How to Chop Samples in FL Studio

Chopping a sample means cutting a piece of audio into small parts and playing them back in your own order. In FL Studio you can do that fast with Fruity Slicer. It slices your loop automatically and puts the pieces straight into the Piano roll. Here's how.

First: are you allowed to use that sample?

If you use a piece of an existing song, you usually need permission from the rights holders. Even a short piece can cause problems, like a claim on YouTube. Read what a Content ID claim is. Want to be safe? Use royalty-free samples or record something yourself.

Step 1: load your loop into Fruity Slicer

Add Fruity Slicer to your Channel rack and load your sample with the button to open a sample. According to Image-Line, Fruity Slicer then slices your loop automatically right away. If your file already has slice markers, it uses those.

BPM and BEATS show the tempo and length of your loop. According to Image-Line, Fruity Slicer fills those in itself when that info is in your file. Otherwise it guesses, and the longer the loop, the less accurate that is. So check the tempo with the free Beat Lab.

Step 2: choose how to slice

With the beat slicer button you choose, according to Image-Line, how your loop gets sliced:

• Dull, Medium or Sharp: automatic slicing, from rough to fine.
• Beat: equal pieces on the beat, for example every quarter beat, whatever is in your sample.
• No Slicing: the whole loop as one piece.

For a drum loop, Medium is a logical start. Too many pieces? Pick Dull. Missing hits? Pick Sharp.

Step 3: put the slices in the Piano roll

With the button to dump the beat to the Piano roll, Fruity Slicer writes a note for every slice in the Piano roll, according to Image-Line. You then hear your original loop back. There are also presets that make something new right away:

• Reverse: the order backwards, while each slice still plays forward.
• Random: every slice in a random spot, with the same groove and length. Different every time.
• Stutter: every slice split into two or four pieces, for a stuttering effect.

With Auto Dump on, Fruity Slicer does this automatically after loading and when you change the tempo or length, according to Image-Line.

Step 4: make your own pattern

Now the real chopping starts. Move notes in the Piano roll, repeat a slice or take one out. Every note plays a different slice. Hover over a slice in Fruity Slicer and, according to Image-Line, FL Studio shows which note plays it.

According to Image-Line, you can also change things like pitch and volume per note in the Piano roll. That way you can give one slice a higher pitch, for example.

Step 5: tempo and pitch

According to Image-Line, Fruity Slicer automatically adjusts the tempo of a properly sliced loop to the tempo of your project. The PS slider shifts the pitch of all slices up to 12 semitones up or down. The TS slider stretches or squeezes the slices without changing the pitch.

Step 6: get rid of clicks

Hearing ticks between the slices? According to Image-Line, you have two options. DeClick puts a very short fade on every slice. Zero cross check slices moves your slice markers to the nearest zero point in the waveform.

Handy: one slice on its own channel

Want to edit one slice separately? According to Image-Line, you drag it from the top window of Fruity Slicer onto a Sampler channel. The root note of that new slice then matches its spot in Fruity Slicer, so your Piano roll patterns keep working.

Want even more control? Image-Line calls Slicex the more advanced slicer in FL Studio.

Common mistakes

• Using a sample without permission. Check this before you release anything.
• Not checking the tempo. If the BPM is off, your whole loop is off.
• Slicing too rough or too fine. Try Dull, Medium and Sharp side by side.
• Leaving clicks in. Use DeClick or Zero cross check slices.

Looking for drum sounds you can use without worries? NAME The Trap Oneshot Pack Vol. 1 includes 26 808s, 22 closed hats, 12 claps and 20 kicks, among other sounds, all royalty-free.

Working in Ableton Live? Read how to chop samples in Ableton Live. Want to turn your chop into a full beat? Read from loop to beat. More groove in your drums? Read how to add swing in FL Studio. Or browse all beats right away.

FAQ

How do you chop a sample in FL Studio?

Load it into Fruity Slicer, choose how it slices and dump the slices to the Piano roll. There you put the slices in your own order.

What's the difference between Fruity Slicer and Slicex?

Both slice a loop into pieces you play from the Piano roll. Image-Line calls Slicex the more advanced of the two.

Why does my chopped sample click?

The slices don't start or end on a silent point. Use DeClick or Zero cross check slices in Fruity Slicer.

Source: Image-Line's FL Studio manual on Fruity Slicer and Slicex.