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Shaping a sound

Trims and sound edits are kept in Clap Studio's library, not written into your files. They apply wherever the sound plays: previews, the drum machine, the melody, Copy To… and Squid exports. Every change is one step of Edit > Undo (⌘Z).

Cue points

Cue points are read from WAV and AIFF files. Click the waveform to play from a spot, then press M to set a cue exactly there. Drag a cue's flag to move it, and press 1 to 9 to play from a cue. Cue edits are saved at once, and a moment later WAV files get them written in, so other software sees them too: only the cue part of the file changes, and the write is checked before it replaces the file. Other formats keep their cues in the app only.

Trim

Set where a sample starts and ends in the inspector, or drag the green edges on the waveform, with a short or longer fade-out. Waveforms and trims cover the whole file, however long.

Edit sound

Under the trim:

  • Reverse the sound.
  • Speed: -24 to +24 semitones, tape-style, so pitch and length change together.
  • Gain: take off up to 24 dB or add up to 12 dB.
  • Low-pass cuts highs and High-pass cuts lows, at 24 dB per octave.

Play Edited and Original compare them, and the drum machine names an edited sample. Fades come after the edit, so a reversed sound still fades in at its new start. Similarity, the map and tempo or key stay judged on the original sound. Pitch shifting without a change of length is not included.

Noise reduction

Field recordings have Reduce Noise; see Field recordings and places.

VST 3 effects

Open the toolbar's Effects drawer, choose Sample > VST3 Effects… (⌥⌘E), or use the right-click menu or the inspector button. Add Effect builds a chain from left to right; bypass, move or remove each card. Built in are an Amplifier (saturation), Erosion (grain and digital distortion), a Reverb, and a Low-pass Filter and High-pass Filter. Effects you installed in ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 or /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3 are listed too; choose Rescan plugins after installing one.

  • With Enabled ticked, play sounds in the Library or Map as usual to hear them through the chain. Preview repeats the selected sound.
  • Open Editor… opens the effect maker's own controls; effects without one get sliders.
  • Bounce… saves one selected sample through the chain; Bounce All… does it for a whole selection, into a folder. Bounces are stereo 32-bit float WAV at the sample's own rate, include the effects' tails, and never replace the original.
  • The chain is for auditions and bounces only: it does not change the drum machine, the melody, Copy To… or Join Samples….

Effects run in a separate helper, so an effect that crashes reports an error while Clap Studio keeps working. Stereo effects are supported; instruments, MIDI effects and sidechain inputs are not.