Bulk Drum Hit Slicing

[Syncretia]

Today, I recorded about 200 drum hits from a TR-909 drum synth. I recorded them using the normal arrangement view as long samples for each hit.

I now want to destructively cut each of the samples up and clean them up to remove clicks etc. I know how to do this roughly, but I was hoping someone could give me some technique tips or tool ideas because the method I have in mind is going to take a very long time and I want to shave off as much time as possible. Here is the technique I was going to use:

Step 1) Repeat for every chunk of hits
-Select a chunk of hits from the sample and Ctrl-e to create a break in the clip
-Right click -> Slice to new midi track (Built In - Transient)

Step 2) Repeat for each sample
-Double click on Slice 1
-Right click on the sample in the Simpler instance -> Crop Sample (The cropped sample now appears in the browser)
Problem: The sample has a few milliseconds before the start of the transient, and space until the next transient so...
-Move sample start marker to the start of the transient and move the sample end marker to the end of the transient
-Right click on the sample in the Simpler instance -> Crop Sample again
Problem: There is still some space before the start of the transient. I can see this if I open the sample in Audacity. So...
-Edit the file in Audacity and clean it up further

As you can see, this will take hours. Anyone got any tips?

[Syncretia]

And a separate question...

After slicing up the sample so that it looks visually correct in Audacity, the sample still has a tiny click at the end. However, if I drag that sample on to a Simpler instance and play a C3, there is no click at the end. It's as though Simple is fading out the end of the sample. Is that correct? It's doing this even though the Decay, Sustain, Release are all on full. I get the same result with Sampler. What are these samplers doing to the sample to remove the click at the end?

Edit: I think the answer to this is that YES, Simpler/Sampler automatically put a slight fade at the end of each hit. I get the same result when I drag the sample with a click at the end in to an audio channel and put a subtle fade at the end of the hit. That's pretty strange. That would mean that Simpler/Sampler are mangling all of our drum hits whether we like it or not.

[simpli.cissimus]

With Soundforge you can chop all single hits in one process, all cut, sorted and saved in one go...

Think Wavelab has similar option, but Soundforge is the best of the best for such things.

[Syncretia]

I don't have those products though.

I know how to do it. I just want to refine my process so it doesn't take so long.

[alex.buga]

Logic has a nice way so strip silence and create regions. then you export your regions from Audio Bin.

Haven't tried yet because I'm at work, but try splitting using CMD + E, select all clips, CROP, then drag them to clip matrix. From there maybe you can find a way to export all the clips from a track individually. Maybe drag ?

[pencilrocket]

He wants to do it in Live. Logic =/= Live.

[G&E]

There is no quick way to do this in Live.

Long and tedious.

Several of the stand alone audio editors have a batch operation for this.
A bit expensive for the feature set they offer though.

Logic and Protools both have "strip silence"
In my experience Logic is difficult to adjust just right because it usually leaves too much space in front or in back of the sample file. I always have to go back through and trim each sample.
Protools does a better job at this.

The most economic way to do this is with Reaper using the "dynamic split" feature and then just batch exporting the chopped files.
Here is a video showing the process
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Z9IO9lMhQ

Hope this helps. If anyone else knows of any other techniques, please post them. I am always trying to streamline the process.


ABLETON....... PLEASE CONSIDER ADDING "STRIP SILENCE" FEATURE. There is another thread request for this as well. It would be very useful to a lot of users.

[Syncretia]

try splitting using CMD + E, select all clips, CROP, then drag them to clip matrix. From there maybe you can find a way to export all the clips from a track individually. Maybe drag

I'll fiddle with this idea, but I have a feeling it won't work.

Yeah it is just super long and tedious. After experimenting I ended using Audacity. What I do in audacity is highlight the hit, cut it, past it in to a new track. Then, from Audacity I can export all the hits one by one. Still pretty slow but much better than what I can do in Ableton.

What I'd really like is a simple feature where you can export all the samples in a Drum Rack in one hit. Each hit in the the drum rack itself (created with Slice to new midi track) sounds perfect. I can't understand why this feature doesn't exist. I hope it's in 9.

[alex.buga]

Or you can use an MPC

I've experimented with the drag clips method. It works.
Drag the clips from the slots to a folder in the Browser.

[Syncretia]

OK. I just tried slicing a couple of hits with Ctrl-E and then dragging that clip in to any empty folder. That doesn't work at all. What it does is copies the whole sample (5 minutes) in the the samples folder, and creates an ALC file which I guess is a file that I can drag back in Ableton at a later point if I want. That's not really useful because it doesn't create any sliced samples at all.