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Play slices from the keyboard

Select a sample track, or open an audio clip in Focus Mode, and press the letter keys. Z plays slice 1, X slice 2, and so on up the keyboard; each slice plays to its end.

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Edit the markers

In the Sample Editor (⌥X), select a marker with ← / → and nudge it with ⌘← / ⌘→. Double-click empty waveform to add a marker, double-click a marker to remove it.

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Choose where the markers come from

Pick Auto, Manual or Beat in the Transients picker on the left of the Sample Editor’s bar. In Auto, drag the sensitivity slider for more or fewer markers.

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Shape every slice

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Split a clip at its transients

Select an audio clip and press ⇧⌘E (Split Clips at Transients). The clip becomes one clip per slice, ready to rearrange drum hits or build variations.

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Place one slice as a clip

Play a slice with its letter key, then ⌘-click on the clip’s track where it should go. A ghost shows its length before you click. Or run Command Palette → Place Slice at Cursor… and pick the slice.

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Good to know

  • Each slice starts at a transient marker and runs to the next, the last one to the end of the sample. Audio before the first marker is not a playable slice. Slices are numbered from 1 everywhere: on the keys, in the palette, in the assistant tools.
  • Slices play one at a time. A new slice stops the one before, releasing the key does not stop it, and Esc stops a slice that is still playing.
  • The keys go 26 to a page. With more slices, Fn↑ / Fn↓ (Keyboard Octave Up / Keyboard Octave Down) switch to the next or previous 26. Keys past the last slice wrap around to the first.
  • Markers and envelope belong to the sample. Every clip that plays it slices at a moved marker and takes the new envelope.
  • Below 100 % Length, each slice gates to silence and the rest becomes a rhythmic gap.
  • The slice keys follow physical key positions, the same on QWERTY, QWERTZ and AZERTY: slice 1 is the key left of X (Y on a German keyboard). They are always on for a sample track, separate from the Keys Layout of instrument tracks, and play in the library window too.
  • To play a slice at a chosen level, use the number row: Play with the Keyboard. Recording slices: Record MIDI.
  • Slice keys and the marker nudge cannot be rebound. They are handled directly, not as Command Palette commands.
  • The loop follows the selection while it plays. A transient can be judged and corrected with ⌘← / ⌘→ without stopping. Moving or deleting a marker moves the loop onto the corrected position, and holding an arrow walks the loop continuously.
  • Step with the bare arrows, hold ⌘ to shove the marker, add ⌥ for a single-sample step, so the right hand never leaves the arrow cluster. A dragged marker updates its slice on release.
  • Backspace removes the selected marker, and Return while a slice or the Space loop plays drops one at the playhead.
  • Manual pins the current markers so auto-detection no longer overwrites them. Its Clear button removes every marker on the sample. Switching back to Auto re-applies detection and discards manual edits.
  • The envelope appears once the sample has slices, in the inspector’s Sample section (expanded) and on the right of the Sample Editor’s bar in Slices mode; the two mirror each other. Option-click a slider to reset it, double-click to type a value; while you drag, the value shows above the slider.
  • The inspector’s Sample section counts the slices in its Slices row, once the sample has transient markers.
  • Split Clips at Transients makes one clip per detected transient marker, and every piece is unlinked from its copies: Linked Clips. In Focus Mode a right-click below the header cuts at the pointer instead: Audio Clips.
  • Palette commands, in the Audio Tools group: Set Slice Marker Detection, Set Slice Marker Sensitivity, Clear All Slice Markers, Set Slice Fade In, Set Slice Fade Out and Set Slice Length.
Last modified on October 22, 2026