While it’s true that more and more people are doing everything in software nowadays, it’s also true that lots of us still have hardware samplers that we want to use, whether regularly or just occasionally to create a particular sound (e.g.

One major, namely hardware support has been removed. One minor, namely the icon for the slice mute button is a cross (rather than the more commonly used loudspeaker with a cross through it or an ‘M’). There’s a maximum length of 5 minutes per file, only 10 undo levels, no magnification tool (instead you have to use a combination of mouse and keyboard), only a handful of time signatures (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, 7/8) and no facility to store user effects presets. If that sounds easyâ€¦it is! Most of the time, dragging the sensitivity slider to somewhere between 70 and 80, is all that’s required to isolate individual beats, but where fine tuning is needed, you can manually add, delete and mute slice points, as well as audition them in isolation from each other, to ensure they’re in the right place.Īs Propellerheads say themselves, “it’s not magic,” (though it’s pretty close), but it does have some limitations. Then, when you’re finished, you can export the results as either a Rex2 file (for use in Reason and a long list of compatible samplers) or as a series of individual consecutive samples and an associated MIDI ‘groove’ template (for use in other applications), enabling you to rearrange your loops with surgical precision, use any of the individual sounds within it and to apply its grove to a totally separate audio file. Once you’ve done this (and set start and end points for your loop, its length and time signature) you’re able to alter its tempo and pitch independently of each other, change its envelope, apply EQ and a ‘transient shaper’ (similar to compression). The further you drag this slider, the smaller these slices get, until you’ve broken it down into discrete rhythmic components (e.g. As you do so, the program uses some clever algorithms to slice up your file intoâ€¦’slices’, (conveniently visualised in its waveform display).

Simply Open it up, load in an audio file and move the sensitivity slider to the right. If you work with loops or breakbeats, you’ll love Propellerheads ReCycle.

Propellerhead recycle review