Playback doesn't stop...why?

[Racerboy44]

I'm a newbie to the BR so please cut me some slack. I don't understand why when I'm playing back a track to hear how it sounds the playback counter doesn't stop when the recording and sound was stopped? Is this normal. Shouldn't the counter stop when the recording was stopped? If it never stops then won't the file for that song be endless. I hope this makes sense to somebody so they can help me. This thing makes me feel like a complete idiot!!

[Greeny]

The song will keep playing until you press the stop button. The same goes for recording and mastering... they will just keep running unless you stop them. This doesn't apply to mp3 playback though: with those, they are limited by the file length.

I don't understand why this is a problem - just press the stop button when you're done recording / playing back. Or am I missing something?!

[Geir]

You can also set A-B repeat from the beginning of the song to the end to avoid it from going on and on ...

Think of it as a taperecorder

[Racerboy44]

Lets say you record a guitar track over one of the drum patterns. When you play it back the guitar tracks you recorded will stop where you stopped recording but the drum tracks will just continue to go on forever until you manually stop the playback. If you had no drum tracks the playback would just continue to keep going with no sound until you hit the stop button. I know I am not explaining this clearly enough and there is most likely a reason it functions this way but it just doesn't make sense to me yet.

If I record something shouldn't everything I recorded stop playing at the point where I stopped the recording? Obviously, I don't have the first clue about these things.

[Geir]

There is at least one good reason it shouldn't stop! I for one often select a drum-pattern to play along with before I have recorded a single track. I don't want it to stop ... I just want to jam along with the rhythm until I find the groove

[SteveG]

Lets say you record a guitar track over one of the drum patterns. When you play it back the guitar tracks you recorded will stop where you stopped recording but the drum tracks will just continue to go on forever until you manually stop the playback. If you had no drum tracks the playback would just continue to keep going with no sound until you hit the stop button. I know I am not explaining this clearly enough and there is most likely a reason it functions this way but it just doesn't make sense to me yet.

If I record something shouldn't everything I recorded stop playing at the point where I stopped the recording? Obviously, I don't have the first clue about these things.

In that example you have only recorded the guitar part, not the drums. The drums carry on after the guitar as they are still running. When you listen to the playback you are hearing your recording and the drum machine playing again.

[Racerboy44]

Lets say you record a guitar track over one of the drum patterns. When you play it back the guitar tracks you recorded will stop where you stopped recording but the drum tracks will just continue to go on forever until you manually stop the playback. If you had no drum tracks the playback would just continue to keep going with no sound until you hit the stop button. I know I am not explaining this clearly enough and there is most likely a reason it functions this way but it just doesn't make sense to me yet.

If I record something shouldn't everything I recorded stop playing at the point where I stopped the recording? Obviously, I don't have the first clue about these things.

In that example you have only recorded the guitar part, not the drums. The drums carry on after the guitar as they are still running. When you listen to the playback you are hearing your recording and the drum machine playing again.

OK, then why are the drums still there when you go back at another time and select that song.? It stores the drum pattern that I used even though I didn't actually record it?

[cuthbert]

OK, then why are the drums still there when you go back at another time and select that song.? It stores the drum pattern that I used even though I didn't actually record it?

The MicroBR saves many things automatically - like whether rhythm is on or off, which pattern or arrangement was last chosen, the last effect chosen, etc.

It ain't a bug - it's a feature!

[Geir]

The drum machine plays if it's turned on. You don't have to record the drums until you're ready to master the song. In that way you can change the drums at any time, without having to re-record them. It's quite useful, cause in that way you can make a basic drum-arrangement when you start recording the song and put in the fills and other drum patterns as the song is taking it's final form.

It's like having a tape-recorder with a synced drum-machine that can be turned on/off

[Racerboy44]

I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help. I'm sure these things seem obvious to those who have been using the BR for a while but I am battling the fact that I've never really used any other 4 track either so it's a huge learning curve for me.