Beat Breaker Main Editor in MainStage

The Main Editor is where you interact with Beat Breaker’s effects. Incoming audio enters the input buffer on the far left, and the output waveform in the center shows your audio divided into slices. Each slice defines a region of audio where you can apply effects. You can add, delete, and move slices using slice markers in the Slice Editor strip, which sits above the output waveform.

Beat Breaker has six edit modes: Time is orange, Repeat is magenta, Cutoff is cyan, Resonance is purple, Volume is yellow, and Pan is green. Use the Edit Mode buttons to switch between modes.

When you select an Edit mode and click a slice, the parameters for the selected slice appear at the top of the Main Editor. You can adjust a parameter’s value using a gesture or by dragging the sliders directly.

In Time mode, a mapping line shows which part of the input buffer plays back for the selected slice, letting you reposition audio and change its speed. Repeat mode adds up to eight repetitions of a slice to create stutter effects. Cutoff and Resonance modes let you shape the filter applied to a slice. Volume mode lets you change the volume over the duration of a slice to create swells and dynamic changes. Pan mode lets you set the stereo position of a slice. Each slice stores its settings independently, so you can apply different mode configurations to different slices within the same pattern. For example, one slice could use Time mode to reverse playback while another uses Repeat mode to create a stutter effect.

Finally, you can use the Pattern Slot menu to save and organize your patterns. See Work with pattern slots.

Main Editor parameters

Edit Mode buttons: Choose an edit mode to customize slice playback. See Edit modes.
- Time button: Select Time mode to adjust the position and speed of a slice. See Time mode parameters.
- Repeat button: Select Repeat mode to adjust the number of repetitions for a slice. See Repeat mode parameters.
- Cutoff button: Select Cutoff mode to adjust the cutoff frequency of a slice. See Cutoff mode parameters.
- Resonance button: Select Resonance mode to adjust the filter resonance of a slice. See Resonance mode parameters.
- Volume button: Select Volume mode to adjust the volume of a slice. See Volume mode parameters.
- Pan button: Select Pan mode to adjust the stereo position of a slice. See Pan mode parameters.
Input buffer: During playback, the input buffer displays the incoming audio, and its playhead shows which part of the input buffer is currently playing.
Slice Editor strip: This area contains slice markers. Use it to add, move, and delete slice markers for the selected pattern. See Work with Beat Breaker slices.
Output Beat: Set the position of the selected slice marker. This defines the beat at which the input beat is played back. See Move a slice.
Randomize button: Generate random effect values for the current mode or all modes. A single die randomizes the current mode; two dice randomize all modes. Control-click to change modes and randomization settings. See Use the Randomize button.
Global controls: Use the global controls, such as Length, De-click, and Mix, to fine-tune your pattern.
- Length pop-up menu: Set the length of the current pattern in beats.
- De-click value: Reduce clicks at locations where the playhead jumps by having a fast fade-out and fade-in. Decrease the value to hear more hard-hitting transients. Increase the value to remove audio clicks. Clicks occur when slices jump between noncontiguous parts of the audio, creating a sudden discontinuity in the waveform.
- Bypass Below field: Set the frequency threshold below which the effect is bypassed. Frequencies below this threshold remain unaffected, while the effect is applied to frequencies above it. This is useful when applying Beat Breaker to a full mix, letting you keep low frequencies such as kick and bass unaffected while the effect processes the rest of the signal.
- Mix value: Control the balance between the original and processed audio signals. Set to 100% to hear only the processed signal.
- More button: Choose how quantized values are used when setting parameters on the Slice Editor strip.
  - Snap Output Beat: Set the snap value for the Output Beat parameter, allowing precise adjustment of parameters to quantized values when editing slices on the Main Editor.
  - Snap Input Beat: Set the snap value for the Input Beat parameter, allowing precise adjustment of parameters to quantized values when editing slices on the Main Editor.
  - Snap Speed: Set quantized values for the Speed parameter in the Main Editor, with Time for musical divisions, Pitch for semitone increments, and Off for no snapping.
  - Snap Cutoff: Set the snap resolution for the Cutoff parameter. Choose Off for free adjustment, or Fine, Medium, or Coarse for progressively larger snap increments.
  - Snap Resonance: Set the snap resolution for the Resonance parameter. Choose Off for free adjustment, or Fine, Medium, or Coarse for progressively larger snap increments.
  - Snap Volume: Set the snap resolution for the Volume parameter. Choose Off for free adjustment, or Fine, Medium, or Coarse for progressively larger snap increments.
  - Snap Pan: Set the snap resolution for the Pan parameter. Choose Off for free adjustment, or Fine, Medium, or Coarse for progressively larger snap increments.
Pattern buttons: Select a new preset pattern, or use Pattern Off to turn off all pattern effects. Each Pattern button contains settings for Time, Repeat, Cutoff, Resonance, Volume, and Pan modes, and Length. Use Pattern buttons to quickly switch Beat Breaker settings while performing or recording.
Pattern Off button: Turn off all pattern effects. Use this button to hear audio from Beat Breaker without any processing.
Pattern Slot Edit button: Turn on or off Pattern Slot Edit mode. In this mode, use the Pattern pop-up menu to load, save, and rename patterns in each pattern slot. See Work with pattern slots.

Download the guides:

MainStage User Guide: PDF

MainStage Instruments: PDF

MainStage Effects: PDF

Helpful?