Best music slow down program?

[polishpaul]

 

It's become a big thread!

 

No excuse for missing it now, though.

[Dubinvero]

This is a great thread. I noticed that the original question by Symphonyofdream has somewhat gotten lost. "Whats the best music slow downer that effects the quality of the recording the least? I've tried a couple and they were decent but anything slower then 50 percent was pretty bad quality" It would appear that the consensus of the posters is that Transcribe is the best transcription software.

 

Like Symphonyofdream I have been searching for the best audio quality slow down package. I have demoed a number of packages including Transcribe. Of the products I tried the "Amazing Slow Downer" (ASD) had by far the best quality slowed down audio quality. The only thing that came close was The Sonic Visualiser which is free.

 

For me the two most important criteria are (1) sound quality, (2) an attractive user interface and (3) the abilty to record the slowed down loop to CD. The Amazing Slow Downer has the best sound and allows for export of the processed sound for burning to CD. Unfortuneately, ASD has a bare bones interface. One has to specify time segments to select a loop. The best user interface I found was Guitar and Drum Trainer Version 4. Transcribe has an excellent user interface. The new Song Surgeon Version 3 promises to have a good user interface. Riffmaster Pro 3 has a good user interface.

 

I probably demoed a total of ten products. Unless I find something with audio quality equal to Amazing Slow Downer with a better user interface my plan is to purchase ASD for $49 and use Sonic Visualiser to determine the start and stop points of the loops I want to slow down.

 

My compliments to Eddie for his informative posts on this topic. You Tube has reviews of Amazing Slow Downer, Riffmaster Pro 3 and Transcribe.

 

Now it's back to practicing "Jerry's Breakdown" at slow speed.

 

Derek

[Eddie]

I'll add another option for Mac users: DSP Quattro.

 

It's main purpose is not really as a slow down program, but it has that feature and the sound quality is pretty good except for extreme settings.

http://www.i3net.it/dspquattro/asp/features.asp

 

It's currently on sale at 50% off, and cross-grades from selected products are as low as $45. I emailed them on Saturday with my audio editor information, and got a friendly reply on Sunday!

It does have a bit of a learning curve, but it's a very powerful tool. They offer a demo with some limitations (e.g., saving). I don't know how long the sale will last, since it was supposed to be over on Dec 31.

[Dubinvero]

I finally got to demo Song Surgeon 3 and was very impressed. It has excellent quality slowed down audio, a fully featured intuitive user interface and lets you export the processed files. Although it was priced at $79 I was happy to purchase it because it was the only product that did everything I wanted.

 

There are two versions of the product. I bought the Pro version. You can see all of the features of this Pro version demoed in a series of help videos on the Song Surgeon website. They provide a 4 hours of actual use fully featured demo download. When you are not using the program, you should turn it off so you don't run out the clock on the demo.

 

Now it's back to practicing loop 1 of "Jerry's Breakdown" at 60% speed.

 

Derek

[Eddie]

The sound samples are pretty good on that one Derek, thanks for mentioning it.

Too bad there's no Mac version with the newer features. It seems to have some of the capabilities that DSP Quattro has, and apparently 3.1 will add some more transcription features. Seems pretty good.

[JonR]

I agree - looks like a serious challenge to Transcribe. The interface looks very similar, and I like the editing capabilities, which Transcribe doesn't have (although they're only on the more expensive pro version of SS3). Of course if the sound quality is better that's another big plus. I don't think there's enough there to make me switch, but it's good to know about. I may try the demo...

(Of course, hopefully the next version of Transcribe wil include similar enhancements...)

[Eddie]

I'll add yet another program that has the ability to slow down audio: Reaper.

Some of the positive things about Reaper:

Price. A license now starts at $40 and includes all version 3 and 4 updates, or $60 and includes all version 4 and 5 updates.

Quality. The audio after slow down is pretty good.

Ability to use different effects per clip or audio segment and not just per track. This means that I could slow down the audio and apply eq. just to a specific section of the audio. That's an amazing feature IMO. I've only tried it with Waves Q10 and it crashed Reaper every time. I'll try it again with another eq. tomorrow.

[Dubinvero]

Song Surgeon 3 allows you to export all segments (loops) of a track with unique effects for each loop. When you export all loops it results in a single file with all the loops connected.

 

Derek

[Eddie]

Yet another option: Presonus Studio One.

The Artist version also includes real-time audio timestretching and resampling, and it's currently on sale for $20.11, for a few days only.

http://www.presonus.com/namm/

 

The sound quality is very good. I've only done a quick test, but there's a demo available for anyone interested.

Note that this version does not allow users to use their own VST/AU plugins, but it already includes plenty of plugins.

 

http://www.presonus.com/products/SoftwareDetail.aspx?SoftwareId=11

They have a PDF comparing the Artist and Pro versions:

http://www.presonus.com/media/pdf/Why_Upgrade_S1Pro_LoRez.pdf

[polishpaul]

On the subject of VSTs.....

 

I came across this yesterday:

 

http://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm

 

It's the free VSTHost program, which will open and run VSTs, without the need for a larger 'host' program such as Sonar, Cubase etc. It works! I ran a VST and played it with the VSTHost on-screen keyboard.

 

Then there's the 'midi yoke', used to connect programs using midi:

 

http://www.midiox.com/

 

I'm not sure yet what the potential of all this is......just passing it on in case it's useful to you or someone....somewhere..........

[Eddie]

Here's a very thorough comparison from 2008:

http://fr.audiofanzine.com/pitch-shifter-time-stretcher/editorial/dossiers/de-l-etirement-et-de-la-hauteur-partie-1.html

 

It's in French, but using Google Translate (and reading the original text) I was able to understand the conclusion.

The sound samples speak for themselves.

Kudos to the person who did this.

[MikeyParent]

So does anyone have any recommendations for an iOS app to do this?

[timallums]

I might be coming in late to the conversation, but I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the free plug-in to slow down Winamp. It works great if you're wanting to do something on the cheap (as in FREE), and don't want any learning curve. I downloaded the free plug-in today and was jamming along with some MP3s (trying to figure out some guitar parts) at a speed I was comfortable with in a matter of minutes. Surprisingly good quality at slower speeds.

 

http://www.winamp.com/plugin/slow-me-down/21827

[atza]

I have used cuple of them and here I list them with a short comment to each:

Amazing slowdowner - good quality slowing but otherwise not very user friendly

Phrase trainer by desktop metronome - avearge slow-down music sound   but very usefull for musicians

Rubberband by breakfastquay - rather pricey but excellent sound quality (they have a free command line utility)

[Goncalo Crespo]

Amazing slow downer does the trick for me.

[Riffstation]

 A new alternative to Transcribe and Amazing Slow Downer is Riffstation. It does slow down and pitch shift synchronised with auto chord recognition  http://riffstation.com/slow-down-guitar-riffs.html . 

[hanmorten]

Shameless plug here also, but I am pretty happy with this one:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speed-o-sound-slow-down-music/id669219687?mt=8

Very easy to use, and sound quality is decent down to 50% speed.

[hanmorten]

There is Speed o' Sound for iOS. It lets you slow down music to a given BPM, while maintaining the natural pitch. Easy to use and works with all music on your iPhone or iPad.

 

http://www.fenes-offline.com/speedosound.html

[fcatrin]

Hi! Another alternative is MusicTrans (written by me). It includes a note analyzer in realtime, where you can easily see the notes that are being played (it depends on the song). It's available for Android, Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. More info at http://www.musictransapp.com

[Terranaut_X]

Right now it's Riff Station by Sonic Ladder that leads this pack. It of course slows down or speeds up music without pitch change but there is also a slow or speed up WITH pitch change. You are not limited to percentages or anything like that--you can speed or slow in hundredths of a semi-tone. This means that you never have to tune your guitar to a song you want to play along with. Instead of tuning the guitar to the music, you tune the music to the guitar. I sure wish I would have had this when I was young. I hated tuning to songs that were messed with in production.

 

The program attempts to read the chords. No software is really precise yet, but Riff Station does a competitively good job. It's interface is great as you see a line of chord names move from right to left. You can correct and edit chords but unfortunately they limit you to several types of chords--no ability to put in slash chords or augmented or diminished or other stipulations like flatted fifth et al. But as a daily user there is great value even without that ability. I use "Audacity" to make MP3's out of anything that comes through my computer that I might want to learn. I have an account with True Fire for instance where they have many "50 Licks You Must Know" titles. While their interface lets you slow down in three increments, I record all 50 licks separately and name them in the same manner they are stored on the True Fire system. This way I can revisit each of the "50 Licks" titles and be ready with Riff Station to play the licks at the pace I want and in a loop. I don't have to set looping points a second time.

 

There are riff learning tools in Riff Station too but so far I have foregone them because Audacity is more versatile in creating and editing riff files. I came here hoping to hear of something new that may not have the limitations that Transcribe, Song Surgeon, Digital Music Mentor and others I've tried. I'm hoping for a second version of Riff Station to come out and it would be great if the could at least let you put in chord names with all the stipulations even if the software can't read the music that precisely. It would be great to be able to save a session where you've added chord names you've either figured out or gotten from other sites so that you have a definitive horizontal chord feed--which is much more desirable than music formatted for paper rows. I can play along with all the songs I send through Riff Station without having to stop and nudge a mouse.

[JackieO80]

It's easiest with a program that also shows you the spectrum in addition to slowing down the song. My current favorite is AnthemScore, https://www.lunaverus.com

It can auto-transcribe single note recordings as well, but it's not accurate when there are multiple notes at a time. It mostly helps to just see the notes visually while you're listening to a section of the song.