Digital "guitar training"...

[psmith2.0]

To you musicians out there: is there a cheap (free?) software out there that lets you play your mp3 files at, say, half speed but still retain the pitch?

iTunes or GarageBand don't do this by any chance, do they?

:confused:

I know there are products out there (hardware-based) from Tascam and others, but surely there's something much more simple and compact (software) that would take my iTunes files and let me slow them down to learn fast or complex passages?

Something made me think the latest GarageBand did this, but I just poked around there for a while and wasn't able to find anything like that.

Couldn't be that hard, I would think. Now that it's all just bits and bytes...

[torifile]

The Amazing Slow Downer (http://www.ronimusic.com/slowdown.htm). I haven't used it but it claims to do what you want.

[psmith2.0]

Great find...thank you very much, Sammy! I just downloaded the trial version (plays first two songs on a CD, and the first 1/4 of any hard drive-based mp3, AIFF, AAC, etc. files). It seems to do just what I was needing. I was able to figure out a couple of zippy-fast Setzer licks, slowed down to 50%.

:)

Has a pitch fine tuner as well, so you can tweak it slightly to match your guitar. I thought that was a neat feature too.

Think I may spring for this puppy.

[bassplayinMacFiend]

I have the Tascam Bass Trainer and I love this thing. I use it everyday during my lunchtime practice sessions. It has a tuner and metronome as well as being able to speed up & slow down CDs. You can also adjust the pitch of CD playback in case the band didn't tune up properly before recording the song (run into this on 60s and 70s recordings). Also, the Tascam has special EQ settings to bring out or subdue bass frequencies so you can hear the bass better or try to eliminate the bass from the song and replace it with your playing (the guitar version EQ would affect the pertinent guitar frequencies). Turns out it's a good headphone amp as well.

I thought it was a little expensive at $150 but so far it's been totally worth it. It even does some effects like distortion, chorus & reverb but I haven't played too much with that. The basic functions are what I need it to do.

My wife picked me up a solid state recorder yesterday so starting today I'm plugging the recorder into the Tascam line out as well as the headphones. I'll finally be able to start recording my sessions so I can listen to what I played strictly as a listener so I can hear exactly what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. I'm totally stoked. :)

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, that Tascam guitar thing does the same sort of stuff, I was reading: alters pitch (in case your guitar isn't in perfect relative tuning), lets you slow the track to various speeds without altering pitch, eliminates the guitar so you can "play along", etc.

It is cool. But I was definitely interested in more of a compact, simple (and affordable) software-based solution for my needs (I don't want any more crap that I have to plug in, set up, carry around, connect to, etc.).

:D

[Mac+]

Another vote for the ASD - I used it a few years ago to cop some Dream Theater licks and the odd Toto solo. (Keyboards primarily, but I also love trying to get Lukather's parts down too.) :D

On a slightly different note, have you guys seen musolomo (http://plasq.com/musolomo) from plasq? This is the team that brought us Comic Life. It's a free download and offers an interesting way to manipulate samples on the fly. :cool: Plus, a couple of the developers are Melbourne based. ;)

[bassplayinMacFiend]

Yeah, that Tascam guitar thing does the same sort of stuff, I was reading: alters pitch (in case your guitar isn't in perfect relative tuning), lets you slow the track to various speeds without altering pitch, eliminates the guitar so you can "play along", etc.

It is cool. But I was definitely interested in more of a compact, simple (and affordable) software-based solution for my needs (I don't want any more crap that I have to plug in, set up, carry around, connect to, etc.).

:D

I hear ya man. In my case, the Tascam is the compact way to go. Otherwise I'd have to buy an Apple laptop, then buy ASD. Then I'd have to figure out how to fit it into my gigbag setup. :)

[World Leader Pretend]

I think that you might be able to do this in GarageBand with some minor tweaking. If you import the audio file into the workflow, you can use the tempo meter to speed-up/slow down the audio. I've used this with lots of homemade songs, but I'm not sure how well it works with externally created songs..
http://static.flickr.com/50/115971700_3364dc752e.jpg?v=0
Here's the meter in GB 3.