Edit Modes, Stretch & Transpose Types and Clip Types

After you have recorded your audio clips, you might want to adjust levels, trim starts and ends, add fades etc. If you have recorded several takes in your audio clips, or several cycles in Loop Mode, you can also cut out segments of the various takes and compile (comp) them into a final “perfect” audio clip.

You can also quantize audio clips, manually change the timing of individual notes or beats in the clips and even export audio clips as REX files.

In addition to this you can also edit and correct the pitches of monophonic audio recordings, in the Pitch Edit mode.

Edit Modes

There are three main ways you can edit your audio clips:

•	In Slice Edit mode.

Slice editing can be made on Single Take clips (see “Clip Types” below). Single Take clips can be opened for editing in Slice Edit mode in the Arrange View, similar to when editing parameter automation clips. Slice editing allows you to adjust the positions (timing) of the automatically detected and distributed transient slice markers that appear in the audio clip. The timing can be adjusted by moving and stretching (warping) the audio slices. See “Editing audio in Slice Edit mode”.

•	In Pitch Edit mode.

In Pitch Edit mode you can graphically correct and edit the pitches of monophonic audio in Single Take clips -
perfect for vocal pitch correction/manipulation. See “Editing audio in Pitch Edit mode” for more information.

•	In Comp Edit mode, to create compiled clips out of multiple recordings in the clip.

In Comp Edit mode you can cut out segments of several Takes (recordings) and compile into a final clip. Here you can also insert silence segments to e.g. remove noise from silent parts in your audio clips. See “Editing audio in the Comp Editor”.

Selecting Stretch and Transpose Type

When you are stretching, transposing and/or changing the tempo of the audio it’s important that the Stretch and Transpose Type for the corresponding audio clip - or Comp Rows in Comp clips - is set according to the type of audio that’s in the clip. Otherwise, the sonic result might not be what you’d expect.

The Stretch and Transpose Type, together with the Clip Type, also determines the default Edit Mode in which the clip will open when you double-click it, see “Opening audio clips for editing”. However, you can always change the Edit Mode for a clip manually, if you like.

Stretch and Transpose Type can be selected as follows:

In Arrange View select all the desired audio clip(s), then select the desired Stretch and Transpose Type from the Edit menu or clip context menu.

For Comp Clips, the active Stretch and Transpose Type for all active Comp Rows are shown in the menu - if the Stretch and Transpose Type is the same. If there are active Comp Rows with different Stretch and Transpose Types, none of the options on the menu are shown as selected. Selecting a Stretch and Transpose Type from the sub-menu for a Comp Clip will change the stretch and transpose type for all active Comp Rows in the clip. If there are Slice/Pitch Edits done to any of these Comp Rows (and these edits cannot be preserved in the new Stretch Type), there will be an alert asking if you want to bounce the clip to a new recording.

•	For polyphonic material, select “Allround”.

The formants are transposed along with the audio.

•	For monophonic material select “Melody”.

The formants are transposed along with the audio.

•	For vocal material select “Vocal”.

The formants are preserved and are not transposed along with the audio. This will keep the original character of the vocal and will only affect the pitch. “Vocal” is also the default Stretch and Transpose Type for editing audio in Pitch Edit mode, see “Editing audio in Pitch Edit mode”.

For the Stretch and Transpose function to be active, make sure that you have selected Enable Stretch from the clip context menu!

Clip Types

An audio clip can be either a Single Take clip or a Comp clip:

•	A Single Take clip is set to play back only a single Take (Comp Row) throughout the audio clip.

If you have recorded only once in an audio clip, or recorded several complete Takes, the clip is automatically set to Single Take mode. A Single Take clip could also contain several Comp Rows, where one Comp Row has been manually selected for playback. The symbol in the lower right corner of a Single Take clip depends on the selected Stretch and Transpose Type and also determines what Edit Mode the clip will open in:

•	A Single Take clip, which has the “Allround” or “Melody” Stretch and Transpose Type looks as follows:

A single Take clip with “Allround” or “Melody” Stretch and Transpose Type.

When you double-click these types of clips, they will automatically open in Slice Edit mode.

•	A Single Take clip, which has the “Vocal” Stretch and Transpose Type looks as follows:

A single Take clip with “Vocal” Stretch and Transpose Type.

When you double-click these types of clips, they will automatically open in Pitch Edit mode.

•	A Comp clip is built up by segments from several recordings on multiple Comp Rows in the clip.

If you have recorded (or imported) several takes (recordings) in the same audio clip - or recorded several loops in Loop Mode - and then compiled segments of the various Comp Rows in the Comp Editor, the clip becomes a Comp clip.

•	Comp clips are distinguished by the following symbol in the lower right corner:

A Comp clip, regardless of selected Stretch and Transpose Type.

When you double-click these types of clips, they will automatically open in Comp Edit mode.

Opening audio clips for editing

In the Arrange View, audio recordings are displayed as one or two (mono or stereo) waves in the audio clips. The selected audio clip in the pictures below contain mono recordings.

Open an audio clip by double-clicking it, or by selecting it and pressing [Return].

The audio clip opens in its default Edit Mode, as indicated by the symbol at the bottom right of the clip.

Double-click an audio clip in the arrangement...

...to open it for editing in its default Edit Mode. Here, Slice Edit mode is the default Edit Mode.

•	The clip opens in its default Edit Mode (Slice Edit, Pitch Edit or Comp Edit).

When the audio clip is in Slice Edit mode you can stretch, move and quantize audio slices etc., see “Editing audio in Slice Edit mode”. When the clip is open in Pitch Edit mode you can pitch-correct and transpose individual notes (pitches) in monophonic audio recordings, see “Editing audio in Pitch Edit mode”. When the clip is open in Comp Edit mode you can alternate the playback between several recordings and compile into a single recording, see “Editing audio in the Comp Editor”.

Alternatively, select the clip and click any of the Edit buttons in the Toolbar (Slice Edit/Pitch Edit/Comp Edit) to open the clip for editing in the desired Edit Mode.

•	If Reason detects monophonic, melodic audio when you import an audio file, the clip will be automatically set to Vocal stretch type. If you then open the clip for editing, it will default to Pitch Edit mode.

It is also possible to open a clip for editing as follows:

Select the Single Take clip, hold down [Ctrl](Win) or [Cmd](Mac) and press [E].

The clip opens in its default Edit Mode (Slice Edit, Pitch Edit or Comp Edit).

Closing a clip

To close a Single Take clip and return to the Arrange View, press [Esc].

Alternatively, to close a Single Take clip in Slice Edit mode, click outside the open clip on the Arrange Pane, but not on the same track.

To close a Comp Clip, press [Esc] or click the “Close” button in the Comp Editor.