Chop and Shape Your Sample

Navigate to the SMPLR screen. This is the heart of the app — where raw audio becomes an instrument.

You'll see three zones: the spinning reel and waveform at the top, the 16 pads in the middle, and the mixer faders at the bottom. Pad 1 has an orange dot — that means your captured audio is loaded there.

Preview and loop a section

Your captured audio is probably longer than you need. You want to isolate the best part.

1. Tap Pad 1 to hear your full recording play back.
2. Watch the reel spin and the waveform scroll past. Listen for the section you want — a melodic phrase, a chord progression, a distinctive sound.
3. On the waveform, drag the left handle to set the IN point — where your loop starts.
4. Drag the right handle to set the OUT point — where it ends.
5. Enable loop mode. Now only your selected section plays, repeating.

Particle drag — load a loop onto a pad

Now that you've isolated a section, you want to put it on its own pad so you can work with it independently.

1. Make sure your IN/OUT points are set around the phrase you want.
2. Touch and hold the reel. Glowing particles appear around it.
3. Without lifting your finger, drag downward toward any empty pad.
4. Release. Your loop drops onto that pad. It now has an orange dot.
5. Tap the new pad to hear just your isolated phrase.

Auto-Chop

A loop playing on one pad is useful, but chopping it up is where things get interesting. Chopping splits a sample into individual slices — each on its own pad — so you can rearrange, retrigger, and rebuild.

1. Select the pad holding your loop (tap it so it's highlighted).
2. Tap the CHOP button in the toolbar.
3. ESSNCE scans for transients — the sharp spikes where sounds start — and splits the audio across empty pads automatically.
4. Each pad now holds one slice. Tap them in sequence — you're hearing your original sample taken apart.
5. Try tapping them in a different order. You've just rearranged the original.

Shape your sound

Your chops are raw — they might be harsh, or ring into each other, or just need some warmth. The per-pad sound designer handles this.

Long-press any loaded pad to open it. For a first track, focus on three things:

1. Filter: Set the type to LP (low-pass) and sweep the cutoff down. This removes harsh high frequencies and makes the sample sound warmer. The further down you go, the more muffled it gets. Find the point where it sounds smooth but not buried.
2. Release: In the ADSR section, shorten the release to around 100ms. This makes each slice cut off cleanly instead of ringing into the next one.
3. Play Mode: If you want a slice to sustain only while your finger is on the pad, switch from ONE SHOT to GATE. Useful for longer melodic phrases where you want to control the length.

Mixer balance

The six faders at the bottom of the SMPLR screen control the volume of pad groups. If your sample loop feels too loud (and it probably will once you add drums), pull its fader down a bit. You'll come back to this after the drums are in.