What are Transient Markers?

Transient Markers in Logic are similar to other ‘recycling’ markers found in apps like Recycle, Live and iZotope’s pHatmatic Pro. Essentially they are a timing reference within an audio file referring to a start and end point within the audio file. Transient Markers in Logic don’t actually destructively split the file into ’slices’ they just point to where the ’slice’ should begin playing and where it should stop.

They are generated in all of these apps by algorithms that detect the transient peaks in a waveform effectively splitting the audio into it’s individual elements.

This concept of Transient Markers has been around for a while at Apple in the form of the Apple Loops Utility which is the application that is used to create (yep!) Apple Loops. Although similar in concept to the REX file format created by Propellerheads, Apple Loops work in a different way as they essentially ’stretch’ the slices defined by the transient markers whereas REX files simply play back the slice at its original pitch independent of tempo.