xm file looping

[schpinkl]

Hi!  I'm new to tracking and have searched but can't find any answer to this specific question: I know I can loop patterns and loop songs, but is there any way to loop RANGES of patterns within an xm file? For example, if your xm file is 50 patterns long, and you wanted to have 5 individual loop sets for different pattern ranges: patterns 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50.
any help is most appreciated
S

[rewbs]

Hi,

You could use a Bxx at the end of a pattern to jump back to order position xx. This would create an infinite loop - the only way to break it would be for the player to force a jump past the loop point.

If you want a finite loop, then you could use XM commands E60 and E6x, where E60 sets the loop start, E6x sets the loop end, and x is the number of loops (1 to F) - in IT commands this is SB0 and SBx.  Of course a more straight forward solution is just to enter the pattern sequences multiple times in the order list.

[schpinkl]

thank you rewbs for the reply
I've tried the E6x pattern loop control, but that just seems to give me the option of looping that single pattern up to 15 times.  Perhaps I am not understanding its useage correctly.  ?
Again, I'd like to be able to loop a range of patterns - but without entering the pattern range over and over again within the order list.
thanks for any clarification!
S

[rewbs]

Do you mean the E6x loop doesn't work properly if the loop start and loop end are on different patterns? I admit I didn't check this.

[schpinkl]

Thanks for the help - it seems it's actually just the Bxx position jump that I needed.  This allows me to select a range - say from pattern 15 to 20.  I just put the Bxx command on the last line of pattern 20 and set the jump to position 15; this enables me to loop seamlessly from 15 to 20 for as long as I need to.
thanks again
L

[fisk0]

Thanks for the help - it seems it's actually just the Bxx position jump that I needed.  This allows me to select a range - say from pattern 15 to 20.  I just put the Bxx command on the last line of pattern 20 and set the jump to position 15; this enables me to loop seamlessly from 15 to 20 for as long as I need to.
thanks again
L

I'd recommend playing the song in XMPlay (http://www.xmplay.com). It supports that kind of things and shows all pattern ranges as "sub-songs" which you can jump between by right-clicking the Next/Prev song button.