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Thread: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

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    Topic is pretty self explanatory. I hear good things about both. I've fiddled with Transcribe and it seems great. I know Mike Stangeland is a huge fan. But you have to load the song onto your hard drive, not? So what are people's experiences, opinions, etc. in that I don't want to buy both. And I already have Cool Edit.

    Thanks in advance.
    Dale

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    Yes, you have to have the song in your harddrive, for Transcribe. Apparently the Amazing Slowdowner works with CDs too, which would be a plus. Both programs have free evaluation versions, so you can find our for yourself which one you prefer. Price is roughly the same.

    In my own humble opinion, Amazing Slowdowner is easier to use, has better user interface, while Transcribe! has additional functions that i like (ability to store comments in the file, note detection, etc).

    I ended up buying Transcribe! I use it a lot and it doesn't irritate me.



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    On the advise of John McGann, who transcribes for Homespun tapes, and did all of Sam Bush's transcriptions, I got The Amazing Slowdowner. It is pretty simple to use, works on files or CD's and had much better slow audio than a previous slow down application I used. I have been very happy. You can download the demo and try it. It limits you to the first few songs, and a part of a song or something like that. Go to

    http://www.ronimusic.com/

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    I like them both, but I think Transcribe! has a little better sound, and the spectrum display can help sometimes in figuring out chords.

    I have some software that slows down CD's, but in my mind it's not nearly as convenient as having the tunes on the hard drive. You only have to copy them once, and if I need to slow a tune down, I'm usually working on it for a while.

    Both work with MP3, WAV, WMA, and Ogg-Vorbis files. They will also do MP4 and ACC if you have Quicktime installed. Amazing also does a format called FLAC, while Transcribe! does CDA and DSS formats.

    They're real close. I'd be happy with either one, but Transcribe! has a slight edge.

  5. #5

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    I use Amazing Slow Downer, and yes, you can run it from the CD without downloading the song to your hard drive. Mac friendly as well:-)

    Seth

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    The paid (but still cheap) version of Amazing Slow Downer rocks. It's helped me so much with nailing mando, tin whistle and tenor banjo tunes. A quality item.

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    Registered User Steve G's Avatar
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    I have Transcribe and it plays from CDs. I just pop it in, click on 'file' and then on 'open.' It pulls up the track numbers and I just select one. I love it.
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    I just got slow blast and while I've used the amazing slowdowner trial version I was afraid to order and hope the download worked with my dial up connection. The slowblast program has to play the song and then you choose what to slow down, hit a button and it records when U say so. The AMS can play the cd and slow down on the fly. I don't know whats better but since I have slowblast it works OK for me.

    I did have some probles choosing the programs to start it up (audio) but once I got some tech help all is well and I'm a happy customer.

    jm

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    I've tried 'em both and don't think you can really go too far wrong with either. Amazing Slowdowner has a user interface that I think is perhaps a little more intuitive than Transcribe and it gives you "twice the slow down power" (hows that for a marketing line?!Roni Music should hire me!) AMS can slow to 400% / Transcribe slows to 200%.

    That said, Transcribe offers some nice preset filtering capabilities that makes it very easy to hone in on the particular intstrument that you're trying to hear.

    I believe both offer "trial versions" and since you will ultimately be the best judge of what works best for you, you may want to consider downloading both and doing an A?B comparison.

    ... Hope this helps!
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    Quote Originally Posted by (Steve G @ Mar. 08 2006, 22:10)
    I have Transcribe and it plays from CDs. I just pop it in, click on 'file' and then on 'open.' It pulls up the track numbers and I just select one. I love it.
    So it does! Thanks for reminding me of this, i had forgotten.

    So i stand on my previous opinion: basically same features, same price, Slowdowner is easier to use, Transcribe has a couple extra, advanced features that i like but most people may not need. Try both, pick one, they're both fine.

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    I really like Transcribe!

    The quality of the slowed passage is excellent and the way it shows (for a one-second selection) the notes contained therein is great. Additionally, you can choose which channel, or minimize vocals, etc. Great stuff!

  12. #12
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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    I'm looking at Transcribe and thought I would revive this thread. I'm interested in the slowdown feature, but am most interested in converting YouTube videos to my preferred key to play along with. Is Transcribe the best software for doing this these days, at a reasonable price?

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    I have used Transcribe for years on the Mac but recently have been using an iphone app called Anytune Pro that is available as both a laptop and phone app - my current favorite. I don't believe they support the other PC or Google based platforms.

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Quote Originally Posted by geechee View Post
    I have used Transcribe for years on the Mac but recently have been using an iphone app called Anytune Pro that is available as both a laptop and phone app - my current favorite. I don't believe they support the other PC or Google based platforms.
    Maybe this will help someone. I use Windows and Android, so am looking for applications for those.

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Another advantage for using ASD is that it can access your Spotify playlists (if you're a subscriber).

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    I prefer Transcribe.

    But, I use it only on laptop. There is currently no iPhone app for transcribe, so I use ASD on my phone. That's a necessity these days (using phone apps in my studies), although I prefer using the laptop. So I won't be dropping Transcribe any time soon.
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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    I used to use Slowdowner, but switched to Riffstation at some point, before Fender bought it. Fender was giving it away for free a while ago. I find it has some useful features compared to Slowdowner - but then, I haven’t tried a recent version of that. In any case, you should at least check out Riffstation to see if it’s a better fit.

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherry Cadenhead View Post
    Maybe this will help someone. I use Windows and Android, so am looking for applications for those.
    If you just need something to slow down the music without altering pitch, the Music Speed Changer Android app is free and to me sounds just as good as ASD

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Quote Originally Posted by DaveGinNJ View Post
    If you just need something to slow down the music without altering pitch, the Music Speed Changer Android app is free and to me sounds just as good as ASD
    I'll check into that, but I'm mostly interested in changing YouTube video keys.

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherry Cadenhead View Post
    I'll check into that, but I'm mostly interested in changing YouTube video keys.
    This is one of those areas where Transcribe! really shines for me, working videos, because I can adjust speed and pitch, and the video generally goes at correct speed to match the audio in Transcribe ...

    There are some requirements to using Transcribe! with video:

    1. Download the video to your laptop or desktop computer. I download any YT video I plan to work with, in mp4 format.
    2. Make sure you have Quicktime installed on your computer. Transcribe! uses the QT engine to display and control video. I don't use QT normally for video, just have it installed, and Transcribe! automatically detects it.
    3. Right-click the video file and choose "Open with ..." and choose Transcribe.

    Some of the other programs may work with video, I don't know, but Transcribe! was developed specifically for helping musicians to transcribe music from audio and video files, and it is very useful sometimes when using video to suss out someone's fingerings while transcribing.

    Of course, if you change the key, the fingerings won't be helpful. So if you're changing the key, why even use video? You can download from YouTube audio only, converting the download to mp3, and use any good slow down program to change key if they have that feature.

    For downloading all sorts of video files (or converting them to audio mp3), I use the "Video Downloader" extension for FireFox.
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  21. #21
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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Mark is right: if you plan to change keys from the original, then video won't do you any good! You are not interested in a direct "transcription" of the piece, per se, as it's actually played. Instead, you want to slow it down and modulate the pitch to some other key. For this purpose, you should just capture the YouTube video as an audio-only (MP3) file, although a video MP4 file would work fine, too. Amazing Slow Downer will serve you perfectly well for this purpose (I like it a lot), but so will Transcribe! Doesn't really matter which program you choose. If you are downloading YouTube videos from the internet, nearly any browser EXCEPT Chrome will likely have an extension to let you do this. The Google folks own both YouTube and Chrome, and they make it almost impossible to download from YouTube. Stupid, near-sighted monopolies.

  22. #22
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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    So with the right browser, I wouldn't need additional software?

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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    If you rip the CD track to your PC, you can play it back (from the file) at varying speeds using your Windows Media Player.

  24. #24
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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sherry Cadenhead View Post
    So with the right browser, I wouldn't need additional software?
    No, No. I think you may have misunderstood much of what has been written in this thread. You indicated that you revived it because you wanted not just to slow down the music, but also to change the key (pitch) of a YouTube video. A browser alone won't do that, Sherry! The YouTube site itself will play back videos at slower, but fixed, speed in your browser -- any browser -- at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 times full speed, but this feature is not especially useful.

    You'll first need to DOWNLOAD the YouTube video to your computer as an MP3 (audio) or MP4 (video and audio) file so you can work with it. You wrote that you use a PC. If so, then get a YouTube video downloader extension for your browser and install it. There are several of these to choose from. For a browser, you also have several choices, including Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox. Just don't use Chrome, since they won't support a YouTube download.

    Once downloaded, you can play an entire MP3 file back at any speed that you like using the free Windows Media Player, which comes with Windows 10 (as Mandocrucian said). But this feature is not as helpful, IMO, as being able to slow down and repeat a selected section of the work, with various tuning adjustments to match your mandolin, adjustments to the tone, and so on. These are among the many features offered by the programs Amazing Slow Downer and Transcribe!

    Also, you said that want to change the pitch. So again, you're asking for features offered by the Amazing Slow Downer and Transcribe! A browser won't do that, Sherry, and neither will Windows Media Player. You should look into buying and installing the Amazing Slow Downer or Transcribe! I happen to like Amazing Slow Downer, myself, but either one should work for your purpose.

  25. #25
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    Default Re: Transcribe or Amazing Slowdowner?

    Thanks, sblock! I needed a thorough explanation like you've given. I use technology every day in my work, but don't do things like this.

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