Stutter Edit

The stutter edit (a form of Granular synthesis) is a musical production technique, most often known for its use in electronic music, in which fragments of audio are repeated in rhythmic intervals. Stutter edits not only occur as the common 16th note repetition, but also as 64th notes and beyond. Stutter edits can go beyond 2,048th notes and can be measured in milliseconds. Above a certain point, these repetitions transition from rhythmic to tonal frequencies, making musical notes out of the repeated audio. These extremely short, fast groups of notes are often placed into the spacing of an eighth or sixteenth note in an otherwise “normal” bar, creating rhythmic accenting and patterns that call attention to a particular section. These patterns can be placed at the beginning of a bar, or towards the end for a more syncopated sound.

Electronic musician Brian Transeau has patented a live-performance audio plugin in which samples are reorganized, broken down, and spliced together, then given a rhythm and time signature. The audio plugin is named "Stutter Edit" and was co-released by iZotope and Sonik Architects.