Amazing Slow Downer

[asatfan]

Sorry if this has been covered recently....but, anyone had any experience with this software? I saw a reference to it somewhere and googled. Looks like it might be pretty good. They want $49.95 for it. Any feedback?
Thanks very much!

Walt

[getbent]

it is terrific. Highly recommended.

[markothefish]

There used to be a free version . Try and see if you can find that one , try it before you buy .

[Dillon]

Been using it to practice/learn for the last three hours. Two thumbs up.

[Larry F]

I make and teach electroacoustic music for a living and have had many encounters with time stretching and pitch-shifting software. The Amazing Slow Downer has fewer bad artifacts (smearing, warbles, phasiness) than the vast majority of such software. I use it every day for playing with blues backing tracks. Hats off to this software. It really, really works.

[BrianF]

I've been a happy owner of Amazing Slow Downer for as many years as it's been around.. It is one of the GREATEST tools EVER invented for guitar players...it's THAT good. At $49....consider it the cheapest and best deal you EVER spent on guitar-related gadgetry. Basically consider it free. No affiliation...just a very happy long time user. BTW...none of the hardware slow downers (or other s/w packages) I've ever tried can compare to ASD...It stands alone!

[jhundt]

I am also a long-time and very satisfied user of Amazing Slow Downer. It drives my wife nuts though, when she is forced to listen to Buck Owens at 1/4 speed.

[asatfan]

Thanks you all! I'm sold! Now, I have one more question: I live in the sticks...no broadband available (except satelite and I'm not too keen on that), so I'd have to download over the dial up connection. That has been a problem at times. Is it a large file?? Do you think it will download okay?

Again, many thanks. I'm anxious to try it out. Any of you older guys like me remember slowing Clapton or Page, or even George Benson down to 16 RPM to learn their licks???

[asatfan]

Oops, forgot to ask...do you use this with CD's? That is the way I'd want to use it...I haven't gotten in to MP3's or whatever. Can you tell I'm not a techie??

[Flat357]

You can use it for both .

I find it a pain that Roni music won't accept paypal , so have not ordered a copy , though windows media player will also slow your music down equally good .

[getbent]

Originally Posted by asatfan

Oops, forgot to ask...do you use this with CD's? That is the way I'd want to use it...I haven't gotten in to MP3's or whatever. Can you tell I'm not a techie??

you can although I would suggest 'ripping' the cd onto your hard drive as it will all work most smoothly that way.

The download is less than 5 mb so it should not be a problem even on dial up.

Flat357, I have used both WMP and AMS and they are not equivalent products at all. the Amazing Slow Downer is much much better at doing its job for this purpose than windows media player. I honestly cannot understand why folks keep saying that. True, media player is free, but it does this particular set of tasks--barely and clearly lacks the depth that AMS has.

I have no interest in either company, but I own both products and have put both to these tasks and comparing them is like comparing a cozy home to a an old commercial building. They are designed for different tasks and while you could live in commercial building... it would always be a pretty major compromise.

[Brent Hutto]

The function built into WMP has a lot of artifacts at almost any slowdown rate. I have a little Boss MicroBR recorder with an MP3 slowdown and it is relatively light on the artifacts until you get below about half speed. The Amazing Slow Downer stays artifact-free (no chopping) at pretty slow speeds. It is definitely a fine-tuned algorithm as compared to "freebie" features added on to other products.

That said, for practice the choppy sound matters not at all. Any of them will give you an in-tune slowed-down version of the original source to play along with. Sort of like a beginner can practice perfectly well with a mediocre sounding practice amp but using a good amp is a much nicer experience.

[Hucklebilly]

Hey, does anyone know off hand if ASD is Leopard compatible?

[BrianF]

Originally Posted by asatfan

Any of you older guys like me remember slowing Clapton or Page, or even George Benson down to 16 RPM to learn their licks???

Yes!!! I like you used slow down records and later cassettes....but the ASD does it flawlessly without changing the pitch!!!!!

You can slow it down variably as much as 200% if you want and easily loop on any section you want,,, It can also adjust the pitch to correct recordings that have pitch errors..etc It works directly on mp3 files, wav files, or directly off of a CD without ripping etc

[BrianF]

Originally Posted by Flat357

You can use it for both .

I find it a pain that Roni music won't accept paypal , so have not ordered a copy , though windows media player will also slow your music down equally good .

Windows Media will slow down your recordings but does not have the neccesary features of ASD... such as aribtrary start/start looping features etc. ASD is essential for serious transcribing and learning tool

BTW a friend of mine loaned me his new Tascam hardware slow downer thing. I di not like it at all....lots of poor sound artifacts and nowhere as easy to use as the ASD. I consider ASD has solved the guitarits transcription problem and there's no need to look elsewhere. It's nice to have at least one piece of gear or s/w that solves a need 100%

[klasaine]

I'll concur that the WMP doesn't do a good job at slowing things down so that you can use them to transcribe a solo - I assume it's just a by-product of the program. "It works" if you only need to grab one phrase every 6 months or play along with a track that's slightly sharp or flat - which is what I do. But, if you really want to dissect some lead guitar on regular basis you need a "real" program for that.

[asatfan]

I'm convinced! I'm gonna order the ASD! I'm terrible at all this computer stuff but I'll figure it out. Brian, and all, thanks for the glowing reports. I'll let you know how I do with it.

[Flat357]

Yes , agreed ; windows doesn't have the same features .

I was simply stating that windows will slow it down also , should that be all you have .
Not many guys are aware of that .

If it had a looping facility , it would be much better in my opinion .

[VWAmTele]

Originally Posted by asatfan

Any of you older guys like me remember slowing Clapton or Page, or even George Benson down to 16 RPM to learn their licks???

yup - used to stack quarters on the stylus - the faster the passage, the more quarters were needed

[olewichita]

Originally Posted by asatfan

Again, many thanks. I'm anxious to try it out. Any of you older guys like me remember slowing Clapton or Page, or even George Benson down to 16 RPM to learn their licks???

yeah, it's still how i learned how to play and i'm 34... first with RPM speed then one of those pitch cassette players that wouldn't go down a full octave... so it was either in a different key or tune the guitar down as well... i have one of those tascam machines now and it's cool but i rarely use it... tj