Free online sample chopper

Chop a sample and play it back in a new order.

Drop in a sound, mark the part you want, and cut it into slices. Play the slices from your keyboard, click them into a sixteen step loop, shuffle them, and download the result. The file stays on your device the whole time.

Drop a sound here, or choose a file It stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

Keep chopping

The studio has the rest of the song.

This page keeps your sound on your device, so it cannot hand it to the studio for you. Sign in, import the same file there, and it becomes an instrument in your account: private to you, chopped the same way, with drums, a bassline that follows your key, and an arranger around it.

How it works

1 Choose a sound and mark a part of itDrag the two handles on the waveform to the start and end of the bit you want. A bar or two of something with a clear rhythm is the classic choice.
2 Cut it upFour, eight or sixteen equal pieces, or cuts at the loudest moments, which usually means on the drum hits.
3 Play the piecesEach slice is a pad. Click it, or press 1 to 8 and Q to I. The last pad you played is the one you are holding.
4 Sequence themClick steps to place the slice you are holding. Shuffle and Reverse order rearrange what is there. The tempo starts at the tempo of your file when it can be found.

What chopping is

Chopping means cutting a recording into short pieces and playing those pieces as if they were the keys of an instrument. A drum break cut into eight gives you eight drum hits you can replay in any order. A chord cut into four gives you a stutter. Hip-hop, jungle and house were all built on this one idea.

Equal pieces or loud moments

If your sound is exactly one or two bars of music, equal pieces land right on the beats, and every slice is the same length, so a new order still fits the grid. If the timing is looser, cutting at the loud moments puts each cut just before a hit, which keeps every slice punchy, at the price of slices of different lengths.

Why the order matters more than the sound

Play the slices in their original order and you have your sample back. Swap two and it is already something else. Start on the third slice instead of the first and the accents move. Most of the character of a chopped loop comes from which slice lands on which beat, and that is a decision, not a sound.

Questions people ask

Is my audio uploaded?

No. Your browser opens the file and plays the slices itself. Nothing is sent to a server.

Can I save the chopped loop?

Yes. Download the loop as a WAV file. It is one bar long at the tempo on the page.

Can I open it in the studio?

Not from this page, because the sound never leaves your device. Sign in and import the same file in the studio: it becomes a chopped sample instrument that works the same way, private to your account.

What should I chop?

Only audio you have the right to use. Your own recordings, sounds from sample packs you own, and your own songs are all fair game. A drum loop or a short musical phrase works best.

Ready for the rest of the song?

The studio has this and everything around it: instruments, recipe blocks, an arranger, and a co-producer that explains every change it makes. Free to start, private until you share.

Make a little noise