Slow-downers

[belbein]

Is "The Amazing Slow Downer" still everyone's favorite?

[Bill McCall]

I use Transcribe. Works fine.

[guidoStow]

I use Transcribe too. I like it.

[Mark Gunter]

I use Transcribe!. Great program, costs a little less than the one you mentioned, I believe. Also, the developer, Andy Robinson, has a page that lists plenty of other programs to choose from: https://www.seventhstring.com/resour...scription.html

For computer geeks, he wrote this informative article:
https://www.seventhstring.com/resources/slowdown.html

And here is a short, interesting piece any layman can understand about the difficulties of computers creating useful transcriptions from audio tracks. Andy believes the problem is AI Complete:
https://www.seventhstring.com/resources/autotrans.html

[sblock]

Yes, the Amazing Slow Downer is still a favorite. Perhaps not everyone's favorite. But certainly mine.

[Mark Wilson]

I use Transcribe but I'm kinda leaning to ASD. It has a two features that Transcribe doesn't.

It can speed up and it can change keys (if you don't think you'll use that then Transcribe!)

I still like the graphical interface of Transcribe. Looks just like my DAW - the reason I chose it over ASD

[Mark Gunter]

You can change keys with Transcribe, but yeah, it's geared for use in transcribing music rather than as a jam-along tool - so speed goes from 100% down to 20%. Can't speed 'em up with that one. I use it strictly as a tool to transcribe music in videos and audio tracks.

[ajh]

Tascam GB-10. Love it. I don't play/learn anywhere near a computer.

[HonketyHank]

I have tried only two slowdowners:
1. I used to have semi portable four-speed turntable, amp, speaker combo (my hi-fi (not stereo) back in college). It had 78, 45, 33, and 17. I could get my LPs to run at half speed (and an octave low) on that thing. It was a pain.

2. I now use Audacity. Only because it was free and I learned how to use what it has and have not learned enough to need what it lacks. Probably the software above does lots of stuff better. One thing I have noticed is that with Audacity I can usually get a clear slowed down result with something like a guitar or banjo, but mandolin is often rather muddy. I think it has something to do with double strings. Or maybe the more frequent use of drone or double stops on mandolin solos that I have tried to work with.

Luckily for me, I don't need the slowdown much at this stage. Lots of abc's and tef's available for me to learn basic tunes from. I mention Audacity only because it is free and may well be all that is needed by some folks.

[Jess L.]

I have tried only two slowdowners:
1. I used to have semi portable four-speed turntable, amp, speaker combo (my hi-fi (not stereo) back in college). It had 78, 45, 33, and 17. I could get my LPs to run at half speed (and an octave low) on that thing. It was a pain.

2. I now use Audacity. Only because it was free and I learned how to use what it has and have not learned enough to need what it lacks. Probably the software above does lots of stuff better. One thing I have noticed is that with Audacity I can usually get a clear slowed down result with something like a guitar or banjo, but mandolin is often rather muddy. I think it has something to do with double strings. Or maybe the more frequent use of drone or double stops on mandolin solos that I have tried to work with. ...

Audacity here too, and for the same reasons as you stated.

As you probably know, but I will mention for those who don't, Audacity has two ways to slow things down: "Change speed" and "Change tempo".

The difference is that "Change speed" makes it an octave lower with pretty good fidelity, whereas "Change tempo" keeps the pitch the same but makes it kind of warbly.

I was already long accustomed to using the turntable half-speed method which, as you mentioned, makes everything an octave lower, so I still do it that way in Audacity (using Audacity's "Change speed" method) -- the sound quality is better, makes it easier to figure out what the notes are on fast fiddle tunes.

For people who aren't already used to the octave lower thing, it might be a problem, but I find that the mandolin and fiddle pitch range is pretty high to start with, so even after lowering it down an octave it's still pretty easy to hear the individual notes.

Although sometimes ornaments, grace notes etc, can still be pretty fast even at half-speed. I have not tried slower than half-speed.

USEFUL TIP: You can select just a small portion of sound in Audacity (zoom in as necessary), say maybe the equivalent of one bar or a couple of bars (measures), then instead of hitting the keyboard's Space bar to make it play, you can hit Shift-Space to make it play as a *loop* (at least that's what it is on Windows, don't know what the Mac keyboard shortcuts are). This is quite handy for having the loop sound running in the background while you're simultaneously using a music-notation app (or pencil and paper) to write down the notes that you're hearing, or likely prospects as to notes anyway. Then when you're satisfied that you've figured out that section of the music, you can switch back to Audacity and select the next portion of the music and loop that with Shift-Space, keep doing that procedure until the whole tune is transcribed and/or until you run out of steam lol. I seldom make it through all umpteen repeats of a recording unless I'm highly motivated by some cool licks or something, but I figure for general-purpose stuff, transcribing the first one or two times through the tune is at least a good starting point.

[foldedpath]

Audacity here too. The main reason is that it's not just a "slow downer" but it will also let me clip out a tune embedded in a set of other tunes, or any performance where there's a lot of talk or other static at the start and end of what I'm actually interested in.

It's very quick to expand the waveform, drag the mouse over the stuff I don't want, and delete that. Then slightly reduce the tempo and save a new MP3 for practice and I'm done.

The quality of the slowed audio in Audacity isn't as quite as good as more "pro" audio software I own, but it's a fast process and that's all I need to learn a new tune.

[Christine Robins]

I bought ASD 10 years ago, and use it almost every day. I've tried Audacity. Don't like it for the following reasons:

1. Sound quality is far inferior to ASD at slow speeds.

2. Controls are complicated and confusing. ASD is a model of simplicity.

3. Audacity only works with files already on your computer or device. Will not work with CDs, unless you first rip them. ASD will work fine directly with any CD.

Re foldedpath's note above: " Audacity...will also let me clip out a tune embedded in a set of other tunes, or any performance where there's a lot of talk or other static at the start and end of what I'm actually interested in." ASD does this too. You can isolate and loop very short portions of a recording.

Note that I only use ASD, etc. on my desktop computer. Have no experience with portable devices.

[Paul Busman]

Will any of these programs allow you to slow down the audio portion of a YouTube video?

[lloving]

AnyTune is my choice. For YouTube you need to first capture the audio.

http://anytune.us

[Stevo75]

If you use chrome as your browser, you can slow down videos right there in YouTube. It's one of the settings.

[foldedpath]

I bought ASD 10 years ago, and use it almost every day. I've tried Audacity. Don't like it for the following reasons:

1. Sound quality is far inferior to ASD at slow speeds.

2. Controls are complicated and confusing. ASD is a model of simplicity.

3. Audacity only works with files already on your computer or device. Will not work with CDs, unless you first rip them. ASD will work fine directly with any CD.

Re foldedpath's note above: " Audacity...will also let me clip out a tune embedded in a set of other tunes, or any performance where there's a lot of talk or other static at the start and end of what I'm actually interested in." ASD does this too. You can isolate and loop very short portions of a recording.

Note that I only use ASD, etc. on my desktop computer. Have no experience with portable devices.

Right, this comes down to different approach to practice routines, whether you sit at a computer, etc.

The Audacity approach of spitting out a separate slowed-down MP3 file is something I need, because I don't practice in the computer room. I move the slowed file to a portable iPod that I carry into the music room for practice. The external file is also handy if my fiddler S.O. wants to listen to the slowed version when she practices the tune. Having the tune archived as a slowed MP3 is also handy because sometimes I'll just give up on learning a hard tune for a while, and come back to it later when I have more time (or dedication). It saves me having to find the original tune and slow it down again.

Different strokes, and I can see where just slowing a tune down directly from the source on a computer would work in other situations.

[Mark Gunter]

Will any of these programs allow you to slow down the audio portion of a YouTube video?

I use Transcribe! for this all the time. The audio waveform and audio controls show as usual; the video also shows in a separate player window simultaneously, as you work with the audio. Can be helpful for transcribing when you have a video with shots of a players hands, this just adds another dimension of help for accurate transcribing of a tune. But I never use Transribe! on audio or video from external devices (CD player) or web browser pages (YouTube) because my model for working is to save audio and video files in a more or less organized way and work with files from my hard drive. I think the program is perfectly capable of working with files from exterior sources, but I've never used it that way.

Note, you'll need to have quicktime installed for the video portion of Transcribe! to work.

[Jim Garber]

I use ASD on my laptop MacBook Pro and have used it for quite a few years. The initial $50 was well-spent. I have Audacity but use that for editing sound files. I am also able to capture Youtube videos with other software and convert them to mp3 as well as slow down in ASD. Great software and simple to use.

[Beanzy]

I use ASD on my iPad. I organise my files using FileBrowser and import from there, replicating it to my DropBox so it can be shared to other PCs for programmes like iTunes etc. It's very efficient and covers all I need. If we have a key change for a singer who may spring one on us, I can get the tune & have it available for the whole group by the end of the tea break.

[Jon Hall]

I bought the ASD app for my phone. It works like a dream and only cost $10.00!

[Mark Wilson]

That is a good deal imo.

[Bernie Daniel]

Will any of these programs allow you to slow down the audio portion of a YouTube video?

Yes if you first convert the video to mp3 audio format. I do that a lot. Then I put the mp3 into ASD.

One person mentioned looping in Audacity. You can also easily loop any part of a tune in ASD. Also you can move the recording up and down in pitch (continuously) as you need to.

But of course with YouTube videos you can slow or speed them directly in YT.

You can also deal with those early BG recordings which were either recorded intentionally a half a tone high or low or the band just all tuned up to one player who was not in concert tuning.

With ASD it is not problem to correct. Just isolate a part of the tune which you hear what should be a "A" note (or C or G or what ever) then loop section that so it plays like a continuous tone; then adjust that tone in ASD against your tuner until you get it to a true A (440 hz) pitch and then the whole recording is up to pitch and you can play along. Write down the pitch adjustment settings in case you ever come back to that recording!

[sbhikes]

I use a Mac and it turns out you cab run the older version of Quicktime player (Quicktime 7) concurrent with the newer. The old version lets you slow down the tune to 1/2 speed.

[ralph johansson]

I use a Mac and it turns out you cab run the older version of Quicktime player (Quicktime 7) concurrent with the newer. The old version lets you slow down the tune to 1/2 speed.

I've used it a few times on my iMac. Works fine.

[Tom Haywood]

Mostly, I use Windows Media Player. It slows most things down in 2 or 3 increments to half speed. Best Practice if I need it slower or need to change keys or adjust to A-440 tuning. Audacity if I need to preserve the output. I usually work out the tab in Tabledit and slow it down as needed for practice.