SliceMate

by danoise

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).

Downloads

2018 July 12