Chop Sample
Chop Sample cuts one sample into slices. It shows you every slice before it cuts, so you can move markers, play each slice and skip the ones you don’t want. Then the kept slices go to a Drum Kit, a multisample, WAV files or straight to your EP.
Chopping is free, and so are the Drum Kit, Multisample and Export Files destinations. Sending to your EP is part of Pro, as it is everywhere else in the app.
Open Chop Sample
Section titled “Open Chop Sample”Load a sample in the Sample Editor, in any mode, then choose Chop Sample… from the Edit tools (or the Chop button), or press C. You can also choose Chop from a sample’s menu in the sample list, which opens the editor with Chop Sample on top.
On a phone or a touch tablet, or in a small window, Chop Sample fills the screen. Otherwise it opens as a window over the Sample Editor.
If the Multisample tab holds other samples, Chop Sample asks first (Replace Loaded Samples?). Placing slices on pads or making a multisample replaces them, and Undo brings them back. Export Files leaves them alone. Select Continue to go on.
If you close it and open it again on the same sample, your markers are still there. Any other edit to the sample starts it fresh.
Pick a Slice Mode
Section titled “Pick a Slice Mode”Slice Mode has three choices.
Transients
Section titled “Transients”Places a marker on each hit. Move the Sensitivity slider towards More for more slices or towards Fewer to keep only the strong hits. The markers move as you drag, so you can watch them settle on the hits you want.
On phones and tablets the same slider position gives fewer markers, because markers that sit close together are hard to tap.
Cuts the sample into equal slices. Set the number with Slices, or step it with Fewer Slices and More Slices, from 1 to 256.
Cuts to a tempo grid, for loops that are in time:
- Tempo (BPM) is filled in for you. A tempo in the file name (such as “Break 96 BPM”) wins; otherwise the app detects one. Type your own, from 20 to 400, or press Tap in time with the loop.
- Loop Length is From Tempo or a number of bars (1, 2, 4, 8 or 16). Only the lengths that give a tempo between 20 and 400 for the sample are listed.
- Division slices on every 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16 note.
- Quantise Markers to Grid keeps markers you move on the grid.
Under Reset Slices, Reset to Automatic undoes your marker edits and goes back to what the mode found.
Adjust the Slices
Section titled “Adjust the Slices”- Drag a marker to move it. Markers snap to the nearest zero crossing (within 5 ms) so slices don’t click. Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) while you drag to place one exactly. With Quantise Markers to Grid on, markers go to the grid instead.
- Select a marker to nudge it -10 ms, -1 ms, +1 ms or +10 ms, type its Position (s), or Delete Marker.
- Split Slice adds a marker in the middle of the selected slice.
- The trim points at each end work the same way. Reset Trim, under Reset Slices, puts them back.
- Previous Slice and Next Slice step through, Play Slice plays the selected one and Loop repeats it.
Keep or Skip Slices
Section titled “Keep or Skip Slices”Every slice is kept or skipped, and only kept slices go anywhere. Untick Keep Slice for the selected slice (or press K) to skip one. Keep All keeps everything again.
Where a destination has a limit, Keep Strongest keeps the strongest hits up to that limit.
Choose Where the Slices Go
Section titled “Choose Where the Slices Go”Pick a Destination, then press the button at the bottom, which says how many slices go.
- Drum Kit places the kept slices on pads 1 to 8, one per pad. A kit on the EP-40 takes 8, so Drum Kit keeps the strongest 8. When Chop Sample opens on Drum Kit, each slice gets a drum name, such as Kick, Snare or Closed Hat. You can rename any slice.
- Multisample makes a multisample with one zone per kept slice, up to 8.
- Export Files saves each kept slice as a WAV, up to 24 at a time. On a computer you choose the folder. On a phone or tablet one slice saves as a WAV and several save as one ZIP, up to five minutes of audio in total.
- Send to Device (Pro) sends each kept slice to its own free slot on your EP, named after the slice, up to 24 at a time. Connect your EP first: the destination shows how many free slots it has. Before anything is written you see which slice goes to which slot, and each slot is checked again just before its slice goes. If a send stops part-way, Send Remaining picks up where it left off.
For Drum Kit and Multisample, the kept slices together must fit in 20 seconds (40 with Double Speed), on any EP. The total shows at the bottom while you work. Export Files and Send to Device don’t have this limit.
A kit or multisample made from the slices lands on the Multisample tab, switched to Drum Kit or Melodic. A sample you chopped from One Shot, Key or Loop stays where it was.
On the Multisample tab, Drum Kit opens Chop Sample on Drum Kit and Melodic on Multisample. One Shot, Key and Loop open on the destination you last sent slices to. If that was Send to Device and your trial has ended, it opens on Drum Kit instead.
Free and Pro
Section titled “Free and Pro”| What | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Chop Sample, all three slice modes | Yes | Yes |
| The Drum Kit, Multisample and Export Files destinations | Yes | Yes |
| Sending the slices, or a kit or multisample made from them, to your EP | No | Yes |
On Free, Send to Device shows a Pro tag and its button has a lock, which opens Buy Pro. In the 14-day trial the tag shows without the lock and sending works.