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Create linked clips

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See which clips are linked

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Edit every copy at once

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Create an unlinked copy

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Switch clips with the clip picker

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Good to know

  • Position and mute stay per copy; everything else is shared. MIDI notes, the sample and the part of it the clip plays, time-stretch, fades, length and clip gain change on every copy at once.
  • Linking is same-track only. Moving or pasting a clip to another track always unlinks it, and so does a stamp on another track.
  • Some edits unlink the clip they change and leave its copies as they were: splitting, joining, duplicating part of a clip, and per-clip level and trim edits. The full list is under Details.
  • Link Identical Clips is the bulk inverse of Unlink Clip. Clips whose body matches exactly (same notes or sample window, fades, gain and length) become one linked group.
  • Linking works for MIDI, audio and automation clips. Use it for anything that repeats: a drum loop, a bassline, a filter sweep that comes back every eight bars.
  • A linked copy is the same idea as clip aliases in Bitwig or reused patterns in FL Studio, with nothing to name or manage.
  • Stamp shows a ghost where the copy will land. The new copy is linked and selected, so the next ⌘-click stamps another one.
  • Duplicating a group clip carries the link down. Each child clip is duplicated as a linked copy.
  • A clip with no copies is highlighted alone when you select it, so you see at a glance which clips an edit will reach.
  • Focus Mode shows three levels on the focused track’s clip headers: strongest on the clip you edit, lighter on its linked copies, faintest on every other clip.
  • Dragging the edge of one copy on the timeline gives all of them the new length.
  • Unlink Clip acts on one clip. With several selected it does nothing, because it cannot tell which copy you mean. Its edits stop carrying to the others and their highlight goes away. After Duplicate Unlinked, selecting the copy lights up nothing else.
  • Edits that unlink: splitting (⌘E Split Clips at Playhead, ⇧⌘E Split Clips at Transients, or a mouse slice) unlinks every piece; duplicating only part of a clip, for example across a partial marquee; moving or pasting to another track; and Join MIDI Clips (⌘J), whose joined clip starts unlinked.
  • Per-clip level and trim edits unlink too. The 0–9 clip-gain keys, Trim Silence, Align Clips to Downbeat and clip gain painted in Dynamics Mode change exactly the clips you selected, so their copies keep their level. Use the gain slider in Focus Mode when a gain change should reach every copy.
  • Use Link Identical Clips on copies recorded in a row, duplicated unlinked, or pasted from another track.
  • Identical means exactly identical. A copy whose gain or length you changed is not linked. That includes slices recorded at different trigger levels, or held for slightly different lengths with Record Quantize off.
  • What Link Identical Clips links follows your selection (table below). Identical copies outside a selection of several clips stay free, so you can link the chorus copies and leave an intro copy alone.
  • Link Identical Clips never links across tracks, even when a sweep covers several. Clips that differ in any way are left untouched, the pass is one undo step, and with no clip or track selected the Command Palette shows it as unavailable.
  • The clip picker lists every distinct clip on the track. Its swatch in the floating bar is in the track color, with the number of linked copies when there are any, and a chevron. Each row has a badge with how many clips use it, a live mini-preview (a waveform for audio, note blocks for MIDI, the curve for automation) and a checkmark on the one the focused clip plays.
  • A picked row plays and shows immediately, and the focused clip becomes a linked copy of it.
  • The picker’s footer has Unlink and Link Identical. Unlink is off when the clip is not linked to anything. Link Identical links every clip on the track exactly like the focused one, and is off when there is nothing identical. A second Escape exits Focus Mode.
The complete grid: Timeline Shortcuts.
Last modified on October 22, 2026