Pitch Changes

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ScubaSteve1717
ScubaSteve1717's picture
Joined: November 17, 2009

I'm using the loop player to create mashups and I was just wondering if it's possible to keep the original pitch of the samples that I have when I change the tempo.

olegeeza
olegeeza's picture
Joined: July 20, 2009

this is asked a lot.

it's not natively possible with the loopplayer contraption in audiomulch.

the program doesn't have the functionality that something like Ableton has, where it can time stretch pieces of audio without pitching them up or down. that involves some quite complex processes.

the loopplayer is a simple contraption where it will simply speed something up or down, depending on the tempo and bar variables.

the ways that i would go about doing this is, is time stretching your loops in your wave editor, like cool edit pro/audition for windows, or wave editor for os x. these have plenty of pitch shifting and time stretching options.

i also time stretch in REAPER, which is the multi track DAW program I use. that uses the elastique algorithms that ableton also uses. i can just drop a piece of audio onto it, stretch it to the length or speed i want it at, then bounce it out again to use in audiomulch.
this is a handy way to go about doing it, because in REAPER, you're dropping the audio onto a timeline, so you can stretch it accordingly to bars and beats if you need.

that's two ways to do it anyway.
but no, audiomulch can't natively do this for you. not sure if it ever will really. i kind of like it the way it is personally,

cheers, louis.

ScubaSteve1717
ScubaSteve1717's picture
Joined: November 17, 2009

Thanks a lot for the help!

Spectro
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Joined: June 23, 2009

All the above is true, but there is a way to get loops to stretch to tempo, its just a little more trouble than dropping a loop into looplayer (but less trouble than employing another app) and could be of use if you don't need to manage a truckload of loops. Check the example Basic/TempoAutoTimeStretchSim

S.

WinterHillMulch
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Joined: June 23, 2009

Also remember not all time stretching algorithms are created equal. You can't maintain realtime performance and employ the best time stretching available. Ableton is a good case of this in that to my ears the time-stretching degrades the quality of the sound in a way that I don't reallu enjoy - but yes it is convenient for sure. Look around if you're going to pre-process files and try and find out what people think currently sounds the best. Way back when for example it used to be a stand alone app called TimeFactory but this has been out of commission for some time. Sonar, for example, is constantly increasing the quality of it's offline stretching options (developed by Izotope) and in the latest version allows quite a lot of configuration to match the stretching to the source material.

Sometimes you definitely just want convenience, but by the time you've layered a whole bunch of stuff up the difference can be significant.

Shannon509
Shannon509's picture
Joined: December 19, 2009

couple of older free plugins, and by this point maybe some better ones which will affect pitch. if anyone knows of some, let us know. RePsycho shifts down pretty good, but literally does not pitch up. Madshifta does, but sounds terrible. But the versions I have are probably years old.

pgnnwy
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Joined: June 23, 2009

don't forget that you can pitch shift using the DLG - although it can sound quite alien!

littlepig
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Joined: June 26, 2009

If you are going to pre-stretch the samples Paul Stretch seems to be pretty good.

http://hypermammut.sourceforge.net/paulstretch/

In AudioMulch you can use the bubble blow contraption to strech stuff by manipulating the parameters via automation but you need to experiment a bit with it.

Tree Farm
Tree Farm's picture
Joined: December 22, 2009

These methods are all helpful, but it would be a lot more convenient if AM had a native pitch change contraption. I hope it's something Ross is thinking about for future releases! I suppose I should go read that document about what's next to see if it's something they're planning...

Cheers!

Ross B.
Ross B.'s picture
Joined: April 11, 2009

Yes its something I'm thinking about but not something that's scheduled for development at this stage. -- Ross