The Sample, The Variants, and Empty Zones

A zone plays one sample, a choice of samples called variants, or no sample at all.

The sample

The SAMPLE tab of the mapping pane edits the lead zone’s sample. Double-click the lead zone on the map to open it, and double-click the waveform to go back to MAPPING.

Each sample has:

• Start and End
• A loop mode: Loop, Loop Alternate, Loop Until Release, Loop Alternate Until Release or Loop For Count
• ∞ to turn looping on, loop Start and End, XF crossfade length, and the crossfade curve
• Reverse, which also draws the waveform reversed
• SRC: interpolation, Sinc, Linear, Zero-Order Hold (Anti-Aliased) or Zero Order Hold
• Volume, pan and tuning

The loop controls are hidden until looping is on. While the AMP EG is Sample Gated, only Loop For Count is available.

The info button beside File shows the sample rate, channels, bit depth and length. Click the sample name to load a different file into the current variant. The arrows beside it step to the previous or next sample in the same folder.

Editing on the waveform

Drag the handles on the waveform to set start and end, at the bottom, and loop points, at the top. Edits reach notes that are already playing.

• Markers snap to slices from WAV cue markers when dragged close to one.
• Hold Shift while dragging a marker to snap it to a zero crossing near the mouse.
• Right-click the waveform for the Zero Crossings items, which move one marker, or all of them with Snap All to Zero Crossings, to the nearest zero crossing. A stereo sample crosses where the sum of its channels does.

The loop crossfade

XF fades the end of the loop into the material before the loop start. With looping on, each loop marker has a fade node on the waveform. Drag a node, or Alt-drag a loop marker, to set the crossfade length by moving sideways and its curve by moving up and down.

The curve runs from 0% (linear) through 100% (equal power, the default) to 150%. It shapes forward loops only, and is greyed out for the alternate modes.

The crossfade always fits inside the loop and after the sample start. Start, loop start and loop end stop where they would cut into it.

Editing several zones

The sample controls act on the same variant of every selected zone. Start, end, loop points and XF are positions in one sample, so dragging or typing them changes only the lead zone. Type +N or -N instead to move that marker by N samples in every selected zone.

The pane’s menu button, with the SAMPLE tab showing, applies these to the same variant of every selected zone:

• Restore Loops from Samples: uses the loop stored in each sample file and turns looping on. A sample with no stored loop is left as it is.
• Copy Current Loop Settings, Copy Current Sample Start and Copy Current Sample End: copy from the variant shown, fitted to each sample’s length.
• Adjust Loop Starts -1 and +1, Adjust Loop Ends -1 and +1: nudge looping variants by one sample.

Each is a single undo step.

The variants

A zone holds up to 16 variants, shown as numbered tabs. Drop a sample on + to add one, or on a tab or the waveform to replace it. To make a zone from several files at once, hold Alt while dropping them on the map.

The Variants menu and EDIT ALL appear once a zone has two or more variants.

Variants chooses which variant plays for each note:

• Round Robin: each in turn.
• Shuffle: each once, in random order, before repeating.
• Random
• Random (no repeats): never the same variant twice in a row.
• Unison: all of them at once.

Each variant has its own copy of the sample controls above. EDIT ALL applies edits to every variant, except start, end, loop points, crossfade and normalization, which stay per variant. With EDIT ALL on, the menu actions above reach every variant.

Right-click a variant tab to copy, paste, delete or normalize it. Paste puts the copy after the variant clicked, or at the end from +, and can go into another zone. With the variant display focused, Cmd/Ctrl+C copies the variant shown, Cmd/Ctrl+X cuts it and Cmd/Ctrl+V pastes after it.

Empty zones

An empty zone has a range but no sample. Create one by:

• right-clicking a group in the tree and choosing Create Empty Zone, which maps keys 48 to 72
• right-clicking empty space on the map and choosing Create Empty Zone, which fills the gap around the click
• Cmd/Ctrl-dragging on empty space on the map

An empty zone still plays a voice for each note, running its envelopes, modulators and processors. With a processor from the Generators category, such as Virtual Analog or Sine +, an empty zone is a synthesizer voice.

The voice lasts as long as the amp envelope. An empty zone with no processors makes no sound.

Drop a sample on an empty zone’s SAMPLE tab to give it one.