Slowdowner programs

[Tone]

Anyone know of a decent slow downer type program/plug in that is free?:)

[dkaplowitz]

There is a free Winamp plugin that's offered by the people who make "the amazing slowdowner". There's also a winamp looping plugin for playing stuff in loops. These two are all anyone would ever need. I'm not sure where the official download is. I got my copy off of the petrucci forum (a member posted it).

[dkaplowitz]

Found them. Here's (http://www.ronimusic.com/winamp.htm) the slowdowner plugin. And here's (http://www.companyinfo.com/LoopMaster/) the looping plugin. Now you have no excuses for not transcribing all your favorite solos. ;)

[sws1]

I use "The Amazing SlowDowner", but not with Winamp. As a standalone program. Awesome.

[dkaplowitz]

Originally posted by sws1
I use "The Amazing SlowDowner", but not with Winamp. As a standalone program. Awesome.
Probably a cool amp. I would have recommended it, but he did specify he wanted a free one.

[littlemoon]

The Windows Media Player has a "Play Speed Setting" in which you can slow down the action in real time down to 0.5 speed while maintaining the pitch.

It's completely free, of course, and already there waiting to be put to use.

littlemoon

[Kevan]

As I found out yesterday, one of the best "slowdowners" out there is XP Pro SP2. It turned my decent PC into a TRS-80.

Oh, and it was free.

(Sorry- I might be a little giddy/bent/insane right now. I've been trying fix my PC since "updating" it. Going on 26 hours straight...)

[dkaplowitz]

I never knew there were speed settings native to Windows or as part of Windows Media Player. That's cool. Thanks!

You guys are dead wrong, however, when you say that anything to do with Windows XP or even Windows Media Player is free. That's the funniest thing I've heard all week. You think you got anything from Microsoft for free? heh. Good one!

But yes, I gotcha, after you shelled out for XP in hidden costs from whoever sold you your PC (or paid for it outright), you wouldn't have to pay any more for those things.

[righthandman]

Where do you find the play speed settings in Windows Media Player? I can't seem to find it...

[Tone]

Originally posted by littlemoon
The Windows Media Player has a "Play Speed Setting" in which you can slow down the action in real time down to 0.5 speed while maintaining the pitch.

It's completely free, of course, and already there waiting to be put to use.

littlemoon

Thanks for that info! I had no idea WMP had anything like that. Now I don't have to download anything new. Sorry to the guys who already gave good suggestions, but I don't think I'll be using them right now.:dude

Righthandman,
The speed settings are under the "View" tab, and then go down to "enhancements".

[Tone]

Little update:

I've been tring to learn the Sweet Child O' Mine solo (the wah part) pretty close for a while. I have the GNR tab book that has the Sweet Child tabs in it.

I just used the speed settings adjustment in the Windows Media Player, and It sounds nothing like what is written in the tab book. Maybe that's why my take did'nt sound anything like the song! :) This stuff should really help out a lot. Maybe the way Slash phrased those notes are hard to explain in tab, and hear in regular speed. I'll see what I can do now that I can hear all the little nuances.

Thanks!:dude

[littlemoon]

Originally posted by righthandman
Where do you find the play speed settings in Windows Media Player? I can't seem to find it...
Go to the top menu and click on "view" and then select "enhancements" and "show enhancements" from the drop down menus. The enhancements box will now show at the bottom of your screen where you will find a left and right arrow for cycling through the enhancements (eq, quiet mode, srs wow effects, video settings, color chooser, etc.). Keep clicking on one of the arrows until you get to "play speed settings."

littlemoon

[dkaplowitz]

Does WMP have any kind of looping option? I find that the looping plugin for winamp is invaluable for hearing some things that I can't get easily with the first listen, even when slowed down. Plus, maybe it's me, but the rewind slider and/or rewind button on most of these media players is way too sensitive to use as a quick step back to hear a tiny measure. To each his own though.

[littlemoon]

Originally posted by dkaplowitz
Does WMP have any kind of looping option? I find that the looping plugin for winamp is invaluable for hearing some things that I can't get easily with the first listen, even when slowed down. Plus, maybe it's me, but the rewind slider and/or rewind button on most of these media players is way too sensitive to use as a quick step back to hear a tiny measure. To each his own though.
If you set WMP in full screen mode, the slider runs across the entire bottom of your screen, which gives you much better control over how far back or forward you want to jump. Set your mouse pointer at the beginning of passage you want to repeat, and, without moving the mouse, left click that point on the slider when you want to repeat the segment. Crude but effective.

littlemoon

P.S. For more difficult passages you could use the Sound Recorder to record the segment, save it to a file, and play it with the WMP in repeat mode. Using this method, you could even slow it down more than the 0.5 limit of WMP (i.e., record at 0.5 speed, then play the recorded segment at 0.5, yielding 0.25 speed.)

[dkaplowitz]

Originally posted by littlemoon
For more difficult passages you could use the Sound Recorder to record the segment, save it to a file, and play it with the WMP in repeat mode. Using this method, you could even slow it down more than the 0.5 limit of WMP (i.e., record at 0.5 speed, then play the recorded segment at 0.5, yielding 0.25 speed.)
Man! That's a lot of work. You're really commited to using WMP for transcribing! More power to you.

With that looping app I mentioned, you hit "start looping" when the riff you want to cop is approaching, then you hit "end loop" when it's over and it just starts looping ---and it works at the same time the slowdowner works so your loops are half speed or full speed depending on your preference.

Also, with the slowdowner, you can change the pitch, so if you're copping guys who are tuned down to Eb, you can just up their pitch to E so you don't have to tune down. Maybe WMP does that too though.

[carltonh]

That Winamp plugin is for Winamp 2, and I'm already on Winamp 5, so I don't think that will do any good. I guess I'll have to try WMP.

I also assume people are familiar with the Power tab software.

www.power-tab.net for the free software
www.powertabs.net for lots of already tabbed songs.

[KHK]

I also have winamp V5.08 and the plugin works well with that version.

[dkaplowitz]

Originally posted by KHK
I also have winamp V5.08 and the plugin works well with that version.
+1

I run whatever the latest winamp is and it works just fine.

[bobbystroker]

you can also try jet audio. it is a free player and has pitch shift (incremented in 1/2 steps-perfect for guitarists!) and tempo adjustments built in. no plug ins needed. it has become my default player now. very nice. and oh yeah, it's free.

[bbarnard]

Originally posted by Tone
Thanks for that info! I had no idea WMP had anything like that. Now I don't have to download anything new. Sorry to the guys who already gave good suggestions, but I don't think I'll be using them right now.:dude

Righthandman,
The speed settings are under the "View" tab, and then go down to "enhancements".

FYI this isn't available with version 9.0.

[littlemoon]

Originally posted by bbarnard
FYI this isn't available with version 9.0. Don't know about 9, Bill. I have version 10. Why not upgrade?

littlemoon

[bbarnard]

Originally posted by littlemoon
Don't know about 9, Bill. I have version 10. Why not upgrade?

littlemoon
Weirdly it isn't available on the version of 9 I have on my laptop at work but IS available on 9 (exact same version numbers too) on my machine at home. I have Win 2K at work and a recent version of XP at home. Weird.

Edited to add:

Apparently this feature is only available for XP machines. It isn't available for Win2K.

Oh and I don't think version 10 works with 2K either.

[psychodave]

I bought the amazing slow downer a few years ago. It was the best $30 I ever spent on guitar equipment. I use it EVERY day.

[Strung Up]

I use Transkriber by Reed Kotler Music (not sure of the URL). Not free, but lots of speed adjustment granularity and great looping flexibility.