A tool to sample loops from mp3 efficiently ?

[Deed]

Hello !
I'm searching a tool (free or cheap) that would allow me to listen to a mp3 and to easily chop loops from it. I would be surprised that something like this doesn't exist ...
I tried to use xtal (best free mp3 player and vst djing tool ) within buzz, but it is not very easy for me to exactly adjust loops with xtal and i get clicks and pops by using the buzz internal recorders to export loops into wavs ... So i would like to try an external tool to easily construct my loops from my mp3s

[Failed Muso]

Use Audacity to convert your mp3 to wav and then use a loop manipulation tool like ReCycle or Zero-X's BeatCreator to trim and chop your loop.

Being a ReCycle user, I'm not aware of any free tools that do the same, but I am sure there are some and I'm doubly sure someone will point it out very quickly

Audacity is totally free

[Deed]

Use Audacity to convert your mp3 to wav

do you mean that audacity can read mp3s ? Is it easy to directly save a loop from this mp3 into wav ?
Because I do not need tools like recyle or other slicers : i just want to cut loops from mp3, then i will use these loops into the slicer of my choice.
I will try audacity

[Yossarian]

There are plenty of mp3 editors around, like Super mp3 Editor:

www.mp3editor.net

I haven’t tried it but it seems to be able to do what you’re looking for. It will set you back $40 tho.

/Yoss

[Deed]

well i tried audacity and i think it's quite difficult to use for what i want to do because you can't adjust loops points "on the fly" (ie when playing a selection, i can't adjust the selection start and end points while the mp3 keep playing)
btw i don't think this is the primarily goal of audacit to do such things (it seems to me that it is more a recorder, or a tool to apply effects to large wav files)
I don't know super mp3 editor, but it seems very similat to audacity, isn't it ?
anyway, thanks for the advices

[Deed]

Up !
I found nothing (free) that would be useful for me.
Audacity is really not suited for what i want to do.
I cannot believe that i'm the only one that wants to extract loops from mp3 ... so there MUST be a freeware for that ! There is a freeware for ANYTHING !

[Deed]

ok i'll reply to myself the most accurate tool i found for what i want to do is acoustica from acon digital media : it's an excellent tool, can really competes with soundforge and is insanely cheap compared to other professional audio editors (29,90€)
anyway i didn't test it thoroughly cause all i want to do is easily cut loops and samples from mp3 ... that's all ! i need no effects, no fancy tools, etc ... i just to visualize the wave form, set start and end points on the fly (ie while continously playing back the music), and when i'm satisfied with my loop (ie when i can feel, only using my ear, that loop is ok), i just want to export it as a wav ... that's all ...

[C00kie]

Audacity can do this quite easily:
* Open your MP3 file
* Select a section by dragging the mouse over the time bar at the top. There are icons at the top left to zoom into your selection.
* Hold the Shift key and press > (play) to play the section in loop mode
(alas, you cannot adjust boundaries while playing the loop, have to start & stop)
* when satisfied, copy it. Select the bottom grey area (empty track/wav) & paste there
* finally save as wav.

sounds simple to me...

[Deed]

thanks for your reply, but if you have read the whole thread you would have known that i already tried audacity and that i didn't find it usable for what i want to do, precisely because "you cannot adjust boundaries while playing the loop" without this feature, it is just a pain in the ass to correctly cut the loop

[C00kie]

You can request the feature, or try to code it yourself. Audacity is open source software...

If you get some experience in looping, you don't need that many attempts anymore.

[Deed]

If you get some experience in looping, you don't need that many attempts anymore

well for beats this is quite true ... but i'm lazy you know

[Sascha Franck]

I convert all the interesting MP3s to wave before doing anything else. Simply because there's still some editors that don't support them directly. dbpoerwamp converts them almost on the fly (rightclick > convert to > done), unfortunately the latest version isn't free anymore.
After that I use my hosts (Logic or Cubase) or a dedicated editor (WaveLab or ReCycle) to trim the loops.
I'm getting very quick results.

[Klemperer]

I convert all the interesting MP3s to wave before doing anything else. Simply because there's still some editors that don't support them directly. dbpoerwamp converts them almost on the fly (rightclick > convert to > done), unfortunately the latest version isn't free anymore.

Same here. The freeware-version still exists, but as mp3-encoding isn't free anymore the author wrote (http://www.dbpoweramp.com/download.htm by the way the place for dl) he couldn't go on with his free edition. But I think you can use it 30 days for free, after that it converts to ogg or audio monkey and all that, but not more to mp3.
I got a very cheap (15$ I think) power-pack-version which includes good things, and of course mp3-converting for ever and ever.

(ape, monkey's audio, and other lossless compressings are rather good for people who download large sample-libraries and want to clean the hard drive before it's full )

[Deed]

I convert all the interesting MP3s to wave before doing anything else

that's i want to avoid also. As said before i'm lazy
Anyway all editors will internally convert mp3 into wavs (in a temp file i guess). Also it is true that there is problems with mp3 licensing, but freewares can take advantages of the mp3 encoders/decoders already packed within the most common systems. For example acoustica will use the mp3 encoder/decoder embedded within windows media player 10 (although it is not a freeware but a cheapware )