MK Slicer (80icio MOD) - Multitrack editing made easy!

[skylar_battles]

Thanks for your reply! I think I spoke too soon. It seems maybe the standard behavior for the script at least on my Intel Mac is that if i I right click on Reaper it says Application Not Responding while the script is working but it does't cause a crash

I did want to ask though with a certain micing situation which tracks you would recommend using to detect transients?

1. kick beater
2. resonant kick
3. top snare
4. bottom snare
5. rack tom
6. floor tom
7. overhead L
8. overhead R

Would you recommend using all of tracks 1-6 to detect transients? Or do you find more success just picking one side of the snare and kick?

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

Thanks for your reply! I think I spoke too soon. It seems maybe the standard behavior for the script at least on my Intel Mac is that if i I right click on Reaper it says Application Not Responding while the script is working but it does't cause a crash

I did want to ask though with a certain micing situation which tracks you would recommend using to detect transients?

1. kick beater
2. resonant kick
3. top snare
4. bottom snare
5. rack tom
6. floor tom
7. overhead L
8. overhead R

Would you recommend using all of tracks 1-6 to detect transients? Or do you find more success just picking one side of the snare and kick?

I'd recommend to pick only one mic for each drum, the mic that comes earlier in.
For example:
The Kick beater or Kick IN mic, gets the transient earlier then the resonant. Most of the times is the same for the Snare top and the bottom (unless the snare top mic is more distant to the snare then the bottom mic...which I find unlikely but possible).

BUT

If you're going to use the first 6 channels, you might end with the same results just with a little more processing and analysing time.

[skylar_battles]

Thanks for the response! I will definitely apply that knowledge to future projects.

I think that I encountered a bug yesterday unless it was user error, so I thought I should share it with you.

I was using your script to quantize a single track of a swung 16th hi hat loop to a straighter feel. I am countlessly impressed with just how well it works and that it can do that task successfully!

At the end of the media item I selected to quantize, it looped the source too early and start the next loop before the the beginning of the appropriate bar. I should've taken a screenshot but I was working so I just split the clip appropriately and stretched some silence and then the loop was great.

Just thought I should share

[mtierney]

Hey! First of all, THANK YOU 80icio for making this. I've been transitioning from Pro Tools to Reaper and this script has been amazing for beat detective-like workflows. In a lot of ways, I prefer what you've got here; your script and the original script address some of the shortcomings of beat detective imo

However, I'm experiencing a minor bug. When I try to shift+left click and drag to move a marker, it instead uses the hand tool to move the view, basically ignoring the shift key. When I'm zoomed out all the way though, shift+left drag works as expected, since there's nowhere to move the view. I think this is the same with ctrl+left dragging, but I don't really use that one as much

I just checked the original MK Slicer, and shift left drag works as expected in the original. Hopefully this is just a minor issue!

I'm on the latest version of Reaper, but I've been experiencing it for two versions, so I don't think it's tied to the Reaper version number. Computer/OS specs in the signature

Again, THANK YOU for your work on this!

[skylar_battles]

The bug I reported on 11/28 is still present. Is it not effecting anyone else? it seems to behave in such a way way the very beginning of the item isn't quantized correctly (it is always rushed) and for the item to be the proper length for it loops the item source early which seems strange and doesn't correctly fill out the selected bar if 1 bar was quantized. The opposite bug is occurring with the regular version it seems - where the item extends past where it should be after quantization.

Also there is a bug where mousewheel, which does zoom on the waveforms within the script, also incorrectly adjusts loop points which can be problematic and prevent the script from working if the loop points don't contain what needs to me quantized and the user hits quantize.

Also there is some confusion for me between Leading Pad and Offset in your version vs the original where they behave differently display and functionality-wise, so I was looking for some clarification.

Please do tell me if this is correct - in your version:
Leading Pad: amount of ms BEFORE split point for saving transients
Offset: is snap offset which I imagine is relevant for making samples? (transient guides move on screen when offset adjusted but does not effect split points?)

On the other hand in the original script it seems like:
Offset = leading pad, but reversed!? The displays shows transient guides moving as you adjust the "offset." I think on this version the offset does effect split points and on your version when you'd set leading pad to 5ms, on the original you'd set offset to -5 to get the same result.

Looking forward to hearing

[mtierney]

I'm personally not experiencing the bugs you're describing skylar. Maybe if the first transient is quantizing weird for you, you should leave a bar of nothing before your first transient? That's a habit of mine in case the first hit is ahead of the beat. Are you trying to quantize with the item trimmed right up to the first transient?

For me, the scroll wheel only affects the loop range if my mouse is hovering over the loop ruler above the waveform in the mk slicer; when I scroll in the area with the waveform the scroll wheel behaves as expected

Personally I prefer the 80icio mod version of offset/leading pad for drums. What you described for offset/leading pad for the 80icio mod is what I'm experiencing too–leading pad changes where the cut is to save the transients from any crossfading, and offset changes where the offset marker is in relation to the detected transient. I think this way you can quantize it to be a few ms ahead or behind the beat to create a different feel. The quantize function quantizes the offset markers and not the slice point, so this is super handy; the original script doesn't move the offset markers, so it just quantizes at the slice points

[skylar_battles]

Thanks for your reply!

Your idea, might be spot on as I was just testing the scripts on a blank project starting at bar 0 not bar 1, so maybe that causes "confusion" for the script. Maybe that's why I'm having the issue as well with the original version of the script.

Thanks for sharing about the scrolling on your setup. I checked right now and it must be a bug because in addition to what you described hovering over the loop ruler... for me using mousewheel with my cursor on the waveform in the script adjust both the zoom of the waveform and unfortunately the loop points. Maybe because the script is "confused" by my scroll customizations on Mac.

Between the leading pad and offset, I think it makes sense from some testing but it does confuse me how differently those terms are used and function in both scripts! Thanks for providing clarity.

I'd love to hear any other tips or practices you've found helpful for quantizing and time aligning audio with stretch markers and slicing in Reaper!

[80icio]

If you set Offset at -0.5 ms (this is generally what I use) it will set the transient detection more precisely to where the drum hit "really" starts.

Offset affects the quantize SNAP point.

Leading Pad only affects where the cut and the crossfade is applied.

I don't want to go too deep in the way a script can determinate transients on audio, but it will always need a little time to understand what's going on,
let's say offset is meant to correct this small detection time.

Leading Pad comes handy not only to save transients but also for a lot of little editing "side effects" that might happen while editing drums in general.

[mtierney]

Thanks for clarifying 80icio

Sorry to bump so shortly after, but did you happen to see the bug that I mentioned a couple posts ago? Are you/is anyone else experiencing this?

Thanks!

Originally Posted by mtierney

When I try to shift+left click and drag to move a marker, it instead uses the hand tool to move the view, basically ignoring the shift key. When I'm zoomed out all the way though, shift+left drag works as expected, since there's nowhere to move the view. I think this is the same with ctrl+left dragging, but I don't really use that one as much

I just checked the original MK Slicer, and shift left drag works as expected in the original. Hopefully this is just a minor issue!

[skylar_battles]

There is a bug where mousewheel, which does zoom on the waveforms within the script, also incorrectly adjusts loop points which can be problematic and prevent the script from working if the loop points don't contain what needs to me quantized and the user hits quantize.

Though I'd put this here as well so you could see in case you missed it!

For me using mouse wheel with my cursor OVER the waveform in the script adjust both the zoom of the waveform AND unfortunately the loop points. It seems for mtierney this only happens when the cursor is over the loop points in your script.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

There is a bug where mousewheel, which does zoom on the waveforms within the script, also incorrectly adjusts loop points which can be problematic and prevent the script from working if the loop points don't contain what needs to me quantized and the user hits quantize.

Though I'd put this here as well so you could see in case you missed it!

For me using mouse wheel with my cursor OVER the waveform in the script adjust both the zoom of the waveform AND unfortunately the loop points. It seems for mtierney this only happens when the cursor is over the loop points in your script.

Thanks for sharing.
The loop feature was always useless in my editing workflow,
that's definitely an oversight of mine, I just left the whole loop thing like it was at the moment I started modifying the script.

I might not release updates soon, in the meantime avoid using the loop,
and turn off the option "loop is enabled when script starts".

Simply select the items you need to analyse and everything else should work fine.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by mtierney

Thanks for clarifying 80icio

Sorry to bump so shortly after, but did you happen to see the bug that I mentioned a couple posts ago? Are you/is anyone else experiencing this?

Thanks!

You're right,
at this point
I guess i'll take a quick look as soon as i can and try to fix both Bugs
you and @skylar_battles are mentioning.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by 80icio

You're right,
at this point
I guess i'll take a quick look as soon as i can and try to fix both Bugs
you and @skylar_battles are mentioning.

I was able to fix both things pretty quick, 1.03 update on the reapack way.
please try it out and let me know if it works for you!

In 2021, a little after I released 1.02, I was experimenting with the script GUI.
Since I fixed the bugs on that version I hope you guys don't mind there's a couple minor GUI differences.

[skylar_battles]

Thanks so much for taking a look at these bugs!

The mousewheel bug that I described is still behaving the same. I tried to attach a gif but the dimensions weren't compatible and I'm not sure how else to show it. Please let me know if I can help explain more clearly! Also I just checked and this one is also a bug in the original script, where is loop is enabled using mousehweel screws up the loop points. So really it seems like maybe the loop function just never worked in the original properly?

Also I noticed something else what probably is a "nitpick." I use macOs and on my Reaper settings I have "control+left click emulates right click" ticked in preferences. This doesn't work in script. It comes up for me when I try use control+shift+left click to remove a marker. I checked in the original script as well and it also doesn't work there so I imagine it is something in there somewhere!

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

Thanks so much for taking a look at these bugs!

The mousewheel bug that I described is still behaving the same. I tried to attach a gif but the dimensions weren't compatible and I'm not sure how else to show it. Please let me know if I can help explain more clearly! Also I just checked and this one is also a bug in the original script, where is loop is enabled using mousehweel screws up the loop points. So really it seems like maybe the loop function just never worked in the original properly?

Also I noticed something else what probably is a "nitpick." I use macOs and on my Reaper settings I have "control+left click emulates right click" ticked in preferences. This doesn't work in script. It comes up for me when I try use control+shift+left click to remove a marker. I checked in the original script as well and it also doesn't work there so I imagine it is something in there somewhere!

please be patient and wait for v 1.03 to come out on reapack

[mtierney]

Thank you!

[skylar_battles]

My apologies I think I misunderstood and thought you requested a give it a test at this time but I see it wasn't the new version yet. No worries and no rush Thanks again for making it possible for us to really do drums in Reaper!

[skylar_battles]

Getting this error message when trying to use the script on a single media item that's 8 bars long at 120. Any idea what's causing the issue?

It finally let me "terminate instances" because it asked me about multiple running and I did and now it works as normal actually. I tried to stop all scripts from the action list but that didn't help either but it did just start working again. Thanks!

Also I just wanted to share for any who are interested that with this version and the original setting the offset to between -0.8 and -1.2 have really helped keep my transients in check! that with a lighter percentage of quantization and even with stretch markers there are no artifacts

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

Getting this error message when trying to use the script on a single media item that's 8 bars long at 120. Any idea what's causing the issue?

Hard to tell, if I try it on a single 8 bars random audio file at 120 it works

[cool]

skylar_battles, Maybe you can provide other details of the item and the project? Surely this will help 80icio find the bug. Samplerate (of the project and item), is the Ratio changed (?), Is the item reversed (?), etc.

A simple way to check the influence of the item settings: if the problem persists after Glue item, then everything is OK with the item and most likely the project settings lead to a bug.

[skylar_battles]

Hey friends! Sorry for the late reply.

Was just getting back into something to test my quantization skills in fact and having the same issue. Nevertheless, I'm getting the same error message again but did same test and was able to resolve it and cause it again so I'll give some more information so we can sort out this bug.

Default project settings and my audio interface settings which I never change are 48k 24 bit.

But here's some more info that may lead to figuring out the issue.

Before I quantize any instrument if the transient that should be the on the down beat falls earlier than beat 1 of that bar, I'll do some carful manual stretch marker work to include that first transient and then glue before starting to quantize with either of your wonderful scripts. I don't do anything else but I do glue always if I do any time edits and make sure it starts on a downbeat.

So in this case this is a 8 bar item at 180 BPM. I was testing it bar by bar and it seemed that the script wouldn't run until the media item was placed at the start of the 5th bar. I tried a different project and also found that the same item had to be placed at on the 5th bar for the script to run successfully

Thanks again for everything!

I might just also put this tip here for new users of your scripts. I'm not sure if you both came from Pro Tools, so I will say for anyone that's using the modded version in particular it was really helpful to watch some people actually work in PT beat detective as a starting point just because there isn't a demonstration of the modded version in video. I may have asked you both some questions early on that seemed obvious but I'm just acclimating my brain and wanted to share anyone reading who is trying to get a handle on this! I hope maybe Jon from the Reaper Blog or Myk Robinson from Let's Talk About Reaper could do a video on these to bring them to the people!

[skylar_battles]

The most pertinent issue for me here is that the crossfades and auto fill functions seem to completely stop working. I tried opening fresh projects and making fresh files that hadn't been strangely manipulated and no luck. No crossfades no matter I do and I've reset the settings as well.

Also, I was trying to user the script on an excerpt in a project in 6/8 played with straight 8th notes. In order have the script look for the transient at the grid lines correctly, I had to set the grid to 1/4, which causes the script to actually look for 1/8th notes. Then switch back to 1/8 notes and quantize which theoretically should have worked but without the xfades and auto fill it doesn't. Maybe at the moment the script can't be used for time signatures besides those with the denominator 4?

Thanks

Edit: I tried to downgrade to 6.72 but that didn't help so I went back to 6.73.

I'm also still getting the same Reascript error message that I attached before sometimes. Maybe because of loop section of item source?

Edit 2: I THINK I was able to fix the crossfade and fill gaps issue by opening the the set user defaults window and just hitting ok! I think! At least it's working but not sure if that's what fixed it.

[mtierney]

Just tried mk slicer on a 6/8 song and had no issues with the crossfade and fill functions, using Reaper 6.73... Maybe autocrossfade is turned off?

While I was checking to see if 6/8 and the autofill/crossfade were working on my end, I discovered a different bug though. I'M SO SORRY. This is similar to my shift+click bug that I discovered last month... Now whenever I'm zoomed in enough that I can scroll, whenever I click and drag left or right to adjust any slider (i.e, low cut, filtered gain, threshold, etc, any of them), it drags the view left or right with it, as if I'm clicking and dragging on the main waveform window. Let me know if that makes sense or if I should screen cap a video... it's similar to the shift+click+drag bug in that it's just bringing the window with it. It's not the end of the world, I just thought I'd let you know while I was trying out skylar's thing

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news again, and thanks as always for the excellent script!

[skylar_battles]

mtierney, yes I can confirm the newest bug you shared. I just tested it.

Still pretty certain about the halving the grid value to look for transients correctly in anything /8 and then to having to double before quantizing so the results are as expected.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by mtierney

Just tried mk slicer on a 6/8 song and had no issues with the crossfade and fill functions, using Reaper 6.73... Maybe autocrossfade is turned off?

While I was checking to see if 6/8 and the autofill/crossfade were working on my end, I discovered a different bug though. I'M SO SORRY. This is similar to my shift+click bug that I discovered last month... Now whenever I'm zoomed in enough that I can scroll, whenever I click and drag left or right to adjust any slider (i.e, low cut, filtered gain, threshold, etc, any of them), it drags the view left or right with it, as if I'm clicking and dragging on the main waveform window. Let me know if that makes sense or if I should screen cap a video... it's similar to the shift+click+drag bug in that it's just bringing the window with it. It's not the end of the world, I just thought I'd let you know while I was trying out skylar's thing

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news again, and thanks as always for the excellent script!

Hey thanks for the report, the bug was related to one of the last changes I did on the last update.
I'm working on it

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

The most pertinent issue for me here is that the crossfades and auto fill functions seem to completely stop working. I tried opening fresh projects and making fresh files that hadn't been strangely manipulated and no luck. No crossfades no matter I do and I've reset the settings as well.

Also, I was trying to user the script on an excerpt in a project in 6/8 played with straight 8th notes. In order have the script look for the transient at the grid lines correctly, I had to set the grid to 1/4, which causes the script to actually look for 1/8th notes. Then switch back to 1/8 notes and quantize which theoretically should have worked but without the xfades and auto fill it doesn't. Maybe at the moment the script can't be used for time signatures besides those with the denominator 4?

Thanks

Edit: I tried to downgrade to 6.72 but that didn't help so I went back to 6.73.

I'm also still getting the same Reascript error message that I attached before sometimes. Maybe because of loop section of item source?

Edit 2: I THINK I was able to fix the crossfade and fill gaps issue by opening the the set user defaults window and just hitting ok! I think! At least it's working but not sure if that's what fixed it.

So fill gaps and crossfades are working on my side,
There's a new bug related to the new Edit group function,

The only workaround for now is ungrouping the tracks and (for multitrack editing) working with slice mode folder.


I need to have a look and adapt the script to these new features.

I just tried a 6/8 song and everything is working too

[skylar_battles]

Thanks for the reply! I believe the 6/8 thing was user error on my end trying to work with distorted guitars and not have sensitivity set correctly. My apologies!

Just a moment ago, the crossfades ms parameter disappeared from the script, but by undocking and closing and reopening, the xfades parameter came back. Maybe docking the script causes it to disappear sometimes? Let me know if I can be helpful to in solving that one but I do think it's something with the docking.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

Thanks for the reply! I believe the 6/8 thing was user error on my end trying to work with distorted guitars and not have sensitivity set correctly. My apologies!

Distorted guitar editing is difficult, because they're a transient less square signal.

Consider recording clean guitars(with an amp sim), do the edit and then reamp or use amp sim.
transients will be visible and easier to catch.

BTW, If you want to report bugs you should either be sure and find a way to re create the bug before writing on the forum, that way it would be easier for me to try it out and find what's wrong.
Please don't jump to conclusions too fast, give yourself a few trials and then report.

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

Just a moment ago, the crossfades ms parameter disappeared from the script, but by undocking and closing and reopening, the xfades parameter came back. Maybe docking the script causes it to disappear sometimes? Let me know if I can be helpful to in solving that one but I do think it's something with the docking.

I never experienced anything like that, sounds more like a graphic bug on your end.
You should take a screenshot and send it when you experience that bug

[skylar_battles]

Indeed you are right! Sometimes I like to go for a challenge and push the script but I understand from watching tutorials that in a certain world a highly distorted track would always have a DI tracks to be a guide for transients and time edits. My bad on that! I’ll do better testing next time. To be clear though the graphical bug does prevent the script from worming properly. It’s as simple as that parameter being “unseen” and effectively set to 0ms. I’ll take a screenshot next time it happens but while I was replying / troubleshooting yesterday the parameter came back.

[80icio]

A new version (v1.04) has been uploaded on Reapack repository today,
It'll take a few days to be visible.

I fixed the incorrect mouse behaviour.

I also improved the behaviour with time signatures and the reduce by grid function.

[mtierney]

Thank you! I'll try it out when it becomes available

[skylar_battles]

Thank you so much and can’t wait to get back to work with it! I’ve realized the script searching only by grid points really does give it the functionality one would expect when trying to quantize in a DAW so I’ve totally switched over to it for all my needs

[_Stevie_]

@80icio this script is really da bomb! The transient detection is really accurate. Comparable to Studio One or Cubase.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by _Stevie_

@80icio this script is really da bomb! The transient detection is really accurate. Comparable to Studio One or Cubase.

Thanks so much!!

[Skorobagatko]

Originally Posted by 80icio

A new version (v1.04) has been uploaded on Reapack repository today,
It'll take a few days to be visible.

I fixed the incorrect mouse behaviour.

I also improved the behaviour with time signatures and the reduce by grid function.

Where we can find your Reapack repository link?

[80icio]

Originally Posted by Skorobagatko

Where we can find your Reapack repository link?

I don't have one, I just upload it on reapack,

[cool]

Originally Posted by Skorobagatko

Where we can find your Reapack repository link?

It is in the ReaTeam Scripts group, that is, it is immediately available by default, without additional links.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by cool

It is in the ReaTeam Scripts group, that is, it is immediately available by default, without additional links.

Thanks Cool

[skylar_battles]

Hope all is well!

Can you advise me on how to dock the script? I undocked it after the issue of the crossfades not working seemed to be solved by undocking so that parameter was visible and active, but now I can’t dock the script again. Many thanks.

[80icio]

Originally Posted by skylar_battles

Hope all is well!

Can you advise me on how to dock the script? I undocked it after the issue of the crossfades not working seemed to be solved by undocking so that parameter was visible and active, but now I can’t dock the script again. Many thanks.

There's a little arrow on the top left, that's the menu.
Select 'Script Starts Docked'

If crossfades aren't visible when docked you probably just need to pull up the dock window