1. Select an event. The waveform for the selected event’s clip is displayed in the Chopper window.

2. Select the part of the waveform that you want to insert as an event.

   If snapping is enabled, your selection will snap to the current grid spacing.

3. Select the Link Arrow to Selection button if you want to insert events end-to-end, or turn off the Link button and drag the arrow above your selection to specify an offset. See Set an offset between selections in this topic for more information.

4. Add the selection as an event on the timeline.

1. Click Insert Selection to insert the current selection as an event at the edit cursor. Click again to insert another event with its starting point offset by the amount specified by the event increment arrow.

2. Click the Insert Selection at Play Cursor button (or press Y) to add the current selection as an event at the play cursor (during playback, the edit cursor remains fixed, and the play cursor follows playback).
   
   If the track header has focus, the track’s current paint clip will be inserted in its entirety will be inserted at the play cursor when you press Y.

You can also drag a selection to the timeline or copy and paste selections from the Chopper window to the timeline.

If snapping is enabled, events are created at the next snap point.

1. Select an event. The waveform for the selected event’s clip is displayed in the Chopper window.

2. Select the part of the waveform that you want to use to create the new loop.

   If snapping is enabled, your selection will snap to the current grid spacing.

3. If the selection is an integral number of beats, a loop will be created.

4. If the selection is shorter than the Open files as loops if between setting on the Audio tab of the Preferences dialog, a one-shot will be created.

5. If the selection is longer than the Open files as loops if between setting on the Audio tab of the Preferences dialog, a Beatmapped clip will be created.

3. Perform either of the following actions:

• Right-click the selection and choose Chop to New Clip from the shortcut menu.

—or—

• Right-click the selection and choose Chop to New Track from the shortcut menu (or drag the selection to the track list).

  The Chop to New dialog is displayed.

4. Use the Chop to New dialog to specify the format and location where you want to save the new file. The original file name is used, and Chopped [number] is appended to the file name.

5. When you click Save, the new file is saved.

   If you chopped to a new clip, a new clip is added to the original track.

   If you chopped to a new track, a new, blank track is added to your project.

The selection in the Chopper window determines which part of the media file will be added to the track list when you click the Insert Selection button. Perform any of the following actions to create a selection:

• Drag within the Chopper window.

• Position your cursor at the beginning of the data you want to select. Then right-click in the Chopper window, choose Selection Length from the shortcut menu, and then choose a length from the submenu.

• Hold the Shift key and press the right or left arrow keys.

• Right-click an event in the timeline and choose Select in Chopper from the shortcut menu. The sound data contained in the event will be selected in the Chopper window. For example, if an event contains only one beat from a drum track, the Chopper window will display the full drum track, and beat from the event will be selected in the Chopper window.

From the Options menu, choose Snapping, and then choose Enable from the submenu if you want to snap your selection to markers or ruler marks in the Chopper window.

The selection’s start, end, and length are displayed in M:B:T (measures: beats: ticks) in the bottom right-hand corner of the window:

When you create a selection in the Chopper window, a bar is displayed in the selected track to indicate where the event will be inserted when you click the Insert Selection button:

You can use the Link Arrow to Selection button to specify the space between the start of events inserted from the Chopper window.

• To insert events with no space between them, select the Link Arrow to Selection button. The increment arrow is displayed in the same color as the waveform, and the increment length is tied to the selection length.

• To insert events with a space between them, turn off the Link Arrow to Selection button and drag the end of the arrow to set the event increment. The increment arrow is displayed in black, and the length will remain until you resize it.

  To create a gap between inserted events, set the event increment larger than the selection size. In the following example, one-beat events are inserted with one beat of silence between them.

To overlap events and create a stuttering effect, set the event increment shorter than the selection size. In the following example, one-beat events are inserted with a half-beat overlap.

You can add markers and regions to the Chopper to help you identify parts of a sound file. For more information, see Markers and Regions.

Markers and regions in the Chopper window will be saved with your ACID project. If you want to save them to the track’s source media file, use the Save button in the Track Properties window.