Whether you’re looking to rearrange a groove or melodic loop in linear fashion, or pull individual sounds out of a beat for triggering as a playable drum kit, these four razor-sharp virtual instruments and one effect will greatly expand your creative sampling horizons.
Sugar Bytes Looperator
Stalwart German developers Sugar Bytes are known for, amongst other things, a range of spectacular sequencing effects plugins that includes such perennial hits as Effectrix, Turnado and the awesome Looperator.
Setting Looperator (which comes as a plugin effect and standalone application) apart from its stablemates is the real-time loop slicing that the company have successfully introduced to their stock-in-trade rhythmic effects sequencing paradigm. This simply chops the buffered input signal up into 16 slices, then enables rearrangement of them by assigning each step in the Slice sequence lane to a particular numbered slice, or having it select a random slice with each pass – indeed, chaotic creativity is a key feature of the plugin, with various preset randomisation modes onboard. The five effects sequencers – Envelope, Filter, Loop (stutters, rolls, etc) and two multi-effects (reverb, delay, distortion, pitchshift, etc) – are then used to blow your rearranged loop to smithereens by selecting any of 20 module-specific preset parameter/modulation states, four deeply editable User configurations or a randomiser for each step.
Looperator is endless fun for just throwing loops at and seeing what happens, its carefully calibrated presets always sounding fantastic and inspiring customisation, and the copious randomising options conjuring up a wild continuum of ear-catching shapes. And when you want to take full control, the User step slots let you really get into the details. A great option for the adventurous producer.
Serato Sample
From the makers of the acclaimed Pitch ’n Time pitchshifting and timestretching algorithm comes one of our favourite plugin instruments across all categories, never mind loop slicing. Serato Sample is a bit like having a scaled down MPC groovebox in your DAW: drag in an audio loop, then assign cue points within it to onscreen buttons, QWERTY keys and/or MIDI notes in real time, automatically of via manual positioning, for live or sequenced triggering, monophonic or polyphonic.
The imported audio file is analysed for key and tempo information on the way in, so playback can be synced to host or timestretched to anywhere between 1 and 999bpm, and pitchshifted by up to two octaves in either direction, with the PnT algorithm delivering sublime results even at the extremes. Individual cues (slices, essentially) can also be stretched by up to -75/+300% and shifted two octaves, reversed, and processed with a low/high-pass filter and attack/release envelope controls.
What makes Sample so special is its perfectly intuitive workflow and authentic hip-hop sensibility – there really is no quicker way to slice breaks up into drum kits, turn melodic loops into playable instruments and rearrange grooves on the fly.
HY-Plugins HY-Slicer
HY-Plugins’ lauded plugin Slicer is easier to use than first impressions might suggest and laser-focused on the task of slicing, sequencing and processing sampled loops.
With the imported loop automatically or manually chopped up into a maximum of 32 slices, the column of controls for each of the sequencer’s 16 steps gives you plenty of editable parameters to get to grips with, from beat division, playback modulation and reversal to triggering probability (of up to four slices per step), gating and envelope attack; and randomisation and rotation functions aid the creative programming process. The Groove Editor is a highlight, enabling per-step offset to be dialled in and randomised; and a bank of seven very usable effects opens things up on the sound-shaping front. Sequences can be stored as snapshots for chaining, too, and you can of course trigger slices (as well as the sequencer itself) via MIDI input.
With its busy-but-logical interface, extensive feature set and versatile functionality, HY-Slicer is perhaps the most powerful entrant in our list when it comes to the comprehensive manipulation and playback control of slices within a loop – and certainly the most affordable.
Initial Audio Slice
An expansive beat making powerhouse, Slice not only facilitates the hacking up of full loops and live/sequenced triggering of the resulting MIDI-assigned regions, but also includes dedicated interfaces for sequencing bass samples and full kits of drum one-shots, and the means by which to arrange patterns (four for each sequencer) into songs. Each sequencer can be freely assigned to any of three ten-slot effects racks, a slot hosting one of 11 processing modules – Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Highcut, Lowcut, etc – and there’s even a sidechain circuit built in, for ducking the bass part with individual drum kit elements. The integrated sample and preset library browser is handy for organising your own sounds, as well as those that come with the plugin and any Initial Audio expansions you might choose to get involved with.
Squarely aimed at electronic and dance music producers, Slice makes light work of basic loop slicing and throws in plenty more besides. And with Zynaptiq’s ZTX timestretching algorithm at work behind the scenes, it sounds excellent.
New Sonic Arts Vice 2
With the inclusion of transient-detection among its slicing modes, snap-to-zero-crossings for clean manual slice positioning, and no limit to the number of slices that can be defined, Vice 2 hits the ground running. Alongside the expected Pitch and Reverse controls, each slice gets four FX slots all to itself (every one drawing on a variety of filters, distortions and other effects), as well as its own complete modulation setup – powerful stuff! The plugin (and standalone app) also does a stand-up job dovetailing its workflow with that of the host DAW, with drag-and-drop export of MIDI files (ReCycle!-style), individual slices and the full processed loop; a dedicated automation and MIDI control assignment panel (clearly required, given how many parameters its freeforrm architecture can expose); and full undo/redo history.
Quick, easy and precise, Vice 2 is the ideal slicing solution for those who likes their tools slick, fuss-free and effective.
Did your loop slicing weapon of choice make the cut? Let us know in the comments.