SliceMate

This tool makes it easy to slice auto-seeked samples and phrases from within the pattern editor. Perfect for remixing and working with rendered stems.

Features

• Easily slice samples and phrases from within the pattern editor
• Visualize the sample position in the waveform editor as you are navigating the song
• Able to determine the position in a sample, even when tuned/transposed
• Supports real-time operation (slice a sample while listening to it) with optional quantization
• Can “slice” phrases too - also when using a different LPB than the song
• “Delay-column-aware”, for maximum precision

Quickstart

Download the tool from the Renoise tool page, and double-click or drag the xrnx file on top of the Renoise window to install.

The tool can be launched in a number of ways:

• From the Renoise Tools menu > SliceMate
• From the supplied MIDI and keyboard shortcuts (search for ‘SliceMate’)

How to slice a sample

1. Load up some (long) sample and enter it into the pattern
2. Position the cursor somewhere in the ‘note trail’
3. Check the SliceMate status panel - tells us if the sample is valid
4. If the sample is invalid, a warning appears (click for solution)
5. Else, we are able to slice the sample. Hit “Slice at Cursor”
6. If sample settings are compatible, a new slice/note is inserted
7. Move cursor somewhere else, repeat and rinse

How to slice a phrase

1. Load an instrument which contains one or more phrases
2. Enter a note somewhere in the pattern.
3. Enter a Zxx command for the note, or ensure that “Prg” mode is enabled
4. Position the cursor somewhere in the ‘note trail’
5. If we are unable to slice, a warning appears (click for solution).
6. Else, we are able to slice the sample. Hit “Slice at Cursor”
7. If sample settings are compatible, a new note is inserted
8. Move cursor somewhere else, repeat and rinse

The user interface

The user interface is organized into a number of panels:

Status panel

The topmost part is displaying the current status

• Instrument name: show the name of the detected instrument (if any)
• Warning triangle: shown if the tool has detected any problems.
• Detach: click this button to detach the instrument editor

Below, some more detailed information:

For samples

• “Slice”: shows you which slice is currently selected
• “Pos”: shows you the frame (position in sample) of the slice and/or root sample

For phrases

• “Phrase”: shows you which phrase has been detected
• “Sxx” : shows you the “internal” line + delay of the phrase at this position

Navigation panel

• Left/right arrows: allows you to navigate between columns and tracks
• Previous/next buttons: detect and move cursor to other notes/lines in the song

Options panel

This panel contains all options for SliceMate

Slice Options

• Insert note: inserts a note in the pattern every time the sample is sliced
• Quantize note: make sure notes are always on a line [1]
• Propagate VOL/PAN: when inserting a note, use the volume and panning from the previous one

[1]: You can record non-quantized (“precise”) sliced notes by disabling this feature. Do the slicing while playing, with the pattern-editor cursor set to follow playback.

Selection

These options deal with selections, as the cursor position changes:

• Auto-select instrument
• Auto-select in sample list
• Auto-select in waveform

Note: if any if these options are enabled, the tool will track pattern contains as you navigate around the song (this is the default choice).

General

• “Auto-start tool”: will launch the tool when Renoise starts/on a new song

Limitations

The tool can only work with samples that are configured like this

• Auto-seek: ON, Beat-sync: OFF
• No pitch modulation (not allowed when auto-seeked)

The tool will tell you if any of the above conditions are not met.

Also, the tool is not able to reliably track the position if you are

• Using commands to modify the song tempo (BPM and LPB)
• Using commands sample playback (e.g. 0Bxx/reverse)

Finally, the tool does not support slicing looped samples. You can use the tool with such samples, but once the playback reaches the loop end-point, slicing is no longer possible (you should receive an error message if you try).