On this page:
Track, Session, Jam, Recording and Backingtrack
All of the above are synonyms for any single piece of music on wikiloops.
Session template - the beginning of a collaboration
A session template is the initial recording which is posted to wikiloops to let others play along and create remixes.
Session templates ideally only contain one instrument start with a count-in click. Also see: Creating a session template
Remixes
Remix describes all tracks which were created by mixing an existing wikiloops track and additional instruments into one new audio file.
To keep the reference to the remixed wikiloops track (also referred to as "parent track"), the Remixes display always includes links to the parent tracks.
Also see:
Creating & posting a remix
Navigating remixes
Single track attachments
A "single track" contains only one single instrument - so, basically, all session templates which only feature one instrument qualify as single tracks.
When posting remixes, the musician who created the remix uploads a "mixed" file which contains more than one instrument.
In some remixing scenarios it is desirable to be able to adjust the instruments which are present in the "mixed" file individually, but one needs access to the "single tracks" to be able to do that.
This is solved by offering to attach the single track separately when uploading a remix.
Since attaching the single track is optional, not all remixes on wikiloops offer single track download.
Those who do are labelled with the HD-label on the download button.
Loops
Loops are usually quite short snippets of music, which are cut precisely to contain exactly one musical segment - varying from as little as one bar to a full verse.
The quality of loops is that you may set them to auto-repeat, and if your player supports seamless playback and does not add a tiny pause before restarting at the beginning, then you are suddenly listening to a never ending musical loop, even tho the looped audio snippet may only be 20 seconds long or less.
Bottom line:
It may seem a bit funny, but 99% wikiloops tracks are no such loops.
The "loopish" part of wikiloops is referring to the auto-repeat function and the setting loops on segments of wikiloops tracks function to practise a certain part of a track.
Wikiloops is good for your creativity. Where else do you get to jam with many excellent musicians, world-wide, from the comfort of your studio?