Logic Pro Sampler Zone pane

You can see the current waveform of the selected zone and can directly edit a number of sample playback parameters in the Zone pane waveform display. You can zoom in or out with pinch gestures, or scroll the waveform display using two-finger swipes or by dragging the scroll bar. You can use single-finger swipes if you are using a Magic Mouse.

Important: Use of gestures, such as swiping or pinching require these features to be enabled in the Mouse or Trackpad panes of your System Preferences.

As you move the pointer across the waveform display, it changes in appearance and function. For example, the pointer will change to indicate that you can move a slice marker or fade marker. In addition, parameters and values related to the current pointer tool function are shown below the waveform display (and in the Mapping pane zone view).

Click or drag markers and handles in the waveform display to change values. Drag vertically in parameter value fields to change them. For example, vertically drag the value shown for Loop Start to change it. Alternatively, you can double-click in a field and type in a value, then press the Enter key.

You can also Control-click the waveform display to open a shortcut menu that allows you to open the sample in the Logic Pro Audio File Editor (or an external editor), if you prefer. See Edit audio in the Logic Pro Audio File Editor.

You can specify the audio editor in Sampler preferences.

Tip: The Zone pane is best used with the Mapping pane also visible. See Mapping and Zone pane overview.

Figure. Sampler Zone pane, showing a waveform and all marker types.

Zone pane parameters

Double-click a parameter value field to type in a new value. Press Enter to complete the operation.

Waveform display: Shows the selected zone waveform, marker handles, and shaded marker areas. You can drag the marker handles to adjust zone playback.
Edit menu: Choose an editing command or function. See the task in this section to learn more about the commands and functions in this pop-up menu.
View menu: Choose an option that affects the appearance of the display. See the task in this section to learn more about the commands and functions in this pop-up menu.
Preview button: Play the selected zone.
Snap pop-up menu: Choose a value. Edits to crossfade, sample, fade, or loop markers in the waveform display automatically snap to the nearest possible value.
Zoom vertical button: Switch between the maximum vertical zoom view for the currently displayed waveform section and the default zoom view.
Zoom horizontal button: Switch between the last manually set zoom level, if applicable, and an optimized zoom level that shows the area between the sample start and end markers. When no manual zoom level is set, the entire audio file is shown.
Tip: You can use your trackpad to zoom in or out on the waveform display with pinch gestures, or scroll using two-finger swipes or by dragging the scroll bar. You can use a Magic Mouse to perform the following gestures: one finger horizontal swipe to scroll, or use a one finger vertical swipe to zoom.
Zone pop-up menu: Displays the zone name. Click to choose other zones.
File pop-up menu: Displays the audio filename. Click to choose file handling commands.
- Load Audio File: Opens a dialog where you can select an audio file.
- Reveal in Finder: Shows the full path of the loaded audio file in the Finder.
- Open in Audio File Editor: Opens the selected sample in the Logic Pro Audio File Editor, or the sample editor chosen in the External Sample Editor preference.
  Note: This command is available only when Destructive audio editing is enabled in the Logic Pro preferences.
Playback buttons: Use these options to determine zone playback behavior.
- One Shot button: Turn on to make the zone ignore the length of incoming MIDI note events, resulting in the sample always being played from start to end whenever a note-on event is received. This is useful for drum samples, where you often don’t want the MIDI note length to affect sample playback. Also see the Fade field parameters.
  Loop and crossfade parameters are dimmed when the One Shot button is active.
- Reverse button: Turn on to play the sample from the sample end marker to the sample start marker.
Flex On/Off button: Turn Flex mode on or off. If Flex mode is turned on, an audio sample is played at its original speed for all note pitches. See the task in this section to learn more about Flex use.
Follow Tempo button: When Flex mode is active, turn on to follow the project tempo.
(Flex) Speed pop-up menu: When Flex mode is active, choose a playback speed division or multiplication value.
Tip: Flex Speed is also available as a modulation target.
Sample Start/End handles and fields: Set the sample start and end points. Drag to reposition. Option-click, then drag either handle to move both markers.
Sample Length field: Displays the length between the sample start and end marker positions. Drag vertically to move the end and fade-out marker.
Fade In/Fade Out handles and fields: Set the fade-in or fade-out time for the zone. Drag to reposition. Option-click, then drag either handle to move both markers. The fade markers cannot be positioned before or after the sample start and and markers.
Loop Start/Loop End handles and fields: Set the loop start and end points. Drag to reposition. Drag the shaded loop area to move both markers and the crossfade marker. Alternatively, you can Option-click, then drag either handle to move both markers and the crossfade marker.
Loop Length field: Displays the length between the loop start and end marker positions. Drag vertically to move the loop end and crossfade marker.
Loop Mode pop-up menu: Choose a looping mode. Set to No Loop to disable looping.
- No Loop: Turn off looped playback. This hides loop markers and crossfades from the waveform display.
- Forward: Playback cycles from the loop start point to the loop end point while you hold a key.
- Reverse: Playback cycles from the loop end point to the loop start point while you hold a key.
- Alternate: Playback continuously cycles from the loop start point to the loop end point, then switches from the loop end point to the loop start point, while you hold a key.
- Play to End on Release: Turn on to continue playback to the end marker position after you have released the key—provided that the amp release time is long enough for the audio portion after the loop to be audible. This feature is useful for allowing the natural decay of a sampled acoustic instrument to be heard during the envelope release phase, for example.
Crossfade handle and field: Drag to set the crossfade time between the end and start of a looped sample. The crossfade marker handle is indicated with an X in the waveform display. Option-click, then drag the handle to move both crossfades.
In a crossfaded loop, there is no step between the loop end and loop start points. The higher the value, the longer the crossfade and the smoother the transition between the loop end and start points. This is especially convenient with samples that are hard to loop and that would normally produce clicks at the transition point—the join in the loop.

Use Sampler Zone pane start, end, loop, fade, and crossfade markers

In Logic Pro, you can use markers to alter audio playback. You can define the possible positions for markers using the Snap menu.

Do any of the following:

Drag the blue start or end marker to set the sample start and end point. Playback occurs between these markers.
Hold Option, then drag either the start or end marker to move both the sample start and end point.
Drag the gray fade in or fade out marker to adjust the length of the fade at the beginning and end of the audio file segment between the start and end markers.
Hold Option, then drag either the fade in or fade out marker to move both fade markers.
Drag the yellow loop start or end marker to set loop boundaries. Playback cycles between these markers when you hold a note.
Drag the yellow shaded area between the loop start and end markers to move the entire loop. Alternatively, hold Option, then drag either the loop start or end marker to move the entire loop
Drag the gray crossfade marker (indicated with X) to set the length of the crossfade at the beginning and end of loop boundaries, smoothing out audible glitches as the loop cycles across the loop end and start points.

Quickly zoom a portion of the Zone pane waveform display

In Logic Pro Sampler, the zoom buttons and pinch gestures can be used to zoom the waveform display shown in the Zone pane, but you can also do the following to quickly zoom a portion of the waveform:

Hold Control and Option, then drag in the waveform display.
The selected area is zoomed to fill the entire waveform display.
Tip: Double-click the Zone button in the Navigation bar to quickly toggle between a maximized view of the Zone pane and the current view.

Use Flex to synchronize an Apple Loop in the Sampler Zone pane

In Logic Pro Sampler, the Flex parameters are used to synchronize the audio playback tempo. This is ideal for synchronously playing a melodic Apple Loop in a key that matches the key of other tracks, for example. Flex works for files with tempo information, including:

Apple Loops
Regions from the Tracks area
Bounced audio files
Files analyzed in the Smart Tempo Editor

Follow these steps to use Flex to play an Apple Loop synchronously with other tracks in your project.

In Logic Pro, load a project with at least a few tracks.
Open the Loop Browser. Default keyboard shortcut: O.
Drag a melodic Apple Audio Loop, such as a rhythmic acoustic or electric guitar part, into the Zone pane waveform display. Drop it on the Original dropzone.
Play some notes on your keyboard over a few octaves. You will hear that the pitch of the loop changes, along with the playback speed.
Click the Flex button below the waveform display and play some notes on your keyboard over a few octaves.
You will hear that the pitch of the loop changes, but the playback speed doesn’t.
Start playback of your project (or concert) and play a few notes on your keyboard.
You will hear that the pitch of the loop changes, but the playback speed isn’t synchronized with the project (or concert) tempo.
While the project is playing, click the Follow Tempo button below the waveform display and play some notes on your keyboard.
You will hear that the pitch of the loop changes, and the playback speed is perfectly synchronized with the project (or concert) tempo.
As an option, you can choose a value in the Speed pop-up menu to divide or multiply the synchronized playback speed of the Apple Loop. Try this while the project (or concert) is playing.

Use the Sampler Zone pane shortcut menu

In Logic Pro, you can use the shortcut menu to choose a number of sample-handling commands. Control-click in the waveform display to access available options from the shortcut menu.

Important: The shortcut menu is context-sensitive. The commands shown in the Zone pane shortcut menu change when you click on different portions of the waveform display. For example, you will see different Auto-Loop commands when you Control-click directly on the yellow shaded loop area in the waveform display.

Auto-Loop: Analyzes the audio content and automatically sets a loop. You can use the command multiple times to try different automatic loops.
Auto-Loop within loop area: Analyzes the audio content and automatically sets a loop within the area defined by the loop start and end markers. You can use the command multiple times to try shorter automatic loops.
Open in Audio File Editor: Opens the selected sample in the Logic Pro Audio File Editor, or the sample editor chosen in the External Sample Editor preference. See Logic Pro Audio File Editor.
Note: This command is available only when Destructive audio editing is enabled in the Logic Pro preferences.
Re-Analyze Transients and Tempo: Analyzes the audio content and corrects transient or tempo changes caused by incorrect tempo data written in the file header, unexpected results from Flex use, or other tempo and transient manipulations, for example.
Crop Sample: Crops (cuts) the portion(s) of the sample outside the start and end markers.
Crop Loop: Crops (cuts) the portion(s) of the sample outside the loop start and end markers.
Note: The “Crop” commands don’t modify or cut existing files. New files are created and are used in place of the original files.
Write Sample Loop to Audio File: Saves the loop data to the file header of the audio file.
Optimize Sample Gain: Analyzes the audio content and sets automatic gain values.
Linear or Equal Power Crossfade: Sets the crossfade gain value behavior.
Display Seconds/Sample/Beats Units: Shows time, sample, or bar/beat values in the waveform display.
Display Stereo Channels/Mono Sum: Shows a stereo or summed mono waveform view in the waveform display.

Use the Sampler Zone pane Edit menu

In Logic Pro, you can use the Zone pane Edit menu to choose a number of sample-handling commands. Choose any of the following:

Auto-Loop: Analyzes the audio content and automatically sets a loop. You can use the command multiple times to try different automatic loops.
Auto-Loop within loop area: Analyzes the audio content and automatically sets a loop within the area defined by the loop start and end markers. You can use the command multiple times to try shorter automatic loops.
Crop Loop: Crops (cuts) the portion(s) of the sample outside the loop start and end markers.
Crop Sample: Crops (cuts) the portion(s) of the sample outside the start and end markers.
Derive Tempo from Loop Length: Calculates a tempo for the audio file based on the Loop Length. If using the Follow Tempo button does not yield the desired results, you can choose this option to calculate a revised tempo at which the loop is aligned to the beat.
Linear or Equal Power Crossfade: Sets the crossfade gain value behavior.
Optimize Sample Gain: Analyzes the audio content and sets automatic gain values.
Write Sample Loop to Audio File: Saves the loop data to the file header of the audio file. To save the new audio file with a different name, click the Name field and choose the Rename Current Audio command.

Use the Sampler Zone pane View menu

In Logic Pro, you can use the Zone pane View menu to choose a command that changes the appearance of the Zone pane. Choose any of the following:

Display Seconds/Sample/Beats Units: Shows time, sample, or bar/beat values in the waveform display.
Display Stereo Channels/Mono Sum: Shows a stereo or summed mono waveform view in the waveform display.

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