From your first sound
to an exported track

1. Audio setup

Choose Audio / MIDI settings on Home, or open Audio / MIDI near the transport in the studio. Select your Windows playback device, playback buffer and sample rate. Device default, 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz are available; unsupported settings are rejected before changing the active output. A smaller buffer responds faster; a larger buffer gives the computer more time to process instruments and effects.

Use a moderate buffer such as 256 or 512 samples, where your device offers it. If you need to change the device’s default sample rate, use Windows sound settings or the interface’s control panel, then reconnect audio in Sampledex. Increase the buffer if you hear clicks or dropouts. The main track recorder uses WASAPI shared input on Windows; ASIO input is not included. Available physical channels depend on the Windows endpoint exposed by your interface driver.

To test output, load a factory demo from New project, select Song and press Play. Headphones are useful when recording a microphone.

Working on a slower laptop

Start with the built-in instruments and a small project. If playback clicks, try a buffer of 512 or 1024 samples where available. A larger buffer adds delay when playing live, so reduce it when recording if playback stays clean. Close other demanding applications and reduce the number of heavy instruments and effects in the project. Keep the laptop connected to power for longer sessions. When an instrument is using too much processing time, select its MIDI track and choose Track → Freeze instrument. Sampledex renders the instrument to audio while keeping mixer, effects and routing controls live. Use Track → Unfreeze instrument to return to MIDI editing; the original notes are retained. Freeze supports single-output instruments; shared drum-kit parts and samplers with separate pad/zone outputs require a supported bounce/export route or routing changes.

2. Find your way around

Use the Home page

Home opens at launch and puts project creation and setup in one place. Reopen it with the Home button or File → Home. Choose Blank studio, Open project, or Continue studio to return to the current song. Audio / MIDI settings opens device configuration, Scan VST3 plug-ins scans the configured folders, and Windows user guide opens this guide. Add other plug-in folders through Tools.

Each genre template has two choices: Create project loads instruments and empty patterns; Open demo loads editable notes as well. The descriptions and BPM help you choose. Scroll Home to see the remaining templates on a short display.

Give the timeline more room

1. Click Focus timeline or press F6 to hide the browser and editors, including floating panels. This gives the arrangement the available workspace.
2. Click an editor tab when you need to edit notes, sounds or audio. Press F7 to show or hide the current editor and F8 to show or hide the browser.
3. In split view, drag the horizontal divider down to enlarge the timeline or up to enlarge the editor. Double-click it to give each area equal space.
4. Drag the divider beside the browser to change its width. Double-click to restore its default width.

Use the Windows title-bar maximize button or View → Maximize / restore main window to fill the available desktop area.

Focus editor gives the selected editor the workspace. Click Split view to bring the timeline back. View → Balanced workspace shows the browser and docked editor alongside the arrangement. Time and Height controls change zoom within an editor; the dividers change how much screen space it gets. The arrangement has a visible zoom slider. Hold Ctrl while using the mouse wheel over the timeline to zoom around the pointer, or use View → Zoom timeline in / out. Fit arrangement horizontally shows the song width; Make timeline tracks taller / shorter changes the lane height.

Float, dock, hide and restore panels

Each Browser, Piano roll, Sound, Mixer, Audio, Steps, Automation and Routing panel has Float and Hide controls in its header. Float opens a resizable window that you can move independently. Its Dock button returns it to the main workspace. Several different panels can float at the same time.

Closing a floating window hides that panel. It keeps the project and edits intact. Reopen it with View → [panel name] → Show or its editor tab. Each panel’s View submenu also offers Hide, Float in its own window and Dock in workspace. The top-bar Layout button opens the same workspace choices.

For a single laptop screen, keep the editors docked and use F6 to return to the arrangement. Scroll inside compact panels to reach their remaining controls. If you lose track of a panel, choose View → Reset layout and dock all panels.

Sampledex saves panel positions and sizes when it closes and restores them at the next launch. Floating panels are moved onto an available display if a previously used screen is disconnected. Workspace settings are separate from your song.

3. Create and save a project

1. From Home, choose Blank studio, Create project on a genre template, or Open demo. The File menu also provides New project, New from template and Factory demos.
2. Use the browser’s Add Drums, Add Bass / 808, Add Keys or Add Synth buttons for more instruments. Open the Track menu to add, rename or remove tracks, choose instruments and manage effects.
3. Select a track to edit its clips, instrument and mixer controls.
4. Choose Save project or press Ctrl+S.

Move projects between Windows and Mac

Windows Build 65 saves format 13 for the existing Mac Build 51. Open a Windows Build 53 format-14 project in Windows Build 65, then use Save As to create a compatible copy. Windows Build 65 also continues to read supported older projects.

Save the project as .sdxp. Close it, then ZIP the entire .sdxp folder/package for transfer, including Project.sdx and its media. Extract the ZIP on the other computer and open the .sdxp. Do not send only Project.sdx. Keep an untouched backup before updating or transferring work.

Windows row mute/solo is carried into the Mac-readable notes as zero hit probability for inaudible sounds. The notes remain editable. In Windows Steps, right-click a hit and choose Hit chance → 100% to make it play on every pass. On Mac, use the note/step Chance control to change those hits; Mac Build 51 does not have the newer Windows row mute/solo controls. Existing drum-sampler pads carry custom names. Windows keeps supplementary edit-state files with the project so an unchanged return restores its original row settings and note probabilities. If the Mac edits or resaves the project, Windows honors that newer musical document instead of restoring stale settings. Keep a Windows backup when moving work between these versions. For a single-file .sdx project, its adjacent .<filename>.windows-state folder holds the supplementary settings; keep it alongside the file. Using a complete .sdxp package is simpler for transfer.

Sampledex stock sounds travel with their project settings. Third-party instruments and effects need compatible plug-ins installed on both computers. Audio Units are Mac-only; bounce those tracks to audio when sharing with Windows. The project retains unavailable plug-in state, but that plug-in cannot sound until a compatible installation is available.

Use a .sdxp project package for projects with audio. It is a folder containing Project.sdx and the project’s media. Move or back up the whole package. Open project asks whether you want a Project folder (.sdxp) or a Project file (.sdx), then opens the matching Windows picker. Choose the complete package folder, or choose its internal Project.sdx through the file picker. Both open the package and its media.

Save As creates a separate destination. Save checks for changes made to the destination outside Sampledex so it does not silently overwrite a newer project. Keep working copies outside the application’s installation folder.

Keep original takes when sharing

Build 65 saves original recordings and comp choices in the optional RecordingState folder inside a complete .sdxp. Keep that folder and all its contents with Project.sdx, media and any Windows supplemental state. The audible arrangement remains genuine format 13 and can open without the new take editor. Older Mac and Windows builds can play that arrangement, subject to available plug-ins, but cannot edit take lanes they do not support.

A companion is restored only when it matches the musical document. If another app changes the song, Sampledex honors that newer music and preserves stale take material separately for recovery; it does not overwrite the song with old choices. Save As in an older app may omit take metadata it does not understand. Keep the original complete package before using an older app. For embedded .sdx files, keep the adjacent hidden .<filename>.recording-state folder and any .<filename>.windows-state folder with the file; using .sdxp is easier.

Import audio and MIDI

1. Select one or more audio and MIDI files in Windows File Explorer. You can mix file types in the same drop, up to 64 files within the project’s track limits.
2. Drop them on the arrangement at the desired time. The snap grid sets the position, and the files become separate tracks at that position. Dropping elsewhere in Sampledex uses the playhead position. The File menu and browser also provide import commands.
3. Review Import audio and MIDI. The summary shows each file’s audio tempo information or MIDI tracks, tempo and meter events.
4. Leave Project timing → Keep project tempo and meter selected to preserve the current clock. To adopt MIDI timing, explicitly choose Use tempo and meter from [file]. Only that chosen MIDI file supplies the project’s timing over its imported span.
5. Click Import. Wait for completion before editing the new tracks. One Undo removes the entire batch. Use Edit → Undo or Ctrl+Z; read-only filename and status fields do not intercept project Undo. While typing in an editable text field, Undo still edits that text.

Cancel the review or press Escape during preparation to leave the project unchanged. A file that cannot be decoded stops the batch with an error; Sampledex does not publish a partial import. A Sampledex project must be opened on its own rather than mixed into an audio/MIDI drop.

MIDI uses the project clock unless you choose a timing source. Standard MIDI File formats 0 and 1 with ticks-per-quarter-note timing are supported. Format 2 and SMPTE-timed files report an unsupported-format error; export a supported MIDI format from the source application first. Tempo-only files have no importable performance tracks and are rejected. MIDI brings in musical events, not the source application’s instruments or sound.

4. Playback, tempo and time signature

Song plays the arrangement. Pattern auditions the selected MIDI pattern in a repeating loop. Return to Song to hear every track. The transport can show Bars/beats, Clock, Seconds, Samples, 30 fps non-drop Timecode or Time remaining. The arrangement ruler seeks within the song.

Change the tempo

1. Use the BPM field in the transport or the visible tempo picker above the tracks.
2. Choose Fixed for one tempo across the song, or Tempo Map for changes over time.
3. In Tempo Map mode, a BPM edit creates or updates the point at the playhead. Step holds its BPM; Linear and Smooth change it toward the following point.

Tap estimates BPM from repeated taps. The Tempo button opens the graph, where you can add, drag or remove tempo points. Tools includes half/double tempo, constant tempo over a loop and map reset. Tempo-follow audio is prepared after timing changes; watch the status area while it is processing.

Drag to loop a section

1. Find the loop band directly above the tracks, below the section names. Choose the arrangement snap grid.
2. Drag from the start to the end of the section you want to repeat. Release to set the highlighted range and turn on Song looping.
3. Drag either end of the range to resize it. Drag its middle to move the whole range. Shift-drag draws a replacement even when you start inside the existing range. Hold Alt during the drag to ignore snap.
4. Click Play to repeat that section. For recording passes, first configure and arm the tracks, then use main Record with Loop on.
5. Double-click the band, click the transport Loop button, or press L with the timeline focused to stop looping while keeping the range. Right-click the band and choose Clear custom loop to remove the range and turn Loop off.

Ctrl+L with timeline focus creates a loop covering the selected clips. The same command and Loop whole arrangement are in Markers. The band's boundaries and status text show the chosen range; its end is where playback returns to the start. A plain click in the upper section strip or the bar ruler moves the playhead. The loop band stays visible when you scroll through tracks or expanded take lanes.

Escape cancels an unfinished drag. Changing horizontal zoom, scroll position, window layout or project also discards that unfinished range. A finished range edit is one Undo step. Range editing is unavailable during recording or a protected operation. Saved boundaries travel with the project; reopening starts with Loop off, so turn it on when you want repeated playback. Pattern mode separately auditions a source pattern; creating an arrangement loop returns to Song.

Enter an exact loop range

With the timeline focused, press Ctrl+Shift+L, or use Transport → Edit loop range.... Enter Loop start and Loop end as bar.beat.tick, then click Set loop. The end is exclusive: 1.1.0 to 5.1.0 repeats four bars in 4/4. Cancel or Escape leaves the existing range unchanged. If the project changes while the dialog is open, reopen it before setting the range.

Meter and markers

Use Tempo / meter, or Tempo Tools at narrow window sizes, to set a time signature. Markers adds, jumps to and removes markers. Click enables the metronome. Transport → Position display chooses among the six displays; Transport → Recording count-in selects Off, 1 bar or 2 bars.

5. Arrange clips

Double-click an empty area of a MIDI track to create a pattern clip. Select a clip to edit its source pattern below. Pattern clips can share their notes: editing one source updates all linked placements. Use Clip → Make pattern unique before changing only one placement.

Shift-click selects several clips on the same track. The Clip menu provides Copy selected clips, Cut selected clips, Paste clips at playhead, Duplicate selected clips and Delete selected clips. Paste onto a track of the same type; the snap grid sets the paste position. Choose Clip → Join selected clips or press Ctrl+J with the timeline focused to join the selected MIDI patterns or consolidate audio clips. Undo restores the original placements.

Resize clips directly

With Select or Move, point at either clip edge until the resize cursor appears, then drag. Both MIDI and audio have visible edge handles. The snap grid controls the position; audio can extend only into available source material. Drag the clip body when you want to move or Ctrl-drag a copy. The upper audio fade handles retain their fade action. Press Escape before releasing to cancel an unfinished edit.

Duplicate a track

Right-click the track header and choose Duplicate Track, or focus the header and press Ctrl+D. The copy appears directly below it and becomes selected. Clips, independent editable patterns, instrument and effect settings, sampler controls, mix, sends and automation are copied together. One Undo removes the duplicate. Bus destinations remain shared. If copying is unavailable, follow the explanation: unlock or unfreeze the track, restore a separated shared kit, disconnect incoming sidechains or unlink timing groups that span tracks. The project limit is 64 tracks.

Edit fades precisely

Select audio clips and choose Clip → Fades…. Set each end’s duration and curve, choose a duration preset, or use Remove for one end. The 5 ms button applies a Linear de-click fade. Presets fit the shortest selected clip and keep the chosen curve. Switch the preview between Whole clip, Fade in and Fade out to see short fades on long recordings. Where fades overlap, their gains multiply.

Fields marked Mixed stay unchanged unless edited; untouched text retains its stored precision. Apply commits one edit; Cancel retains the project. Hold Alt while dragging a timeline fade handle for fine adjustment.

MIDI notes and pattern controller events move, copy and join with their clips. Track automation stays at its arrangement positions, including imported pitch-bend automation. Review and edit those automation lanes independently after rearranging clips.

The Tools → Timeline tool menu exposes the same editing tools as the arrangement toolbar. The Clip menu includes duplicate, split at playhead, delete and the available audio-processing commands for the selected clip.

Choose the snap grid before editing. Use the visible bar count, zoom, overview and scrollbars to navigate. + 8 bars extends the arrangement. Right-click a clip for commands; Undo restores the previous project state. The arrangement’s Duplicate button or Ctrl+B / Ctrl+D copies selected clips after their end. Right-click a track name or empty track-list space to add a track, import audio/MIDI, load a sample, or delete a track and its clips. Ctrl+Z restores a deleted track.

6. Edit MIDI notes

Select a MIDI clip and open Piano. Click or drag over the vertical piano keys to audition the selected instrument while stopped. Releasing the mouse ends the audition; no notes are added. Drum racks sound only on their mapped pitches. The note grid spans all 128 MIDI pitches; scroll or change Height to reach another register.

Selected groups move together and stay within the pattern and MIDI pitch range. Locked notes are protected. Click the piano roll first, then use Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+C/X/V to copy/cut/paste notes, and Delete to remove selected notes.

Duplicate in the Piano toolbar, Ctrl+B or Ctrl+D copies selected notes immediately after their end. With Select or Draw, hold Ctrl before dragging selected notes to copy them. Up/Down moves notes by one semitone; Shift+Up/Down moves by one octave. Duplication extends the pattern when needed and extends a complete selected clip with it; trimmed clips keep their chosen windows. Linked clips share the new source notes. If the pattern has looping clips, change its length explicitly in Pattern settings before duplicating beyond its end, because that changes the timing of later repetitions. Undo restores the notes and any automatic length change together.

Snap to Scale moves selected unlocked notes to the current key/scale, choosing the lower pitch when both are equally close. It retains timing, velocity and other expression. Scale guide changes the display only. Random Velocity… opens a private draft: choose an integer amount from 0–32 (default 8), then Apply. Results stay within MIDI velocity 1–127. Cancel or amount 0 creates no edit. Changes to the project, pattern, selection or owning Piano window reject an outdated dialog.

Drag the velocity caps below the notes to adjust strength. Selected or hovered caps show their values; the nearest cap is preferred when several notes start together. Relative dragging prevents a click or small pointer jitter from jumping the velocity. Narrow and floating Piano windows keep the full action labels in an extra row.

Quantize pattern aligns notes to the current grid. Tools also quantizes starts, ends or lengths, snaps pitches to the selected scale, transposes by an octave, reverses timing or humanizes velocity. The key and scale controls set the highlighted pitches; highlighting does not itself change notes.

7. Sounds and sampling

The browser contains 74 factory presets. Search by name or choose a category. Load applies a preset to the selected track; when an instrument needs a MIDI destination, Sampledex can create one. Use a preset’s Preview button to hear it without replacing the project instrument. Preview level controls audition volume; Stop preview ends it. Right-click a factory sound to preview, load it, add a new instrument track, or change its favorite state. Factory previews share the song’s playback output and keep their own preview level. Preparing preview identifies a waiting request; Stop cancels it or ends a playing preview. Choosing another preset replaces the waiting request. Hiding the browser or changing the project stops the preview. Opening the playback device for the first sound can still take time, depending on its driver. Click the star to save a favorite and choose Favorites only to narrow the list. Project Patterns places an existing pattern, and Files navigates local folders for audio, MIDI and projects.

The Sound tab opens the selected instrument editor or a sampler inspector. For a melodic sample or drum pad, set the root note, tuning, gain, pan, envelope and playback options. Loop and One-shot control playback. Source and loop range fields specify the retained sample region.

Load sample / Drum pad and Track → Load sample into selected sound use the same import controls. Select the destination pad before loading a drum sample. New drum samples use their trigger pitch as Root and Tune 0 to retain their recorded speed. Existing melodic samplers keep their root mapping; play that note to hear the source at original pitch. Enable Keep root / tune on replacement to retain deliberate tuning. The source filename, including its extension for new imports, appears in the copyable source field; melodic track and Mixer labels also show it. Old projects retain their existing names. Loading a sample into a synth drum instrument replaces the entire instrument with a single sampled sound; choose a sampler rack to replace individual pads while keeping the rest of the kit.

After a sample loads, Sampledex opens Sound, displays its source filename and confirms the MIDI pitch to play. Click Audition sample to hear it without starting the song; click Stop audition to release it. Audition follows the track’s mute, solo, effects and routing. It also releases the note after ten seconds, when you change sounds or when Sound is hidden. Apply or Revert pending sampler settings before auditioning.

On a narrow panel, controls wrap into a vertical list; scroll to reach the source, loop and envelope controls. Sampler edits remain pending until Apply; Revert reloads the saved settings. Apply affects the selected instrument or pad. If that sound changes elsewhere while you are typing, Sampledex keeps your exact unfinished text and disables Apply. Use Reload current sound to discard that draft and display the current sound; Reload adds no Undo edit. Select an unlocked MIDI track before loading a sample. A drum rack’s pad selector chooses the pad being edited.

8. Build a beat

1. Select a MIDI track and its pattern, then open Steps.
2. Choose a sound row. Drum instruments show their pad names; other instruments show note names. Rename row... gives a pitch your own name. Leave the name blank to restore its instrument name.
3. Click a step to add a hit; click it again to remove it. Shift-click selects a hit without toggling it.
4. Use the Bar selector, arrow buttons or numbered tabs to edit another bar. The selector shows the current and total bars; hover over a numbered tab for its meter and partial-bar status. Beat divisions and the number of sixteenth-note cells follow the pattern’s time signature.
5. Start playback to see the active step. Enable Follow playhead to follow the playing source bar; choosing a bar manually turns this off.

Hear and balance each sound

Each row has > to audition its pitch, M to mute it, S to solo it within the instrument, and ... to open its sound settings. The lower Sound... button opens the selected row’s sound. Row names, mute and solo are saved with the track and apply across its patterns. Separated drum parts share these controls with their kit’s instrument. Muting keeps the notes available for editing.

Row mute and solo work with sounding MIDI pitches. Transposed shared drum parts retain their correct pad controls. For an ordinary instrument track with transposed clips, row mute and solo are disabled; use the Mixer for track mute and solo.

Velocity and swing

Drag an active step up or down to change its velocity. Release to keep the change as one Undo step. The velocity lane below the grid edits existing hits on the selected row. You can also select a hit and set Velocity numerically from 1 to 127; with no hit selected, this sets the level for new hits. Locked hits retain their values.

Set Swing from 0 to 75%, then click Apply swing. This edits eligible notes throughout the shared pattern, not just the visible bar. Zero is straight timing; the percentage is the delay applied to alternate sixteenth-note steps. Applying the same amount again does not keep moving those steps later. Locked notes and notes that do not lie on the nominal step grid are preserved. Existing note ends are retained, so a delay that cannot fit a note is rejected; reduce swing or lengthen that note in Piano.

Copy bars and change pattern length

The Steps message identifies the copied source and the selected destination bar. Paste bar replaces the destination’s notes and controllers; Undo restores it. If the displayed pattern changed before a command could finish, check the refreshed bar and try again.

These edits affect every placement linked to the source pattern. Use Make unique first for an independent variation. Each completed operation is one Undo step. When changing the length, a selected placement showing the complete source follows the new length; trimmed or looping placements keep their own arrangement windows. Other linked placements keep their existing windows.

Work on one screen

Opening Steps gives its grid more initial height; the workspace divider remains adjustable. Compact reduces row height; short panels use compact rows automatically. Used sounds shows pitches used anywhere in the current pattern; turn it off to add another sound. Scroll vertically for more rows. Use Shift+mouse wheel, a horizontal trackpad gesture or the horizontal scrollbar when a bar has more cells than fit. Focus Steps docks a floating Steps panel if needed, hides the browser and gives the editor more room; Split view restores the divided workspace. If the grid is too short to work comfortably, use Focus Steps or enlarge the editor with the workspace divider. Use Piano for detailed pitches, note lengths, off-grid timing and note locks.

Hit chance

Right-click an existing hit and use Hit chance to choose 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%. Zero is silent and keeps the note; 100% plays on every pass. A zero-chance hit is dimmed and shows 0% when space allows. Locked hits cannot be changed. Each change is one Undo step.

Use the keyboard in Steps

Click the grid or a row name to focus Steps. Arrow keys move the selected row or cell and scroll it into view without changing notes. Enter toggles the selected hit; Delete or Backspace removes it. Page Up / Page Down changes bars, Home / End selects the first or last step in the visible range, and F2 renames the selected row. Ctrl/Cmd shortcuts keep their application-wide behavior; use the bar buttons to copy or paste a bar. Text fields retain their normal typing controls.

9. Edit audio clips

Import audio and MIDI from File Explorer, the browser, File commands or the Audio tab. Select the audio track and use the Audio tab’s clip selector to choose the clip.

• Start bar / Move clip: move the clip to a musical position.
• Source offset / Length / Apply trim: set the portion of the source to retain.
• Duplicate after: place a copy immediately after the selected clip.
• Lock clip: protect it from edits; unlock before changing it.
• Fade in / Fade out: set fades in seconds.
• Reverse, Normalize and Split: process or divide the clip.
• Processing tools: slip the source, change gain, repeat, stretch or revert processing.

Scroll the Audio panel to reach all controls at smaller window sizes. Choosing a processing operation sets its amount to a useful starting value; check that amount before applying it. Revert does not use an amount.

Source tempo and original playback speed

Imported audio keeps its original speed. Sampledex reads embedded tempo tags when available, otherwise estimates the pulse from a bounded part of the audio. The import review and Audio editor distinguish metadata, an estimate, an uncertain estimate and unknown tempo. Unknown tempo leaves the Source BPM field blank. An estimate can be half or double the intended BPM, especially for sparse or changing rhythms; listen and verify it.

Use Analyze tempo to analyze the selected clip again, or enter the known source BPM manually. Only clicking Follow BPM adapts that clip to the project’s timing. Entering a number or importing a file does not itself stretch the audio or change project tempo. The source timing of a clip already following tempo is retained in the project. Detailed beat-marker editing is still a difference from the macOS editor.

Imported tempo tags and estimates are cached for the current app session. After restarting Sampledex, a fixed-speed clip may show unknown source tempo; use Analyze tempo again or enter its BPM. Saved Follow BPM timing remains part of the project.

Full-file imports are limited to two hours, mono or stereo, and 8–192 kHz. Oversized recordings are rejected rather than silently truncated. WAV and AIFF are the most predictable interchange formats; compressed support depends on the decoder and Windows codecs.

10. Mix and route

Open Mixer for track, bus and return strips. Master stays in its own column while channels scroll horizontally. Volume, pan, mute, solo and meters are at the top; short strips use horizontal level controls to keep the mix visible. Scroll below these controls for instruments, inserts and channel routing. Click an instrument to open its editor. Click an insert for a menu with Open editor, Toggle bypass and Remove insert.

Click Sends in the Mixer header to show or hide the selected track’s sends below the strips. The count in the button shows how many sends the track has. Drag a send to hear its level change during playback; release to keep one Undo step, or enter a level in decibels. Send headings show Pre/Post, Off and Read state. Read automation controls its fader while active; turn the lane Off or edit its points before adjusting the level manually. The send area scrolls when more sends are present.

Open Routing to add buses and returns, change a channel’s output, and create or edit sends. Post-fader sends follow the source fader; pre-fader sends do not. Sidechain sends feed a compatible effect’s detector input. Invalid feedback routes are rejected. Shared reverb and delay returns start fully wet.

Built-in effect controls

Built-in plug-in editors group controls by purpose and show their values and units. Dynamics editors include a numeric gain-reduction readout. Third-party VST3 plug-ins retain their own editors where provided.

Boost into Sampledex Limiter

1. Open Sampledex Limiter from its Mixer insert.
2. Click Add input gain. A visible Limiter input gain effect is inserted immediately before the limiter. It uses one of the channel's eight insert slots.
3. Adjust Input gain from 0 to +24 dB. Zero adds no boost; double-click resets to zero. Watch gain reduction while setting the limiter's Ceiling and Release.

The added effect is the existing stock compressor at Ratio 1:1 and Mix 100%. This keeps its sound readable and savable by older Mac and Windows apps without changing the limiter's saved format. It is a separate insert: limiter presets and A/B do not change this input gain.

Bypassing, removing or reordering Limiter input gain changes the signal path. Keep that stage directly before its own limiter, with Ratio 1:1 and Mix 100%, to keep the linked knob available. If you change those compressor settings, the editor asks you to restore them rather than resetting them silently.

11. Automation

1. Select the destination track and open Automation. Press A with the timeline or track header focused to show a compact lane; click its heading to open the full lane controls.
2. Create a Volume, Pan, Modulation or Pitch bend lane.
3. Click the graph to add a point. Drag a point to adjust time and value; right-click to remove it.
4. Choose Linear, Hold or Smooth for a point’s transition to the next point.
5. Enable the lane’s Read mode to hear it during playback.

The toolbar wraps when the panel is narrow so Read and Delete remain available. Switching tracks changes the available lanes. Creating plug-in parameter and send automation from this interface remains a difference from the macOS application; existing saved lanes still use the shared playback engine.

12. Record MIDI and audio

The main Record button records all armed tracks together. Use it for MIDI, mono or stereo audio, simultaneous inputs, count-in, loop takes and punch. Track headers and track strips in Mixer have an R arm button and a Monitor/Input button that shows Auto, On, Off or No input. An armed R stays visibly highlighted while recording, even though arming controls are temporarily unavailable. Timeline and Mixer arm buttons expose their armed or disarmed checked state to accessibility tools. A disabled or rejected arm action leaves the indicator matched to the actual track.

First MIDI recording

1. Select an unlocked MIDI track with an instrument. Click its Auto / Monitor button.
2. Choose your MIDI device, Default MIDI input, or Computer / on-screen keyboard only. Use Hardware channel to accept all channels or one channel from 1–16. This filters incoming hardware; it does not change the instrument’s output channel. On a Launchkey, choose the musical MIDI port; DAW, InControl or MIDIIN2 ports are usually for control surfaces.
3. Click the track’s R button to arm it. Keep Monitor: Auto to hear the armed track.
4. Set the playhead and choose Transport → Recording count-in → Off, 1 bar or 2 bars. The main recorder applies this count-in to both MIDI and audio.
5. Press Record, play, then press Stop or Finish take. Wait for the take to finish preparing. Play it back and save your project.

Hardware MIDI routing works with the Live keyboard window closed. Open Live keyboard to use the computer/on-screen keys or choose the default input. Computer keys audition the selected eligible track independently of the hardware destinations. With nothing armed, Record arms the selected eligible track; an audio track still needs an explicit input first.

First audio recording

1. Allow desktop microphone access in Windows Settings and create or select an unlocked audio track. Use headphones when recording through a microphone.
2. Click the track’s No input / Monitor button. Open your interface’s submenu and select a named Mono channel or Stereo pair. No microphone is selected by default.
3. Click R to arm the track. Choose Monitor: Auto to hear it through Sampledex while armed. Check the interface’s input level before recording.
4. To record several inputs, repeat on other audio tracks using channels from the same interface. You can also arm MIDI tracks.
5. Set the playhead and optional Recording count-in, then press main Record. Press Stop or Finish take and wait until the retained take appears.

Audio is captured dry. Software monitoring passes it through the track’s effects, sends, buses and Master, so you can hear processing while preserving the original input. Windows input uses WASAPI shared mode; ASIO input is not included. The driver must expose the channels you need. One input interface is supported per live session, with at most 64 audio and 64 MIDI destinations and a two-hour capture limit.

Choose how to monitor

If your interface provides direct monitoring, use it with Sampledex monitoring Off, or disable direct monitoring and use Sampledex monitoring. Hearing both can double the signal. Smaller playback buffers reduce software monitoring delay, while large buffers and effects can increase it. The audio input menu shows an estimated monitoring latency when active; check the result with your own hardware.

Opening an input list does not activate the microphone. Explicit Arm/Monitor/input actions can activate a configured input for monitoring; Record activates the inputs needed for capture, including armed Monitor Off tracks. Arm, monitor, per-track routes and recording setup are workspace-session choices. They reset when opening another project, so that project cannot automatically activate a microphone from the previous session. Review them after reopening.

Inline takes and preview

Click Expand takes (+) in the original track’s header to expand its recorded passes. During recording, held MIDI notes grow and audio waveform previews appear beneath their destinations. Select a retained lane and click Audition to hear that pass through its original track, instrument, effects and routing. This does not save a new comp or add Undo history. Stop Preview restores the prior playhead and song loop. Escape also stops take preview. Use the normal transport Stop to stop playback.

Use Take applies the full pass. Drag across a take lane, then click Use Phrase to choose a smaller range. Linked recording destinations change together. Exact… opens that group’s detailed phrase and crossfade editor, which also offers Audition take. Applying creates one Undo edit. Escape from the selected lane cancels pending apply or preview work. A click between grid lines still selects the whole take; drag to choose a phrase. Changing horizontal zoom cancels an unfinished drag or selected phrase and restores Use Take. Follow the status message and select the phrase again before applying it. Ordinary note/clip edits and later comp choices retain the original takes. Restore a deleted original track before reusing its takes; Sampledex will not send them to a different instrument.

Record loop passes

1. Choose the timeline loop you want to perform over. For example, select a clip and use the Markers loop command. Recording Setup displays the resolved loop; without a custom loop it uses the arrangement range.
2. Open Transport → Recording Setup…. Set Maximum passes (1–256). The panel reports the current main Loop state. Reduce the pass limit if the combined duration would exceed two hours.
3. Click Apply setup, enable the main Loop button, arm the destinations and press Record. Capture starts at the loop’s beginning after the selected count-in.
4. Perform successive versions. Stop when finished, or let the pass limit finish capture. Available complete and partial passes are retained. The latest common usable pass is placed for linked destinations.
5. Open Transport → Take Lanes & Comp… to choose an earlier pass or combine phrases.

Choose phrases from takes

1. In Take Lanes & Comp, choose a Recording group. The list shows destination track names and pass counts; new recordings also include their date and time. Linked destinations in a group change together.
2. Click a take name for its available range, or drag a phrase in its lane. For precise choices, enter From and to, choose the pass, and click Choose phrase. Positions are relative to the recording; the end is exclusive. Audio offers Seconds or Source frames; MIDI offers Quarter notes or Musical ticks.
3. Choose Silence explicitly when a phrase should contain no performance. A missing input is not automatically treated as silence. A partial pass can supply only its available range.
4. For audio, set Crossfade (ms), choose Linear, Equal power, Slow or Fast, and click Set crossfades. Zero removes crossfades; other fades must fit the neighboring source phrases.
5. Click Apply comp (or Ctrl+Enter). Sampledex prepares the result and retains originals before applying one Undo edit. Play the result. Undo/Redo restores the music and take choices together.

Phrase and fade selections are a private draft until Apply comp. An untouched editor refreshes after Solo/Mute, Undo/Redo or a new recording. If you have typed a range or changed a pass, fade or phrase, a later project change preserves your exact text and disables Apply and Recording group changes. Read the message, then use Reload project choices to discard that draft and work from the current project. Reload also resets the private fade fields to 5 ms and Linear; it does not change the accepted comp. When the draft is current, changing the Recording group discards its unapplied choices. Closing an idle editor keeps its draft while that project/editor remains available; it does not save it. During processing, Cancel processing keeps the private draft for retry. Closing the window with X during processing cancels and discards that draft. If you reopen immediately, wait for processing to finish; the retained groups and controls then return. Both cancellation paths keep the accepted project and original takes. If Undo removed all recorded takes, Reload clears the editor without restoring the undone recording or changing Undo/Redo.

A recovered group may already contain a proposed comp that has not been made audible. When the summary says retained take, Apply to hear, you can click Apply comp without first changing its phrases. Inspect and listen to the result before using it.

Punch in a replacement phrase

1. Open Transport → Recording Setup… and enable Punch in / out.
2. Enter Punch in: bar.beat.tick and Punch out: exclusive, or click Use timeline selection / Use timeline loop. Bars and beats begin at 1; ticks begin at 0. For one bar in 4/4, 1.1.0 to 2.1.0 covers bar 1.
3. Keep the range inside the arrangement. With the main Loop button enabled, the punch must also fit inside the recording loop. Review the Capture summary, then click Apply setup.
4. Place the playhead before punch-in if you want playback lead-in. Arm the tracks and press Record. Only the punch range is retained for replacement; the punch-out position itself is outside the range.
5. Wait for publication, then listen before, through and after the replaced phrase. Supported surrounding notes, audio offsets and expression remain intact. Undo returns to the previous project and take choices.

Some sustain/controller boundaries or crossing audio fades cannot be replaced safely. Sampledex reports the reason and retains the captured originals instead of silently changing surrounding music. Adjust the range and retry, or save a recovery copy.

If a recording cannot be placed

Wait for capture and storage cleanup to finish. If capture was interrupted and usable originals remain, Sampledex attempts to save them in a recovery project automatically. A successful save reports the reason and full package path, leaves the current arrangement unchanged and makes editing available again. Sampledex also tries to restore MIDI monitoring; resolve any remaining input warning before recording again.

If that recovery save fails, the originals stay retained and Finish take remains available. Resolve the reported storage problem, then click Finish take to retry. If ordinary placement was cancelled or rejected, follow the status message to retry placement or choose Transport → Save retained recording recovery…. Keep Sampledex open until the retained material has been saved successfully.

Save your current work before opening the complete recovery package at the reported path. Use Take Lanes & Comp to inspect its available passes and apply a usable comp. Disk-write failure, disconnected inputs, stale project edits or a plug-in latency change can prevent a mixed take from being published; an incomplete recording is not reported as a completed take. Captured MIDI may remain recoverable when an audio capture fails, but unfinished audio from that failed capture is unavailable. Read the recovery message before continuing.

Save after a successful take or comp. Paired saving, autosave and project history retain the accepted song with its take state. Protected original and failed/cancelled recovery copies can accumulate outside automatic history limits; check the reported folders before deleting any material. Save As to a new package when an external-change or uncertain-save message prevents an ordinary save.

If Sampledex reports a limit of 64 retained recording groups from earlier edits, save the project successfully, then close and reopen the saved project before continuing. Save archives the originals but does not clear the open session’s backlog. If Save fails, keep the project open so those takes remain available. Do not delete original media to work around this limit.

Quick audio take

Transport → Quick audio take retains the earlier single-input recorder. Configure it through Audio / MIDI → Recording input and Recording channels. It starts without count-in and imports a completed WAV into an audio track. If the input disconnects, reports an error or changes during capture, the interrupted take is not added as complete. When a usable recorded portion remains, the message gives its WAV path; import that file and check its timing before using it. If import fails after a normal stop, the message reports the retained raw WAV path. Use main Record for armed tracks, shared MIDI/audio timing, monitoring, loop takes and punch.

Recorded MIDI limits

Notes, supported controllers and pitch bend can be retained. Polyphonic aftertouch, channel pressure and program changes may be heard live but are not retained as recorded pattern expression; the app reports unsupported events. A pass containing no notes, controllers or pitch bend is not retained as a new MIDI performance. Use the comp editor’s explicit Silence choice for a silent phrase.

13. Use VST3 plug-ins

Install a Windows x64 VST3 edition of the plug-in. Open Audio / MIDI to manage scan folders, then run the scan. The scanner runs separately so a failing vendor scan can be stopped without running it inside the main app.

Load an instrument onto a MIDI track or add an effect to a track, bus, return or master. Apply changes in the editor as required before saving or changing the project. Missing plug-in identities remain in the project and are reported during playback.

An external instrument’s own editor keyboard can sound while transport is stopped. It follows the same track, effects and mixer routing as playback and respects mute/solo. Closing the editor leaves a release tail of up to ten seconds. If preset capture fails, the editor stays open so you can retry without losing the sounding state.

Audio Units, VST2 and macOS plug-in binaries do not run in this Windows build. The supplied macOS Indie collection binaries are excluded; use available Windows editions separately.

14. Export and share

Open File → Export or use the Export button. Choose Song, Loop / selection, Stems or Advanced routing export. Each audio dialog offers WAV, AIFF and stereo MP3. MIDI/MIDI stems export notes and controller data.

1. Choose Sources: the complete song, chosen tracks, buses/returns, selected clips or an active pattern loop. The track checklist supports one or several sources.
2. Choose Output: one combined stereo mix or separate source stems. Song mix honors the current Mute/Solo state. Explicit selected sources start with independent Mute/Solo handling; review the checkbox before export.
3. Choose the format and rate. WAV offers 24-bit PCM or 32-bit float; AIFF is 24-bit PCM. Both support 44.1, 48 or 96 kHz. MP3 supports 320, 256, 192 or 128 kbps at 44.1 or 48 kHz.
4. Review the range, effect tail and wet/dry, returns, sidechain and Master options. Bus/return capture is taken before downstream Master processing. A tail of 0, 1, 2, 5 or 10 seconds retains reverb or delay after the range.
5. Choose the destination and wait for the saved-file confirmation. The file extension follows the chosen format. Separate stems create a new delivery folder with numbered filenames, Bounce.txt and source-arrangement.json.

Quick MP3 presets

File → Export → Quick MP3 (320 kbps) opens the same settings with Song mix, All-track stems, Selected-track stems or Active pattern loop selected. Selected-track stems starts with the focused track checked; select more sources in the checklist as needed. Active pattern loop exports its full source length using the selected placement’s musical context. Its default tail is zero, so one pattern cycle is retained. You may change bitrate, rate and processing before choosing the destination.

MP3 is lossy and clips peaks outside full scale; it does not normalize loudness. Keep your project and a WAV master for future production. External delivery renders the captured project and publishes completed files together. Cancelling, a render failure or a changed destination prevents publication of that incomplete delivery.

Bounce a track inside your project

Select the track and choose Track → Bounce selected track to audio. This renders its effects and routing to a new audio track using retained 32-bit float WAV. MP3 is available only for external delivery. The original remains editable and is muted after a successful bounce; master processing stays live. Choose a sample rate and effect tail, then wait for the new track. One Undo restores the state before the bounce.

Sampledex stops the bounce if muting the source would change a sidechain detector, or if shared bus/return effects process it together with another unmuted source. Use Freeze instrument for a MIDI instrument, or export a WAV while keeping the original routing active.

Audio export renders the instruments and effects. MIDI files contain musical events; they do not carry VST3 software or its sound. A MIDI file export also creates a companion .json file with arrangement and routing reference information. Keep the exported pair together. Share the complete .sdxp folder when another Sampledex user needs the editable project and its audio.

15. Keyboard shortcuts

Press F1 or choose Help → Keyboard shortcuts for a searchable, scrollable reference. Search by a key or command name. Click the timeline or a track header before using timeline shortcuts.

Editable text fields handle typing and text-editing shortcuts. Read-only filenames and status fields leave Undo/Redo with the project. File dialogs, plug-in editors and the performance keyboard retain their own input. Timeline commands do not replace the different Home/End/F2 behavior in Steps or pitch navigation in Piano.

16. Troubleshooting and current limits

The Windows interface follows the original Sampledex workspace, but some native workflows remain incomplete: detailed warp-marker editing, direct marker dragging, full section editing, plug-in/send automation creation and parts of native accessibility. Main recording supports audio/MIDI count-in; Quick audio take remains a separate recorder without count-in. This guide describes the available Windows controls rather than assuming every macOS command is present.

Build 65 release checks must cover loop gestures and shortcuts, local synthetic interface/engine tests, paired save/recovery, and bidirectional loop-range compatibility through the preserved format-13 codec. These documentation updates do not establish that those checks or the release workflow have completed. The manual Windows workflow compiles and tests the Windows app, validates the complete download, and checks installation, upgrade and uninstall before publishing its artifact. Local checks are not a substitute for that native Windows verification. Build 62 also checks Windows persistence against the five supplied producer projects after their native Mac Build 62 Save, Save As and embedded/package conversions. These local checks do not establish physical Windows device behavior or a round trip through both installed applications. Check the manual workflow’s results for native Windows build/installer status. Hardware input, monitoring latency, unplug/reconnect, long sessions and real two-app exchange still need testing on the target computers.

View 1–64 bars in Steps

Use the View selector to show 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 bars together. The default is four bars. View zoom changes only what is visible. Use Length… to change the actual pattern length. Short patterns show their existing bars without adding empty music.

The bar selector and numbered tabs choose the active bar. Clicking a step or moving the keyboard selection into another bar makes that bar active for Copy bar, Paste bar and Clear bar. Beat headings show bar and beat when space allows. Zoom in to edit individual hits in a dense overview. Follow playhead advances the visible range when playback leaves it. Duplicate +bar appends a copy of the active bar.