Chiff and Fipple Forums

Does anyone have any comparative experience or opinions about the following software packages?

The Amazing Slow Downer (http://www.ronimusic.com/amsldowin.htm) and Transcribe!(http://www.seventhstring.com )

From what I can see, they both allow you to take a source of music (i.e. an MP3 file), change its key and play the piece at variable speeds while maintaining pitch. It seems that one difference (I'm still investigating, hence this query) is that Transcribe! allows you to slow down videos as well. The benefit of both is the ability to slow a tune down to learn its rudiments.

Which one would you recommend? Are there others?

A.S.D. will take youtube vids as well.
I find the app very useful since i can't read any written music at all.

kokopellime wrote:Which one would you recommend? Are there others?

Audacity is free, open source, and suits my simple needs (including 'change pitch without changing tempo' and 'change tempo without changing pitch'). I have not used any of the other software you mention, but someone else here may be able to comment on relative merits

It's not clear to me exactly what you need to accomplish with this software but here's my view.

The Amazing Slow Downer is one of hundreds of programs that can allow you to change tempo and pitch. I do not use it presently because there are so many other add-ons that do the same job. Similar functions are built into popular media players like Windows Media Player and available as add-ons to Winamp, etc. I use Pacemaker with Winamp. As DrPill says, Audacity works too. I also used Slow Gold from Worls Wide Woodshed for a few years. It came free in another software bundle. If ASD has grown into something more since I used it, then please correct my aging view of things. I do find tempo and pitch shifting functions helpful in learning tunes by ear if the tuning is a bit off or the tempo is just too quick for me to pick up necessary details.

Transcribe is a different beast in my mind. It provides you with pitch recognition. It shows graphically what notes are being played at any particular moment in a recording and weighs each note played by how dominant it is in the mix. That's really helpful in doing transcriptions (doh!). I'm using a rather old version of Transcribe. It's grown up a bit since I last updated it but it works just fine for me. Another package with similar features is TwelveKeys. One thing I like about TwelveKeys is that it has a treshold filter for polyphonic recordings which helps to isolate the lead instrument(s) playing the melody.

There is another type of software that can be useful. Band In A Box now has a feature which allows you to import audio and it very accurately maps the chord structure of the piece. It doesn't help with the melody but if you are writing charts for a group to play it can be a time saver.

Feadoggie

Fdog, nicely done! I quite agree.


I also liked the two Freudian's

Denny wrote:
I also liked the two Freudian's

Careful. You'll have Dale at ye.

I liked them too.

Excellent topic and responses. If you have an iPhone or Android you can also use Capo, which, though containing many features strictly for guitar, does a great job, and is stunningly easy to use with MP3's for changing speed without affecting pitch and vice-versa. Since I'm a MAC user, I use Audacity too because is it is available for just about every common computer platform. It works very well and as previously mentioned, add-ins help with modifying both speed and pitch without affecting the other.

Don't know anything about the programs you mentioned since they're not MAC compatible.

ecohawk

Denny wrote:I also liked the two Freudian's

Thanks Denny. Poke received.

I've made a note to myself not to type a post here while the wife is vocalizing concerns about cleaning up the stuff all over our property that will blow away when the hurricane hits.
Life in Florida was easier. Hop in the car and get out of Dodge, pray the house will be there when you get back.

Edits made, stuff stowed away.

Feadoggie

Both ASD and Transcribe! are useful for learning tunes.

I've been a user of Transcribe! for as long as they've been selling it, haven't found any reason to change to something else.

It meets my requirements of:

1) Opening most common audio file formats
2) Ability to independently adjust pitch and speed
3) Ability to drop markers while the audio is playing
4) Keyboard shortcuts to move between markers and select between markers
5) Clean/simple user interface
6) External device control via MIDI (so I can use my Tranzport control surface) so I can run the app remotely from my practice chair instead of sitting at my computer desk
7) Ability to export both full files and selection regions with pitch and/or speed adjustments

Transcribe! is also able to slow down/pitch shift videos.

A couple of demo videos I did showing the program in action doing these common tasks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY846dfCrv0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PpuBWeheYA

I'm sure there are other programs that would meet my requirements, but for desktop Mac and Windows systems, Transcribe! does all these things very well. The only feature I wish they would add on the Windows version is direct export of .mp3 files instead of just .wav format, but no big deal, I just export to .wav and then edit/resave to .mp3 in my audio editor.

On my iPhone/iPad I use the mobile version of ASD, also does the job quite nicely.


Michael

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. My interest in such software was simply in slowing down the process (their function) so that I can pick up on proper fingering that sometimes is too fast for these aged eyes and ears to perceive.

I’ll look into the other options mentioned. In the meantime, I found a bunch of them on the Transcribe! site, including some noted in your replies.

See (http://www.seventhstring.com/resources/ ... ption.html).

There are about sixty or more links noted and I’ve already checked out a couple of them. There are of course similarities but there are differences as well, worth a bit of research. As a newbie my needs are simple and I'll make a choice based upon your feedback, but its good to know there are options

eskin wrote:Both ASD and Transcribe! are useful for learning tunes.

Thanks Michael - it was actually at your Tradsessions.com (http://www.tradlessons.com/) site that I first came across the reference to Transcribe!

eskin wrote: Transcribe! is also able to slow down/pitch shift videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PpuBWeheYA

Michael... you totally ROCK ! Exactly what I have been looking for.

...john

P.S. It was nice to see/hear you at the Auld Dubliner session.

ecohawk wrote:Don't know anything about the programs you mentioned since they're not MAC compatible.

Don't know about the Slow-Downer, but I use Transcribe quite happily on my iMac.

Best wishes.

Steve

Good to know that Transcribe works for you. I was, apparently mistakenly, told that the MAC implementation of Transcribe was not very well done. I know ASD is PC only. I may give Transcribe a shot. With CAPO on my iPhone and Audacity on my MAC I've been able to muddle through quite well but if there's a better way...

Thanks Steve,
ecohawk

I believe that Transcribe even has a linux version.

...john