Soundbite help: How to change a soundbite length without preserving pitch

[c.roc.o.dile]

I feel like I should have been able to figure this out by now but after lots of searching the manual and googling, I can't find anything that's been able to help me.

When I stretch a soundbite to a different length, it maintains the pitch. I understand the value of this feature. But is there a way to turn that off?

I want to be able to stretch a soundbite and have the pitch change to reflect the amount of the stretch. Is this a pitch and stretch setting, is it based on preferences, based on the individual soundbite? I can't figure it out.

There are 2 specific applications I'm trying to use it for:

1. Creating spoken audio that sounds like it's slower than it should be.

2. Fixing audio imported from an old tape deck that plays slightly slower than it should; i.e. bringing the audio back up to tempo and pitch in one step.

Thanks in advance.

-Curtis

[stubbsonic]

The free option that will do what you need (but does it outside DP) is Audacity. It has excellent "varispeed" options-- including the ability to change pitch & time independently-- or just slow down playback. (If you get audacity and can't figure it out, just hit me up here and I can walk you through it.

An excellent all-around pitch & time application is TS2 from IRCAM. It happens to be on sale right now for $49 USD at dontcrack. (That's where I got it, years ago). This tool works wonders on full mixes, etc. It will do what you want and much more. It's a good option for when you need better pitch/time results than you get with DP in-built tools.

https://store.dontcrack.com/product_inf ... ts_id=1680

[mikehalloran]

I feel like I should have been able to figure this out by now but after lots of searching the manual and googling, I can't find anything that's been able to help me.

When I stretch a soundbite to a different length, it maintains the pitch. I understand the value of this feature. But is there a way to turn that off?

I want to be able to stretch a soundbite and have the pitch change to reflect the amount of the stretch. Is this a pitch and stretch setting, is it based on preferences, based on the individual soundbite? I can't figure it out.

There are 2 specific applications I'm trying to use it for:

1. Creating spoken audio that sounds like it's slower than it should be.

2. Fixing audio imported from an old tape deck that plays slightly slower than it should; i.e. bringing the audio back up to tempo and pitch in one step.

Thanks in advance.

-Curtis

Hi,

I get it: You want digital to be like analog so that turning something "off" allows you to do what you want. It doesn't work that way but there's Good News: Digital is better—you can control time stretch/compress and pitch independently.

DP has more than one tool for this but the one you want to explore first is ZTX. In the User Guide (pg 97) and the Plug-ins Guide (pg 202), both available from the Help manual, search ZTX and you'll see how this tool works. I've seen video tutorials, also.


That said, for this exact use, I prefer to use ZTX inside a 3rd party app called TwistedWave. I can load in an audio clip and enter exactly how long/short I want and the new pitch +/- to the cent (1/100 half step). I can do each separately or both simultaneously and use Save As to leave my original file unchanged. I can get the same results in DP but TW is a lot faster for me.
https://twistedwave.com/

There are other 3rd party tools that can do this also but, for this exact use, ZTX is my best friend.

[c.roc.o.dile]

Thank you Jon and Mike, I'll definitely check out what you recommended. This is all so interesting to me because as I recall from my early days with digital audio (mid-90s) including DP, it was the exact opposite. You needed special apps to KEEP the pitch when you slowed or sped up the tempo. So fascinating.

[stubbsonic]

You're absolutely right. Now it is more widely understood that we need access to both pitch & time and the ability to adjust them independently-- and plain old varispeed (with usable control) is hard to find.

Weirdly, in the portable hardware world (effect pedals), pitch shifting isn't quite "there yet".

[sayatnova]

Hey Mike,

I also have TW and was wondering about your post about using ZTX in it: does TW have this built-in like DP? How do you use ZTX in a third party app? Thank you for your help.

EDIT: No worries: just looked into it and it seems to have it built-in to TW. What a great program, BTW.

[c.roc.o.dile]

Good news!

After playing around with some apps, I found that Garageband does exactly what I was looking for. You just go to the "Region" info for the soundbite in question, check "Follow Tempo & Pitch," and then when you adjust the tempo for the project, the pitch and tempo of the soundbite will adjust accordingly. Woo hoo!

[stubbsonic]

That's incredibly useful to know. Thanks for sharing that. There are some more complex implications of that, which will require me to do some fun experiments (i.e., will it track tempo changes?, etc.)

[mikehalloran]

Interestingly, I don't think you can lock length and pitch together in DP (?!?!).

You can by checking a box in TwistedWave, however.

With Pitch, 0 is unchanged. For Speed, 100% is unchanged, you can do one, the other or both. Checking Lock simulates analog tape behhavior.