Audio clip editor

The audio clip editor puts pre-recorded audio on a track: vocals, recorded loops, samples, field recordings, anything an instrument is not going to play. It reads WAV, AIFF, FLAC and OGG files.

Clips play at their own pitch and tempo. They are not stretched to follow the project tempo, so a loop recorded at a different tempo will drift unless you stretch it before you bring it in.

Reach for it to drop a recorded vocal take into a section, to add a sound effect or a riser, to layer a pre-rendered loop under the MIDI parts, or to put room tone and other ambience underneath everything.

The layout

A ruler across the top numbers the bars, and the clips sit in lanes below it. Overlapping clips stack into separate lanes automatically. In a sectioned arrangement a vertical marker shows where the section ends: clips can extend past it, but only the part inside the section plays. On the free-form timeline there is no section to end, so there is no marker and the ruler covers the clip you opened. The playhead runs across during playback.

Adding a clip

Click Add Audio Clip at the top left to pick a file and drop it at the start of the section, or click an empty spot on the timeline to pick a file and drop it there, snapped to the grid.

The file's real duration is read when it arrives and the clip is sized to match, and you can resize from there.

Editing clips

Selecting a clip opens its processing panel on the right and auditions it from the start. The selected clip is drawn with a brighter, thicker border, so you can see which one the panel is editing.

Everything snaps to the grid, and a clip cannot be shorter than one grid step. Resizing past the end of the file only trims playback to what the file actually contains: a clip cannot be stretched longer than its source.

Per-clip processing

Each clip carries its own processing, edited in the panel that opens when you select it. That means a dry vocal, a loud loop and a one-shot on the same track can each get exactly what they need. Every change auditions live, retriggering the clip as you drag, so you hear the result while you make it.

The panel is a fixed set rather than an open effect chain.

Level is the clip's own gain.

Fades are a fade in and a fade out, with a curve: linear, equal power, which holds the loudness steady through a crossfade, or exponential, which starts slowly. Even an untouched clip gets a short fade on stop, to avoid a click.

Filter is a high-pass and a low-pass cut, each switchable off, with optional resonance.

EQ is three bands, low, mid and high, each with its own frequency and gain.

Dynamics is a gate, which silences signal below its threshold, and a compressor with threshold, ratio, attack and release.

Transform is pitch, reverse and invert polarity. Pitch works like speeding up a tape, so it changes the length along with the pitch. Inverting polarity flips the waveform, which is useful when two layered takes partly cancel each other.

A clip you never touch carries none of this. Processing is saved with the project and travels with the clip when it is copied.

Overlapping clips and crossfades

Clips can play at the same time. Drop a lead vocal and a harmony on one track and they stack into separate lanes and play in parallel.

To crossfade two clips, overlap them and give the first a fade-out and the second a fade-in. One clip's fade-out meeting the next clip's fade-in is the crossfade. Use the equal power curve to keep the loudness steady across the overlap.

Lanes are assigned for you, each clip going into the lowest lane where nothing overlaps it. They are a visual aid for telling overlapping clips apart, not something to manage.

What it does not do

There is no pitch-preserving time-stretch. The pitch control changes length along with pitch, so matching a loop to the project tempo means stretching it before you bring it in.

It does not record. Capture audio elsewhere and drop the file in.

Effects and the mixer

Audio clip tracks behave like any other track in the mixer, with the same effect chain and the same volume, pan, mute and solo. Run a vocal take through a compressor and a reverb the same way you would a synth lead. See effects.

Keyboard shortcuts

Space solo-plays the track. The other editor shortcuts do not apply here, because clip placement is direct manipulation only.