important! This will provide us with pinpoint accuracy on where our loop will start. We'll primarily be paying close attention to "Selection Start", as we'll be selecting parts of the track and starting our loop there. Be sure to click the drop-down beside the box, and click "Samples". That number will come in handy as we progress.

6. Our selection tool is the other very important object here. Using it on the waves will create what's called a "selection boundary". Placing your cursor on either edge of the selection boundary will enable you to reposition the starting and end of your selection, assisting you in pinpointing your loop areas.

5. (SEL). Selecting Our Starting Point!

You'll be listening to certain bits of the track several times to get the perfect point in which you want your loop to start at.

The images above are both zoomed in and out to show how selecting sections of your track will work. When you click on a section of the waves, the cursor will change to a hand pointing left or right, depending on where you start dragging first. Having a base selection helps so you're able to widen or shorten your selection, based on the needs of your loop. Again, make sure you select "Samples" from the drop down menu (7th Option). Any other "samples" selection may throw you off course, and you'll end up losing your selection -- a.k.a., you'll have to find your selection again, and we want this to be as less time-consuming as possible.

5a. (SEL2). Write Your Numbers Down!

The sample numbers you now see at the bottom are the numbers we'll want. Primarily, we want the "Selection Start" number. Type it down, write it down, whatever you need to do. We'll need this number for later! Write down your "End" number, too. Just in case you accidentally click out of the selection boundary editor, and need to re-select your section. This will take a LOT of stress off!

6. (CTF). Cutting the Fat!

The second easiest part of this process, sans typing the number in for your starting loop.

For this part, you'll simply want to extend the left part of your selection boundary back toward the beginning of the song, then select Edit -> Remove Special -> Trim Audio (Ctrl + T). This will cut out the parts of your track that are NOT SELECTED. This helps cut down on the unnecessary parts of the track (the audio we aren't using for our loop).

7. (SCH). Where to Start the loop!?

The number we have written down, our "Selection Start" number, is the number we'll be typing into the LOOP_START function, so PSOBB knows where to loop our track.

7a. (SCH2). Where to END the loop!?

No extra steps are required here! Number six took care of that for us. Trimming the end of the audio as shown in the corresponding image is exactly where we found our loop to be the smoothest. Therefore, cutting the excess off of the end of the track will leave us with a healthy, happy loop.

8. (LIK). Listening is Key!

The best way to test your loop to make sure it is "seamless" (no cut-offs, no noticeable skips, no 'white noise'), is by playing it in Audacity by simply holding Shift and pressing Space. This will tell Audacity to play your selection and loop it, and it will continue playing until you hit Space again to stop it. If it isn't to your liking, that's fine! That's what editing the boundaries are for.

9. (TST). Testing, Testing, Testing!

Let Audacity loop through your selection enough times until you are satisfied with how you want the track to loop. Edit and re-edit as need bit. This is right before you export your project. Don't worry about screwing up on the final steps; we'll be able to make edits, as long as we don't save the file itself (or at the very least, keep a back-up of the audio file)!

10. (WNM). Enter in those written numbers, now!

Once you are 100% completely satisfied with your work, go to File -> Export Audio (Ctrl + Shift + E). Click the drop down menu beside "Save As Type", and select "Ogg Vorbis Files". This is the file type PSOBB uses for each BGM you hear. Click OK.

This is the window you'll come to next. Click "Add", and it will add a new line with which to add our function, loop_start to. This is where you want to enter the "Selection Start" number you were instructed to write down earlier. Type in that number as is (0's at the beginning included). Then click OK.

Congratulations! You've made your first ogg loop! Now for the final part...

12. (TST2). More testing!? On MY *.ogg!?

It's more likely than you think! If all went well and you followed the steps properly, you'll have your very own *.ogg loop! I prefer to use the title screen to test my loops to make sure they work properly (or at the very least to remember what I'm doing ).

Export your *.ogg file as title.ogg (or go to where the file is located, right-click on it and click "Rename" to rename it to that). Drop it into the data/ogg folder, then run PSO to give it a test on the title screen. Did it loop correctly? If you followed all of the steps to a tee, you should have no issues.

That concludes this *.ogg loop tutorial. And you didn't even need that clunky SONY program, NOR did it require Winamp's shenanigans!! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to PM me, or reply here. I'll be happy to help you out.

P.S. If you need to edit the playback volume of your loop, edit the slide bar at Audacity's top right.

** SIDE NOTE **

This tutorial will work for ALL of the *.ogg files PSOBB uses, EXCEPT:

slbgm_desert

slbgm_crater

slbgm_jungle

slbgm_wilds

These use a different format of handling loops for the tracks, of which I either have not figured out yet, or have not written a proper tutorial for. This may come in the future, provided I invest the time to do just that -- figure it out.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Mist

[Joseph Hararah]

Such tutorial, much great, very wow

[Mist]

Thanks! Also, for anyone that wants a copy of the finished *.ogg I used in the tutorial, I'll upload a copy of it soon.

[kajex]

You should um... Replace green day in the patch server.

[Fyrewolf5]

For those 4 tracks that this method will not work with, I think I may have found a guide for how to properly do those specifically elsewhere. Apparently it involves splitting your ogg to match the amount the regular music has and then rejoining them to make a streaming ogg, and it automatically loops with no loop_start. https://oggsource.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/multi-stream-oggs/  (deprecated link:http://s7.zetaboards.com/PSO_SERVER_HOME/topic/277314/1/)

I tested this out and it..... sorta works. The track plays mostly fine, but the game seems to be forcing the transitions for normal>battle / battle>normal / normal>normal / battle>battle or something like that, causing some awkward jumps in the music at certain points. The other areas in the game also use streaming ogg like this, but don't screw up the music when it is replaced by a regular ogg. Maybe there is a way to edit the track to work well or split the file into normal / battle tracks, or find out why psobb is forcing those transitions only on those tracks and disabling it. At least it's not completely crashing though. You should totally invest the time to figure out how to do it too and add it in here so we can have a cool complete guide.

[Mist]

I'll take a look into that, Fyre. Thanks! Kajex, are you suggesting the track i used in the tutorial?

[Mist]

Fyrewolf: I took a look at that tutorial you linked me to. I'm half-tempted to play around with it based on the information here.

But after doing a bit of reading into the tutorial, editing these particular area OGG's require songs that are nearly designed to be edited like this. The only music I can think of that might come close is anything from Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time.

Even then, any custom area OGG edits done to the Forbidden Four would be more noticeable in their erroneous areas, versus the smoother transitions of the others.

[adidasprime]

Nice guide. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. Can finally get some of those EPIII tracks going like I wanted.

Got a few working so far, have a couple questions though.

Is it possible to test a loop without listening to the entire song? It is a bit slow listening to a several minute song just to see if the one second it loops from end to start is right. Then again if you make a small adjustment. Then again if you... etc.

Next is - can you loop only a certain portion of a track? For example:

What I'd like is for it to play 0:00 - 2:02 only once, then loop from 2:03 - 4:47 repeatedly after that.

First time using Audacity so it's quite possible I'm overlooking the answer to both of these.

[Soly]

- The first one... You should be able to have the selected portion of the song that is going to loop and play it almost from the end... I would have to check.

- Iirc, setting your loopstart to the samples where you want the loop to start will do this then set your looplength based on the loopstart position, would have to check again, but the idea is something like that.

[Mist]

Is it possible to test a loop without listening to the entire song? It is a bit slow listening to a several minute song just to see if the one second it loops from end to start is right. Then again if you make a small adjustment. Then again if you... etc.

Next is - can you loop only a certain portion of a track?

What I'd like is for it to play 0:00 - 2:02 only once, then loop from 2:03 - 4:47 repeatedly after that.

Glad you actually asked both questions!

Answer to First: One easy way to skip to the end of a selection you have made in Audacity is using the arrow keys to skip up toward it. (Left and right, Respectively). Tapping and/or holding the arrow key to the right will enable you to skip toward the end of your selection to test your loop faster (this cuts out a LOT of looping time).

Answer to Second: You can loop any part of the track you want, so long as the end of your file and the beginning of where you want your loop to start have a smooth transition. A.k.a., are seamless. That way, it appears more as an endless song, versus a cookie-cutter track that has an awkward break somewhere in it.

Essentially, you'll want something like this:

Let's say the track you're working with is 4:50.

The "intro" to your track is from 0:00 to 1:47

At 1:47, it begins the variation that is similar to a section in the track further on, at 3:48

If the loop is created correctly, your song will start playing at 0:00, play until 3:48, and the loop will start at 1:47. To which 1:47 to 3:48 will play continuously, and will sound like the track itself is making this transition, unnoticed. That is the end result you want.

As you're creating the loop for your track, take advantage of the right arrow key while you have your selection up; again, this allows you to skip to where you have ENDED your selection while you have continuous play (Shift+Space) active, thus enabling you to properly test your loop outside of PSO.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Mist

[adidasprime]

Thanks for the replies. Hoping to play with it some more later tonight with some extra know-how.

Nice thing about EPIII's tracks is they already have seamless loops, so it's just a matter of cutting at the right places.

[Mist]

I've been meaning to loop a few of EPIII's tracks myself, for my own personal amusement. I should get around to that, at some point. :v

But yeah, no problem. Feel free to ask about anything else you're unsure of. This goes for anyone else reading, and you have questions about what to do.

[adidasprime]

After a bit more trial and error, finally got Tower of Caelum to loop properly. Took a few tries to realize not to put commas in the loop_start field while saving.

Didn't run into any other problems, so should be good to go from here on out. Just have to finish up a few more EPIII tracks, then move onto some favorites from PSU.

Thanks again.

[Arek]

I did everything (I think) as instructed (though some parts I didn't understand) with Ice Cap Zone Act 1 (Sonic 3 & Knuckles) and Sandopolis Zone Act 2 (same game) but both of them don't loop properly...sigh.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Arek
Fixed and easy

[Arek]

Okay, ignore my above post.

I've now figured out how to do it very easily and have looped over 50 songs without any trouble, nothing to it.
I'll also help out if anyone wants any specific requests and posts in the other topic, thanks so much for the guide!