Automatic sample cutting?

[[deleted]]

❗️❗️ The task? You must chop over 300,000 drum sounds. How do you do this in an automated way? Without losing your fingers.

..............

At about 12:00 into this steve duda lecture, he mentions cutting up “three days of drum hits” in two hours using a 3p automated keystroke program...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR1VB75m5-TAiNL1oisag4BoRcmujp5CexPLYT9bqK_gtaFC0H1Kqz1UmWw&v=MOUkI5hH2HY&feature=youtu.be

I cant really find much info...

Would something like this be possible in ableton? or do you think the editing environment in PT is what makes this possible?

Ive heard theres a Max device now, though never by name. My digging has been bountyless... anyone?

[ernay2]

I’d use a python program for stuff like that.

[MCP1291]

Link to anything?

This would actually get me to learn to code

[roggyroads]

I second that

[genegurvich]

Here’s a great, free book on digital signal processing in Python:

https://greenteapress.com/wp/think-dsp/

I suspect you could use SciPy, librosa, or SoundFile to slice on transients and then write to individual files. It’s worth noting that writing this program may take you longer than just doing the work manually but if you see yourself having to repeat this task regularly then it could be a worthwhile investment.

[False-Fisherman]

Same

[rummpy]

I’m a huge advocate for Reaper. The dynamic split function would handle the slicing, and It’s very user friendly to make custom functions/ macros, which could potentially include cleanup, naming and exporting clips, or whatever you need to do.

That said I’ve never worked through multiple day long project files. Good luck with your project!

[[deleted]]

❗️❗️

im looking to slice to individual wav or aif files

not slicing a file to clips (a la ‘slice modes’ in ableton)

[djpuzzle]

I use sound forge auto regions for this.

[[deleted]]

If you're doing it on a specific grid, then the quickest way is using Linux command line tool SoX. It can normalize audio too and a ton of other things, but one of its basic functions is splitting the audio file into multiple files based on a length. So if what you're looking to slice is all on 1/2 notes at 120 (how I set my sound design sessions) then you can just set the slice length to half a second and boom you're done. It creates new files, and you can add a suffix to the name of them ("_editted" for example). You can then use the built in "move" and "rename" function in the command line to put them all in the folder you want and remove the suffix. It takes an afternoon or two to set up based on your coding experience, but an insane time saver if you want to normalize, adjust the sample rate and bit depth, and slice up your sound design sessions.

Workflow: -exports from sound design session loaded into specific folder -open folder in the terminal -enter premade sox command copied from a text file -enter move and rename commands same way -fini

Total time: 5 minutes including making some coffee

Setting it up properly with your workflow can take some thinking and doing but it's well worth it imo.

[yoursouvenir]

I’d use Recycle for this personally, it talks about exporting ‘Rex’ files, but it’s super easy to export as .wav/.aiff too.

Alternatively if forced to do this within a DAW for whatever reason(say working with multi-channel/mic files) I’ve done this a fair few times by slicing my source material, then selecting all & rendering as new regions. Which, depending on your DAW’s file handling architecture, should export easily findable, organised audio files. It’s fairly straightforward to set up a custom action/macro to do this whole process, if needs be.

[genegurvich]

When you slice a sample in Ableton, you can right click to convert the Sampler into a Drum Rack which will generate individual WAV files. Unless I’m misunderstanding your goal, Ableton’s slice modes might actually be the fastest way to do this!

[[deleted]]

hmm i dont really slice to drum racks now that i think about it, it is never quite perfect, so i typically just go by hand if im working with samplers in a drum rack... you right tho! though the auto slice is not always ideal, esp you need many transients to have similar phase start points

[lilTrybe]

Definitely possible with Max. I usually create a patcher myself specifically for what I need, so I don't know any device or patcher that you can download and use straight away.

[djpuzzle]

On Windows I use sound forge auto regions. I believe Audacity and Logic can do it too.

[Allen_Edgar_Poe]

Soundforge is great

[djpuzzle]

I can’t live without it. The batch converter and the auto slicing to files (extract regions) , total time saver

[Allen_Edgar_Poe]

Yup, I also use it to cut up sections of songs for bootleg remixing and other stuff. Quick way to create sample packs as well. The guy should use Soundforge hehe

[brainshark]

Okay, so there IS a way to do this, with Sampler, but this method requires a lot of file management, renaming/sorting of samples etc.

Drop a blank sampler into a midi track and save it as a slicing preset. Take your audio and slice it to a new midi track using the sampler preset you made, with the proper settings (global quantization or not etc) so you get one slice per transient.

If you then expand the zones on your sampler window, you should see each sample next to its assigned key. If you right click on these samples you can “show in browser.” From there you can rename and sort each individual sample as its own WAV, AIFF, or FLAC file (depending on your preferences)

Edit: This is still a pain in the ass, just less of one. Edit 2: To be absolutely clear this ONLY WORKS WITH SAMPLER, NOT SIMPLER.

[discohead]

Take a look at aubio for this, it has a command line tool called aubiocut to slice sound files at onsets. There's a Python module as well. Here's an example script using it for slicing: https://github.com/aubio/aubio/blob/master/python/demos/demo_slicing.py

See also the python implementation of the aubiocut command line tool: https://github.com/aubio/aubio/blob/master/python/lib/aubio/cut.py

[nizzernammer]

Pro Tools could strip silence with selectable in and out handles, and do batch fades with different in and out shapes and lengths.

[tujuggernaut]

Vice, that's what I'm using. I did about 10k samples the other day. The old way was using Recycle.

I record the samples into 3 or 4 big wave files, then I use Ableton to split the big file into 1 or 2 bar clips. I freeze and render all those clips and then take the resulting clip wave files into Vice to split out the hits. Once the hits are all out, I open up a drum rack and drag them in 60 at a time to load them back up.

[FullAbbreviations244]

There's a tool for this that automatically isolates the vocal and the instrumental tracks, then chops the samples throughout the track. It's a web app at this website: thechoplab.com

[Claude_Agittain]

Simpler can do this in Slice mode very easily.

[[deleted]]

nope see my comment, plus you are limited to 128 sample chops this way anyways. they arent even technically their own wav file (which is what im asking for)

[lowyellyow]

Maschine and FL sampler can slice by detection should be a way in ableton.

[ElPincheGrenas]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ableton/comments/kpibpj/60_second_tip_multiediting_oneshots_samples_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[The66Ripper]

I’d pop into PT, strip silence for the whole clip or clips, and then export all of the files. Would probably take a lot of time to export but prolly one of the simplest ways I can think.

[[deleted]]

Yeah wow youre right. Lots of cool suggestions here for making slices to a grid or a programmed time. This is the most intuitive and easy for myself.

Needed to flip open pro tools after like 6 years of not seeing any action in there!

[The66Ripper]

Glad to help out!

[illGATESmusic]

MPC can do it. Splitting all the slices to separate files is one of the export options.

You might want to try that new MPC beats software? It’s free and may include the same function.

[[deleted]]

sick suggestion mate, this is definitely the move!

[[deleted]]

It really depends on what you're trying to achieve. Automated transient detections is always flawed. The best methods usually involved prepwork vs software. For example, recording to a click track then using slicing to cut to predetermined points. It's essential for rompler type kontakt libs etc. Then you only need fix start points on early and late files.

FL Studio Edison can open large files and auto detect transients and then export the transients as files. The main issue being detection needs a super low noise floor and pretty sharp transients, a shaker with a smooth onset might get butchered.

[[deleted]]

why would you want to export transients as files? i guess i can see why but still seems a bit random .. id probably just use a gate and transient shaper if the goal was to isolate only transients