Ableton Forum

Has anyone else noticed or had any issues using the "Snap" feature in Simpler? I've noticed that for some samples, it works on the beginning of a sample, but does NOT work on the end of a sample in certain situations. For example, if you play a sample all by itself, it seems to work, but if that sample is in "One Shot" mode, or in "Classic" mode and set to 1 voice, and that sample is repeated quickly, you will definitely notice "pops" and "clicks" in the sound that are a result of the end of the sample not landing on a zero crossing before the new note begins.

Has anyone else noticed this issue?

https://youtu.be/6T9gTySCW2E

Yep, this feature has always been hit or miss...

Does it even snap at the start of any samples? the Simpler info panel says it does, but here it's only the end that will snap.

garyboozy wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:37 pm

Does it even snap at the start of any samples? the Simpler info panel says it does, but here it's only the end that will snap.

It's supposed to snap the beginning and the end. What I've noticed is that, as I said earlier, it does seem to snap the beginning, BUT, if you retrigger that sample again before it ends, you will still hear clicks. This happens in mono {polyphony} or "One Shot" mode, and I think the reason why, is because it does not snap the end of the sample before it begins playing the retriggered sample.

For some reason, it seems particularly bad in Simpler. I've been experimenting with this in other samplers. I've put the same sample in to TAL, and Omnisphere, and both of those seem to handle this issue better than Simpler. It's not to say that there isn't some "pops" or "clicks" in this scenario with the other samplers, but it's definitely not as noticeable or annoying as it is in Simpler.

It's definitely worth an update, and politely complaining about it to support@ableton.com wouldn't be a bad idea

[jur] wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 07, 2022 12:34 am

It's definitely worth an update, and politely complaining about it to support@ableton.com wouldn't be a bad idea

I was actually trying to see if anyone else even noticed the problem. I'm going to make a short video describing the problem in detail before I submit a ticket to tech support.

kb420 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 07, 2022 3:04 am

I was actually trying to see if anyone else even noticed the problem.

You're not alone, Simpler's Snap to zero feature has always been finicky, even in the older versions. Maybe we don't see much complain about it simply because you can set your length/loop points by hand and get rid of the clicks this way.

[jur] wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 07, 2022 8:50 pm

kb420 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 07, 2022 3:04 am

I was actually trying to see if anyone else even noticed the problem.

You're not alone, Simpler's Snap to zero feature has always been finicky, even in the older versions. Maybe we don't see much complain about it simply because you can set your length/loop points by hand and get rid of the clicks this way.

Well, in the situation that I'm referring to, setting your "length/loop points by hand" doesn't solve the problem at all. The fact of the matter is, that when you retrigger the sample, before it ends, the sample gets stopped at a point that isn't a zero crossing. That's where the clicks and pops come from in the situation that I'm referring to.

In my experience Snap works with the Start and Length number boxes, more than the Sample Display flag-like markers.

Also seems it is not stereo, it has one length for the whole sample, a stereo sample may not have zero-crossing at both Left and Right, that may be the main problem.

Here is a short video demonstrating the issue. I submitted it to tech support. I was hoping that the video would at least demonstrate the problem a little more clearly.

https://youtu.be/6T9gTySCW2E

the clicks in your example are to be expected in any older samplers. you'll even hear these clicks in some monosynths.
by triggering quickly, you're interrupting the sample midway, ending the waveform where it's at its loudest. the snap has no bearing in this instance.

you can get around the clicks by using Simpler in classic mode with 2 voices ('R' retrigger disabled, long release or short release with actual note lengths).

until ableton update their samplers to be a bit smarter (bitwig sampler's digi mono mode works great, no clicks), i'd avoid one-shot mode for bass sounds.

garyboozy wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 11, 2022 8:35 am

the clicks in your example are to be expected in any older samplers. you'll even hear these clicks in some monosynths.
by triggering quickly, you're interrupting the sample midway, ending the waveform where it's at its loudest. the snap has no bearing in this instance.

Well, that may be the case, but I still feel as if there should be some type of automatic feature to address this issue. I like to do final mixes in Cubase. So, I'll work in Ableton, and then export the stems to finish the song in Cubase. When I move everything over, I notice that the audio stems from Ableton always have "pops and clicks" in it. So, I'll take the time to crossfade them all out in Cubase. This has made me really pay more attention to what's going on while I am working in Ableton.

garyboozy wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 11, 2022 8:35 am

you can get around the clicks by using Simpler in classic mode with 2 voices ('R' retrigger disabled, long release or short release with actual note lengths).

This may eliminate the clicks, but in doing this, because you are using 2 voices, the notes overlap, causing a slight pitch drift. This is a mono bass patch and should only use 1 voice. Each note should completely truncate the previous note

I want to also mention that I took that same sample and opened it in TAL, and Omnisphere just to see how they would respond. There was still somewhat of a pop at the beginning, but both of those samplers seemed to handle it much better. The click wasn't nearly as prominent as it is in Simpler. So there has to be some type of programming consideration in those programs to avoid the problem. I just want Ableton to do something like that in Simpler. I use Simpler and Ableton for most of my sampling needs.

I'm having exactly the same problem at least for the 5 years and this annoying. Made me think about switching to another daw... because of Ableton seems to be ignore the requests for fixing it

Trevbo wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 04, 2022 12:41 pm

I'm shocked to see that there is no snap option in slice mode of simpler. Is this true?

snap seems to be work only for sample start point and its not carrying about the end point of the sample so its producing unwanted clicks on some low frequency sounds (808s etc.)

It does work for both start and end, but for Start you have to tweak the Start number box at least once.

And just picking zero crossings at start/end doesn't really guarantee smooth looping, it just prevents a click.