Sample Lanes

Sample Lanes 2 and Sample Lanes 32 load as many as four files into separate seamless loop lanes. A horizontal source clock reads each file inside shared Start and End bounds, while an independent vertical path chooses, jumps among, or crossfades the four lanes. Because those clocks are separate, one path can keep crossing the file field while every lane has its own speed, pitch-preserving stretch, and wrapped timing offset.

Workflow

1. Insert Sample Lanes 2 on a stereo instrument track, or Sample Lanes 32 on a fixed 32-channel track. Load or drop as many as four files; a multiple-file drop fills consecutive lanes from the destination row.
2. Route the stereo output, or the selected Lanes 32 outputs, to the intended speakers or headphone monitor. In Lanes 32, open Routing to choose Preserve Field or Distribute and set the active output count.
3. Set Start and End, then choose Forward, Reverse, or Ping Pong and Normal or Hertz rate.
4. Click a waveform lane and set its Speed, Stretch, and Wrap Nudge. Repeat for the other loaded lanes.
5. Choose a file-lane Path. Use Crossfade for continuous equal-power movement or Jump for discrete file changes.
6. Set Polyphony, Trigger, Root, Tune, Fine, Attack, Release, Velocity, MIDI reception, Pan, and output level, then play MIDI or press PLAY.

Shared Source Loop

Root, incoming note pitch, Tune, and Fine scale either rate basis. The path clock and all loaded lane clocks start together, but their positions can diverge when per-lane timing is changed.

Per-Lane Timing and Waveforms

Click a waveform row to select that lane for the Lane Timing toolbox. These controls affect the source material in the selected row; they do not change the file-lane path drawn below it.

Start and End stay fixed when a lane is nudged. Its waveform visibly rotates beneath those markers, and a dashed vertical marker identifies the content-wrap seam. During playback, each row displays its actual lane playhead when independent timing has moved it away from the shared path clock. The waveform uses a restrained dark gray; the active position is a bright point with a dark halo so it remains readable over dense material. LOAD and CLEAR are stacked at the right edge so the waveform keeps the maximum practical horizontal span.

File-Lane Path

The read-head scope uses X for path-clock phase and Y for file-lane position. At default lane timing, a Down / Linear / Crossfade path is the simple diagonal model: it starts in lane 1 and ends in lane 4 while source time progresses from left to right.

LANE CHANGE: Crossfade makes an equal-power blend between neighboring loaded lanes. Jump chooses one lane; Jump Slew smooths that change to suppress discontinuities. An empty lane does not create an unintended silent hole: Jump resolves to the nearest loaded lane, and Crossfade spans empty rows between loaded sources.

Shape offers Linear, Smooth, Exponential, and Plateau timing. Cycles repeats the lane path from one-eighth to sixteen times over the shared source clock; Offset rotates it; Skew redistributes time around the midpoint; and Curve bends the result. Random uses its discrete seeded values rather than Shape, Skew, or Curve, although its clock can still repeat and offset. Seed reproduces its route.

Manual Breakpoint Editing

• Click empty scope space to select Manual and add a point at that path phase and lane height.
• Drag a point to reshape the route.
• Right-click an interior point to delete it.
• The two endpoints stay anchored to the beginning and end of the path clock, but remain vertically movable.
• As many as sixteen points are stored with the plug-in state.

Manual is a direct clock path: Shape, Cycles, Offset, Skew, and Curve are bypassed. This makes the line in the editor the literal lane trajectory rather than a source curve that is transformed again elsewhere.

Polyphony, Trigger, Pitch, and MIDI

Poly layers independent note voices. Mono replaces the previous note. Legato retargets the newest voice while retaining its phase, lane weights, envelope, and lane timing state. Auto and Gate begin Release at note-off; One Shot ignores note-off; Toggle alternately starts and releases a matching note. Root, Tune, and Fine establish pitch, Attack and Release shape amplitude, Velocity blends between fixed gain and note velocity, and MIDI selects Omni or channels 1–16.

Sample Lanes 2 has one fixed stereo output. A mono file appears on both sides and Pan applies constant-power placement; a stereo file retains its original left and right channels and Pan acts as balance. The word Mono in the Voice menu controls note ownership, not the number of audio channels.

Sample Lanes 32 Routing

Sample Lanes 32 accepts files with one to sixteen channels and always reports one 32-channel output port. Open the compact Routing tab in the footer to exchange the Voice controls for output topology. ACTIVE OUT limits Distribute to 2–32 destinations without changing the host port.

In Distribute, mono folding sums source channels with square-root normalization. Stereo files retain left and right; sources wider than stereo fold even-numbered and odd-numbered source channels into a stereo object. Output allocation does not change the source path or any lane clock.

Factory Presets

Storage and Recall

The breakpoint path, instrument settings, and four source references return with the project. PROJECT copies sources into the saved REAPER project's media directory and reuses unchanged files already collected there; LINK retains their original locations; EMBED stores decoded audio with the project. See Sample Storage.