How to Edit Samples in Reaper
Although the Cockos Reaper digital audio workstation functions mainly as a multi-track recording and arrangement program, you can also use it to perform simple edits on samples of recorded audio. If, for example, you've recorded a long sample of an instrument playing, but only want to use a short segment of the sample in your production, shorten the sample using Reaper. You can also use Reaper to edit out undesired portions of a sample: for example, the breaths between words in a spoken-word recording. A fully-functional evaluation version of the program is available for download from the Reaper website.
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Instructions
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1
Launch Reaper. Open the "Track" menu and click "Insert New Track." Click "Insert," then select "Media File."
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2
Double-click the sample you want to edit in Reaper in the window that opens. Click the "Options" menu and click "Show Grid" to disable the grid. This allows you to make precise edits to the sample waveform.
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3
Right-click the sample waveform, roll the cursor over "Item Settings" and click "Loop item source" to deselect it. This prevents Reaper from treating the sample as a loop.
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4
Click and drag the left and right edges of the sample forward and backward to lengthen or shorten the sample as desired. For greater precision, press the "+" key or scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in on the sample. Click the "Play" button to listen to the sample at any time.
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Click inside the sample waveform and press the S key to create a split at that point. To edit out a section of the sample, create a split at the beginning and end of the section you want to remove, then right-click the section and select "Remove items." When you've finished editing the sample, click and drag the sample waveform all the way to the left edge of the timeline.
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Open the "File" menu, then click "Render." Type the desired name for the edited sample into the "Output file" box, then click the "Render" button. Click the "Close" button to complete the editing process.
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