What is a Stinger Asset?

Stingers are one-shot sounds that play in a musical context. They can play and can start in sync with an arrangement. Stingers are often used to:

• Highlight events while a looping arrangement is playing.
• Help with segue transitions or play motifs.
• Act as intros/starts, outros/endings.
• Seamlessly bridge two arrangements in sync with the beat.
   
• NB! Stingers don’t always need to be tied to an arrangement or follow a beat. They can also be triggered freely at any point.

Add a Stinger Variation 

Stinger audio files are pre-produced audio assets that are imported into an Elias project like any other audio file, then dragged into a Stinger Variation Slots.

• Add a new stinger variation via the “+” button below the last slot. There is no limit to the number of variations.
• Pickup: sets the amount of time a stinger should play before the agility point.
  • Example: If a stinger is a drum fill that should begin just before the first beat of the bar, set the pickup to the desired value.
• The behavior of stingers with pickups during arrangement segues is controlled by the “If Arrangement Does a Segue” setting 

Stinger Settings

Stinger settings are located in the Inspector on the right side of the Stinger Arrangement View.

Free Tempo vs Fixed Tempo vs Arrangement specific settings

NB! Currently only Free Tempo is available.

Segue Settings

Agility

Defines when a stinger can play, whether by itself or alongside an arrangement.

• If the stinger is independent, it will play immediately when triggered.

Options:

• Bar – Segues allowed on bars.
• Beat – Segues allowed on beats.
• Anytime – Ignores musical timing and triggers immediately.
• Custom – Define exact bars and beats where segues are allowed.

Create Tonal Stingers

• When using Custom Agility, tonal stingers can be created to ensure they always stay harmonized with looping arrangements. 
• By defining tonal variations and when they are allowed to play, stingers will always match musically.

Allow Playback

Controls whether a stinger can play in all states or only at specific ones.

Options:

• During all states – Ignores state restrictions.
• When state < – Allowed if the current state is below the specified state.
• When state > – Allowed if the current state is above the specified state.
• When state = – Allowed only if the current state equals the specified state.
• State – Defines the state to which the rule applies.

Silence Arrangement

NB! Currently not available.

Selection Strategy: Variation

Applies at the stinger asset level, and includes the following Options:

• Random – Picks a random variation.
• Sequential – Plays variations in order, starting at the first. Loops back to the start after all variations are played.
• Shuffle – Random order, without repeating until all variations are used. The list is reshuffled after each full cycle.
• NB! If an arrangement instance is destroyed and restarted, shuffle memory is reset and variations may repeat.

General Asset Settings

If Arrangement Does a Segue:

• Segue Together (Stinger Master) – Stinger forces arrangement to segue in sync with its agility.
• Segue Together (Arrangement Master) – Arrangement forces stinger to follow its agility.
• Ignore Arrangement Segue – Stinger and arrangement each follow their own agility rules independently. Useful when stingers should remain in sync with the arrangement tempo without sharing segue timing.