Editing audio in Slice Edit mode

If you plan to comp the audio in your clips in Comp Edit mode, always do that before you start to work with slice stretching etc. in Slice Edit mode. It will save you a lot of work if all the comping has been done beforehand!

To get the best sound quality when you are stretching and quantizing audio it’s important that you have selected the correct Stretch Type for the audio clip, see “Opening audio clips for editing”.

Audio clip elements in Slice Edit mode

When a clip is open for editing in Slice Edit mode, it could look like this:

A Single Take clip open in Slice Edit mode.

You might have to zoom in quite a bit on the clip to get a good view of the Slices, see “Zooming in the Sequencer”.

•	Slice Markers with handles

When a Single Take audio clip is opened in Slice Edit mode, Reason automatically detects the transients in the sound and marks these with vertical white lines - Slice Markers. By moving Slice Markers left or right you stretch (warp) the audio between the nearest Slice Markers on either side, i.e. you change the timing without affecting the pitch. You can manually add and remove Slice Markers. It is also possible to “decouple” and move the Slice Markers without stretching the audio.

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Slices

Slices are the areas between two adjacent Slice Markers. Each slice represents a part of the audio in the clip.

Slice Edit mode tools

When editing audio in Slice Edit mode, some of the Toolbar tools have different functionality than when editing note and automation clips. There are also some additional tools that are unique to slice editing of audio.

Speaker Tool

It’s possible to audition individual Slices without needing to start playback of the sequencer:

Select the Speaker Tool in the Toolbar and click in the waveform area on the Slice you want to audition.

The Slice is played back once in its entirety, from the start Slice Marker to the end Slice Marker of the desired Slice, each time you click.

With the Selection Tool (Arrow) selected, pressing [Alt](Win) or [Cmd](Mac) will momentarily switch to the Speaker Tool.

Note that auditioning Slices will play back the unprocessed sound - bypassing the Main Mixer settings.

Selecting Slices and Slice Markers

A Slice is the portion of audio between two adjacent Slice Markers. A Slice Marker indicates the beginning of a Slice - and consequently the end of the preceding Slice (if it’s not the first Slice in the clip).

To select a Slice Marker, click the Slice Marker or its handle:

As you hover over a Slice Marker or a Slice Marker Handle, the arrow switches to a double-arrow. A selected Slice Marker is indicated by a black Slice Marker Handle.

To select several individual Slice Markers, hold down [Ctrl](Win)/[Shift](Mac) and click the desired Slice Markers or their handles.

If more than one Slice Marker has been selected, a Slice Group Handle appears below the waveform. You could then click and drag the Slice Group Handle sideways to move all selected Slice Markers as a group, see “Moving several Slice Markers”.

To select a range of Slice Markers, draw a rectangle with the Selection Tool (Arrow), in the Slice Marker Handles area or in the waveform area, that touches the desired Slice Markers:

Draw a rectangle over the desired Slice Markers to select a complete range.

As you release the mouse button all touched Slice Markers are selected.

The range of Slice Markers can then be moved as a group by clicking and dragging the Slice Group Handle sideways. You can also stretch the range in an “accordion style” fashion by clicking and dragging any of the selected Slice Marker Handles in the range, see “Stretching a range of Slices”.

Under Windows it’s also possible to select a range of Slice Markers by clicking a Slice Marker and then holding down [Shift] and clicking the first or last Slice Marker in the desired range.

You can expand a Slice/Slice Marker selection range by holding [Shift] and pressing the left/right arrow keys.

To select all Slices/Slice Markers in the clip, select “Select All” from the clip’s context menu or from the Edit Menu.

Now, you can move all Slice Markers as a group by dragging the Slice Group Handle sideways (see “Moving several Slice Markers”), or stretch the entire range of Slices (see “Stretching a range of Slices”).

Adding Slice Markers

When you open a Single Take clip in Slice Edit mode, there will be a Slice Marker at each transient, plus one at the start and one at the end of the clip. If you are not satisfied with Reason’s automatic Slice Marker assignments you can add Slice Markers manually:

You might want to turn off Snap to be able to position the Slice Markers more precisely (see “Snap”).

1.	Open the Single Take clip for editing in Slice Edit mode.

2.	Select the Pencil Tool from the Toolbar.

3.	Click in the open clip to add new Slice Markers.

If you are not satisfied with the position of the Slice Marker, you can reposition it afterwards, see “Repositioning Slice Markers”.

You cannot add Slice Markers before the first Slice Marker or after the end Slice Marker in the clip.

Deleting Slice Markers

To delete Slice Markers, proceed as follows:

1.	Select the desired Slice Marker(s) as described in “Selecting Slices and Slice Markers”.

2.	Press [Delete] or [Backspace] to delete the marked Slice Makers.

This deletes the Slice Markers but not the audio that’s in the clip.

If you delete Slice Markers that were previously moved, the stretched audio will revert to the original timing.

You cannot delete the first Slice Marker or the end Slice Marker in the clip.

Repositioning Slice Markers

To reposition a Slice Marker without stretching the audio, proceed as follows:

You might want to turn off Snap to be able to position the Slice Marker more precisely (see “Snap”).

1.	Place the Selection Tool (Arrow) on a Slice Marker or Slice Marker Handle.

The arrow switches to a double-arrow symbol.

2.	Hold down [Ctrl](Win] or [Option](Mac) and click and move the Slice Marker sideways.

You cannot move Slice Markers past their closest adjacent Slice Markers.

Moving/stretching Slices

Stretching can be used for adjusting the timing of the transients in the audio clip. You can also use stretching to create special effects such as increasing or decreasing the lengths of the Slices. Stretching can be applied on single Slices as well as on a selection of Slices.

To get the best sound quality when you are stretching audio it’s important that you have selected the correct Stretch and Transpose Type for the audio track, see “Opening audio clips for editing”.

You might want to turn off Snap to be able to position the Slice Marker more precisely (see “Snap”).

You cannot move Slice Markers past their closest adjacent Slice Markers.

Preview vs. High Quality Stretching

Reason features very sophisticated audio stretch and transpose algorithms for pristine results. Reason always performs audio stretching in two parallel steps:

•	A real-time “preview” stretch so that you can instantly hear the result of your changes.

•	A high quality stretch “in the background” to further improve the sonic results.

As soon as high quality stretch is in progress, the “Calc” indicator on the Transport Panel shows a progress meter:

The CALC progress meter appears when Reason performs high quality stretching of audio.

Since the high quality stretch is performed in the background, you can still continue to work with your song without any interruption. When the high quality stretch data has been calculated, the Calc indicator goes out and the high quality audio data will be heard on playback.

Moving a Slice Marker

To adjust the timing of a single note or beat, just click and drag its Slice Marker to the desired position.

If Snap is on, the Slice Marker will snap to the grid as set with the Snap value. When you move a Slice Marker, the slices on either side of it will be stretched accordingly.

Moving several Slice Markers

If you need to adjust the timing of several notes or beats (e.g. move all snare hits a little later in the beat), proceed as follows:

1.	Select the desired Slice Markers as described in “Selecting Slices and Slice Markers”.

2.	Click and drag the Slice Group Handle to move all selected Slice Markers.

As you hover over the Slice Group Handle, the arrow switches to a double-arrow

All selected Slice Markers will be moved as a group. The Slices between the selected Slice Markers and their closest unselected Slice Markers will be stretched.

•	It’s also possible to move a range of Slices by selecting a range of Slice Markers as described in “Selecting Slices and Slice Markers” and then dragging the Slice Group Handle sideways.

This is useful if you want to move a whole phrase (e.g. a vocal phrase) later or earlier in the clip.

You cannot move the selection past any unselected Slice Markers.

Stretching a range of Slices

It is also possible to stretch a range of Slices, proportionally, in an “accordion style” fashion:

1.	Select the desired range of Slice Markers as described in “Selecting Slices and Slice Markers”.

The range is indicated by a light gray Stretch Range Marker above the waveform.

If you drag the start or end Slice Marker in the range, the whole range will be stretched as if it were a single slice:

If you drag a Slice Marker within the selected range, all selected Slices will be stretched proportionally against the start and end Slice Markers of the selected range:

Nudging Slices

You can nudge the Slice Marker(s) by using the following standard key commands:

Hold down [Ctrl](Win) or [Cmd](Mac) and press the left/right arrow keys to nudge in Snap value steps.

Hold down [Ctrl]+[Shift](Win) or [Cmd]+[Shift](Mac) to nudge in Beat steps.

Hold down [Ctrl]+[Alt](Win) or [Cmd]+[Option](Mac) to nudge in Ticks steps.

Quantizing audio

Audio quantizing can be made in the Quantize section on the Transport Panel, in the Tool Window or from the context menu or Edit menu.

Audio can only be quantized after recording, not during recording.

Quantize requires that the clips have Stretch enabled (see “Enable/Disable Stretch (Audio Clips)”).

To get the best sound quality when you are quantizing audio it’s important that you have selected the correct Stretch Type for the audio clip, see “Opening audio clips for editing”.

Note that quantization of audio clips that have “Vocal” Stretch and Transpose Type is made on the pitch transitions (where the “notes” start) and not on the level transients as in Slice Edit mode, see “Editing audio in Pitch Edit mode”.

The difference between quantizing audio and MIDI notes is that several Slice Markers cannot be quantized to the same position. Instead, only the Slice Markers closest to the quantization grid will be moved - the remaining Slice Markers will be left unaffected.

It’s possible to use the quantize audio function in the following ways:

Quantizing selected Slice Marker(s) in Slice Edit mode

Quantizing Slice Markers has the same effect as moving the Slice Markers to a quantization grid:

1.	Select the Slice Markers you want to quantize:

A range of Slice Markers selected for quantization.

2.	Select Quantize Value (and Amount and/or Random values) in the Tool Window and click Apply:

The selected Slice Markers that are closest to the quantization grid are automatically moved to the quantization grid.

Note that you can quantize to “Shuffle” in the Value list - this will use the Global Shuffle setting made in the ReGroove Mixer, see “Global Shuffle”.

Alternatively, select Quantize Value and click the Quantize button on the Transport Panel.

This alternative is very handy if you only want to quantize to a set quantization value, and don’t need the extra options featured in the Tool Window.

Quantizing one or several selected Single Take audio clips in the Arrange View

This will quantize all Slice Markers that are closest to the quantization grid in the selected clip(s).

Split at Slices

The Split at Slices function allows you to create separate audio clips out of a Single Take clip. Splitting can be useful if you, for example, want to reverse parts of the original clip or if you want to export single or multiple Slices as separate samples for use in any of Reason’s sampler devices. The split point(s) will be located at the selected Slice Markers in the clip.

The following example shows how the “Split at Slices” function can be used:

1.	Select the split points for the new clips by selecting the desired Slice Markers in the open Single Take clip:

The selected Slice Markers define the split points for the new clips.

2.	Select “Split at Slices” from the context menu or Edit menu.

The original Single Take clip is now split into four separate audio clips and the clips are automatically closed.

If you like, you can now select the desired clip(s) and move, reverse (see “Reversing audio clips”) or choose to bounce the clip(s) to samples (see “Bounce Clip(s) to New Sample(s)”).

Bounce Clip to REX Loop

A great feature with Single Take clips is that you can bounce them to REX Loops. You could then load your bounced REX file for further processing in a Dr Octo Rex device, for example! Here is how:

1.	Open a Single Take clip in Slice Edit mode.

2.	Make sure the Slice Markers are located exactly where you want them in the clip.

This is where the slices in the REX Loop will appear after bouncing.

You might have to remove some Slice Markers in the clip to reduce the number of slices in the final REX Loop, see “Deleting Slice Markers”.

3.	Adjust the audio clip length to the closest full Beat.

This way you make sure that the REX Loop will sound the same as the original audio clip.

If the clip is not adjusted to a full Beat, Reason will automatically expand the clip end to the closest full Beat during the bounce operation.

4.	Select “Bounce > Bounce Clip to REX Loop” from the context menu or Edit menu.

The bounced REX file ends up in the “All Self-contained Samples” folder in the Song Samples location in the Browser, and is named after the original clip name:

5.	To load the bounced REX file in a new Dr Octo Rex device, either double click the REX file or select the REX file and click the “Create” button at the bottom of the Browser.

This is a shortcut for creating a Dr Octo Rex device and loading the selected REX Loop in Slot 1 of the Dr Octo Rex device in one go.

Refer to the “Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player” chapter for information on how to work with REX Loops in the Dr Octo Rex device.

If you want to load your REX Loop in another sampler device, you first have to un-self-contain the REX file, see ““Un-self-containing” a Song”. Then, create the sampler device and load the un-self-contained REX file from disk.

About exporting bounced REX Loops to disk

You can also export your bounced REX Loops to disk if you like:

1.	Select the REX Loop in the Song Samples location in the Browser and select Export Sample(s) from the context menu or Edit menu.

2.	Choose a location for the REX Loop (and change the file name, if desired).

3.	Click Save.

The REX Loop is exported and saved in .rx2 format.

Revert All Slices

If you get lost in the Slice Edit mode editing, there is a handy command for reverting the Slice Markers back to where they were before you started editing the clip:

1.	Open the Single Take clip in Slice Edit mode.

2.	Select “Revert All Slices” from the context menu or Edit menu.

This will revert all slice edits and the clip will play back with its original timing. Any manually removed Slice Markers will reappear, and any manually added Slice Markers will be removed.