FMOD 201 - Lesson 2 - synchrnzr

Last update: 2025-06-22

201: Interactive Music

Lesson 2: Random Re-sequencing

Now we have a background loop track but it's somewhat short (30s approx) so it will become repetitive very soon. We could aim for longer tracks, however we can have differents tracks instead that can play randomly to avoid repetitiveness and keep the listener's interest for a longer time. We'll include some random tracks to make music more varied.

Let's begin by importing the Arpeggio, Piano and Rhythm tracks from the Explore folder to create a Multi Instrument with them. Remember from the previous lesson that Multi Instruments are playlists.

Now we no longer want to loop the main Theme, so remove its Loop Region, either by using Delete key or with the right-click context menu.

Now we'll want to jump from the Theme to the Instrument. To do so we'll first create a Destination Marker at the beginning of the Multi Instrument. Right-click over the Logic Tracks at that point and choose Add Destination Marker.

Now we'll create a Transition so we can jump from the Theme to the Multi Instrument. We'll do this 1 measure before the loop end point, so that measure will overlap with the pre-entry of the Multi Instrument tracks. Right-click over the Logic Tracks at that point and choose Add Transition To > Markers > Marker A. One interesting thing is that the marker icon looks like an arrow, pointing to the right, because there's where the corresponding Destination Marker is.

In order to overlap them, we'll need a Transition Timeline so create one using the right-click menu or double-clicking the marker.

Leave 4 measures so all the post-exit from the Theme can finish, overlap the tracks and remove the crossfade.

Now the Multi Instrument will play a random track after the Theme, but we'll want it to maybe play some more randomly, so we'll make it loop. Add a Loop Region on top of the Multi Instrument, from the beginning to 1 measure before the end, so the pre-entry can be overlapped.

Now add a Transition Timeline to the Loop Region as usual.

Make the Transition Timeline long enough so all Multi Track clips can finished, something like 5 measures. Overlap and remove crossfades.

Hide the Transition Timeline. If we take a listen now, the Theme will be played followed by random tracks of the Multi Instrument. That's a good behavior, however they all feature the same harmony, so they'll end up feeling repetitive any way. To solve that, we can add a bridge track after those that can lead to the Theme again. This way we'll have a solid structure for the music, with some flexibility in the middle.

Drag the Bridge clip from the Music Explore folder into the Audio Track.

To be able to reach the Bridge, we need the Multi Instrument loop to stop looping at some point. We're going to use the Probability feature for this. Click the Loop Region and look at its properties below. You'll see that it has some Transition Conditions. Set the Probability switch to On and set a Chance of 50%, for example. This way, there will be a 50% chance for the loop to happen and 50% of leaving the loop when we reach the end of it.

Now we'll want to properly concatenate the Bridge, so we'll repeat some of the steps we've been doing before. Add a Destination Marker at the beginning of the loop.

As the Bridge clip has no pre-entry, we'll set a Transition at the end of the Multi Instrument loop point (the actual end of the loop, not the end of the Loop Region, which is set earlier to allow the pre-entry to be overlapped).

Add the typical Transition Timeline and make it 4 measure long, so all Multi Instrument clips can finish during that time.

Overlap and remove the crossfades as usual.

Now the only remaining think is to keep the whole track looping. We could use a Loop Region but we'll use a Transition to avoid having a very long Loop Region. It's an arbitrary decision, the implementation would be also ok with a Loop Region. Add a Destination Marker at the very beginning of the track.