Sample screen
Variations A to D
Keep up to four patterns on one track, for fills and breaks.
The idea: one sample, four orders
A song needs more than one beat from its drums: a main pattern, a fill at the end of a phrase, a break where the kick drops out, an ending. In Chop these are not four tracks and not four copies of the sample. They are four patterns over the same slices, named A, B, C and D.
Think of the slices as a set of cards and of each variation as a different way of laying them out. The cards are shared: change a card (the pitch of the snare slice) and it changes in all four layouts. The layouts are separate: move a block in B and A is not touched.
This sharing is what makes variations useful. The fill sounds like the same drummer as the main beat, goes through the same effects and the same fader, and when you later brighten the snare, the fill follows.
| Shared by the four | Own to each |
|---|---|
| The sample; the slices and their sound; Timing, Bars and swing; the effects and the mixer strip. | The blocks: where they are, how long, which are muted; rolls; the blocks' own sound settings; the part markers. |
Example: eight bars of drums with a fill
The pattern is 2 bars long. A is the main beat. B is a copy of A where the last beat is replaced by a snare roll. On the Multitrack the track has four parts, at bars 1, 3, 5 and 7: the first three play A, the last plays B. You hear six bars of beat, then two bars that end with the fill.
See and edit a variation
The letters A B C D are at the top right of the lane of blocks. The one in a black box is the variation you see, edit and hear on the Sample screen.
- Click a letter, or press Alt+1 to 4.
- Change the blocks. Only that variation changes.
When you load a sample the track gets all four, each with the slices in their original order. While the track plays, clicking another letter is heard at once: use it to compare them.
Make a fill from your main pattern
The usual way to work: build the beat in A, copy it to B, and change only the last beat of B.
- Show variation A.
- Right-click the track's tab and choose Duplicate variation A to > Variation B.
- B is now shown, with the same blocks as A. Change what you want.
Whatever B had before is replaced. Cmd+Z takes the copy back.
Use a variation in the song
On the Multitrack, each part plays one variation and shows its letter.
- Click a part and press Alt+1 to 4, or right-click it > Variation.
- Double-click a part to open the Sample screen on the variation it plays.
- A part you add with a double-click plays the variation the Sample screen shows.
Change a variation on the Sample screen and every part that plays it follows. For a song of eight bars with a fill at the end: three parts on A, then one on B. See Arrange the song.
Which edits reach all four
| Reaches every variation | Stays in the variation you see |
|---|---|
| Cutting, trimming and removing slices; the sound of a slice (Slices group); the sample's Reverse and Normalize; Timing, Bars, swing; effects and mixer. | Moving, copying, deleting, muting and resizing blocks; rolls; the Selected Slices settings; silencing a slice with Delete; the part markers. |
Empty or delete a variation
Right-click its letter:
- Clear (automatic sequence): the blocks go back to the original order.
- Delete (its parts play A): removes B, C or D. Parts in the song that played it now play A. Variation A cannot be deleted.
A deleted variation's letter is dim. Click it to create it again with the original order, or right-click it > Create as a copy of A (of the one you see).
A variation, another track, or a copy of the track?
| You want | Use | Because |
|---|---|---|
| The same sound in a different order | A variation | It shares slices, sound and mixer, and costs no track. |
| A different sound | Another track | A track has one sample. |
| The same sample with different effects or a different chop | A copy of the track | Variations cannot differ in slices, effects or mixer. |
| Two patterns of the track playing at the same time | A copy of the track | A track plays one part at a time. |
Variations of different lengths
All four share the track's Bars. To make one of them shorter in the song (a one-bar fill from a two-bar pattern), move its part markers: see Shorten a part with the part markers. Each variation has its own markers.