Stutter as a pathological phenomenon in human speech manifests itself – among other things – in the so-called ‘clonic’ stuttering, in which word sounds are repeated uncontrollably in a choppy manner. Stutter is associated with nervousness or uncertainty without explicitly addressing the medical background.

In the history of pop songs, its deliberate use can be found in many places. In the most common cases, consonants are rhythmized. In My Generation by The Who (1965) or Elton John's Bennie And The Jets (1973), this effect can be found in the rhythmic design of a consonant at the beginning of a word. In the song You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974), stuttering is prominently simulated in the chorus. This is a compilation of these songs.

In the analog era until the 1980s, the stutter effect was achieved by slicing audio tapes. With the advent of hardware samplers like the Ensoniq Mirage (1984), digital sample cuts were possible. DAWs further facilitated this at times painstaking task. Today, presets deliver an easy application of the stutter effect.

The developers of plug-ins for DAWs have responded to a time-consuming process by providing software that not only speeds up and automates the process of stuttering, but also adds creative effects.

Another creative application practice is fragmentary playing and thereby cutting off samples on a midi device.