diff --git a/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSampleVoice.swift b/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSampleVoice.swift
index 14a2b9ae6a..b284c99b39 100644
--- a/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSampleVoice.swift
+++ b/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSampleVoice.swift
@@ -385,7 +385,9 @@ final class MenuBandSampleVoice {
 
     private func trimmedStartFrame(scratch: AVAudioPCMBuffer, frames: Int) -> Int {
         guard let data = scratch.floatChannelData?[0], frames > 0 else { return 0 }
-        let window = 128
+        let window = 256
+        let requiredHotWindows = 2
+        var hotWindows = 0
         var i = 0
         while i < frames {
             let end = min(frames, i + window)
@@ -396,7 +398,12 @@ final class MenuBandSampleVoice {
             }
             let rms = sqrt(sumSq / Float(end - i))
             if rms >= trimThreshold {
-                return max(0, i - trimPrerollFrames)
+                hotWindows += 1
+                if hotWindows >= requiredHotWindows {
+                    return max(0, i - window * (requiredHotWindows - 1) - trimPrerollFrames)
+                }
+            } else {
+                hotWindows = 0
             }
             i += window
         }
diff --git a/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSynth.swift b/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSynth.swift
index 0177c3c895..cb58352600 100644
--- a/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSynth.swift
+++ b/Sources/MenuBand/MenuBandSynth.swift
@@ -726,6 +726,8 @@ final class MenuBandSynth {
         NSLog("MenuBand SampleVoice: synth startSampleRecording (playbackEngineRunning=\(engine.isRunning))")
         _ = resumeAudioEngineIfNeeded()
         sampleRecordingActive = true
+        sampleVoice.setOutputEnabled(false)
+        sampleVoice.panic()
         sampleVoice.startRecording()
     }
 
@@ -738,6 +740,9 @@ final class MenuBandSynth {
         let ok = sampleVoice.stopRecording()
         sampleRecordingActive = false
         onSampleLevel?(0)
+        if usingSampleBackend {
+            sampleVoice.setOutputEnabled(true)
+        }
         NSLog("MenuBand SampleVoice: synth stopSampleRecording result usable=\(ok)")
         scheduleIdleSuspendIfNeeded()
         return ok