A program to slow tracks? (for transcription)
 

I'm looking for a free program that slows an MP3 or audio file of any sort so that I can more easily transcribe it. While we're at it, what programs do you guys and gals use to transcribe?

Preferably for Mac also!

The Amazing Slow Downer

Not free but cheap.

http://www.ronimusic.com/

If you just google the single word "Transcribe" there is a great utility for this (for Mac's PCs etc). It is called .. "Transcribe"

It has a 30 day free trial and is the only one of these types of programs that is nearly artifact free. You can slow down to any percentage.

It's worth checking out and seeing if you can find a better one for no charge.

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch you can use the application "Music Trainer", which is almost free

Amazing Slow Downer is available for PC, MAC, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Me? I use Sony Sound Forge Pro. Not free mind.

Amazing Slow Downer is very good. Also a very good mp3 player, lets you change pitch, set up loops (you can save bits that you're working on), and do some other useful stuff. Should be a trial version you can d/l.

Any CD player made for disc jockeying will perform this slowing function (along with looping) as will a certain dedicated CD player from Tascam (the model number escapes me at the moment). I paid $200 for a Stanton CD player that will slow music. Make no mistake, a stand alone unit designed for this purpose will make the work much easier, but of course the trade off is having to pay more. The Tascam model for guitar player's is about $149, if I recall correctly.

I have both Transcribe! and ASD, and Transcribe! is much easier to use, loops and markers are easy to set up, and the quality of the slowed sound it excellent. It also allows you to add a pause to the end of a loop before it repeats - sounds like a little thing, but if you playing along I find it very useful. Neither is free, but its a small investment to improve your playing.

Paul.

Audacity is free. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Fran

Audacity is great - I love it, but its main aim is for recording/editing. Transcribe! is streets ahead for the job of transcribing - although I grant you it costs.
I used to use Audacity for slowing down MP3s, but I've seen the light :)

Transcribe! - Not free, but definitely worth the money if you make use of all the features.
Amazing Slow-Downer - Evaluation version allows you to slow down the first 25% of the song. There are perfectly legal ways around this limitation (think about it) ;)
Audacity - Not so useful for this purpose because it doesn't do real-time processing, i.e. you can't change tempo on the fly.

By the way, I just updated to the latest version of Transcribe! Great piece of software (and yeah, it actually does have an exclamation mark in the name :p)

As mmmaak, the esteemed leader of the AGF Transcribing Team (4 or 5 people ought to get the humor in that :D ) suggested, Transcribe! is an excellent program & the latest version looks rather slick.

:roll::roll::roll:

Did you make good use of the program, Scott?

Yea, it's been very helpful in figuring out some of the faster passages of various tunes.

I just purchased ASD, which I compared to Transcribe!. Although the layout of ASD is a little crude, I felt that it had slightly better sound reproduction at low speeds (to my ear, at least) than did Transcribe. The additional features of Transcribe, such as the wave form panel, weren't very useful to me, but then I rarely transcribe from scratch; I mostly am working from previously worked out transcriptions simply trying to work-out difficult passages. Either of them is worlds above the Tascam Trainer that I bought several years ago. The sound distortion on that at low speeds makes it practically useless.