TimeStretch Player is a free online audio player that allows you to loop, speed up, slow down and pitch shift sections of an audio file. This makes it a great tool for practicing or transcribing music. It is developed by Jonas Wagner. You can read more about it in this blog post. To get started open a audio file. Newest Plugins VST. Newest Free Plugins 3.3k Best Free Plugins 2.9k Best Free Instrument Plugins 1.3k Free Synth Plugins 457 Best Free Effect Plugins 1.6k Best Free Guitar Effect Plugins 52 Free Reverb Plugins 104 Free EQ Plugins 136 Free Plugins Host 100 Free Kontakt Instruments & Libraries 204 Best Free Drum VIs 115. This free harp VST became so popular that Versilian has now published version 2, which updates both interface and sound. Etherealwinds Harp II: Community Edition is a reduced version of Etherealwinds Harp II, which the company calls “quite possibly the most complete lever harp library in existence”.
We all know that these days, most DAWs come bundled with incredibly powerful timestretching tools. Even five years ago, dropping a track by 10bpm resulted in a noticeable drop in audio quality – now, it can be almost invisible. And while this is good for remixing and working with ideas, sometimes we miss the old digital artifacts introduced by timestretchers of days gone by. Not only did they add some character to the sound, more extreme examples could create a totally new sound to be re-sampled, triggered and mangled as you please. Introducing the Monster Timestretch from our expert instructor Daniel Herbert.
Designed to take your sound to whole new dimensions, the Monster Timestretch is all about creative sound design, mangling sounds and samples to a whole new extreme. And it’s yours, absolutely free. All you’ve gotta do is register and download from our website. Check the video and a word from Daniel Herbert below for more info on this brand new plugin.
“The new Max for Live device from Point Blank is a timestretching plugin based on a technique known as phase vocoding and can time stretch sounds in realtime. It’s similar to the fantastic Paul Stretch and is ideal for creating slowly evolving drone-like textures as well as more futuristic sounds. There are four different modes which allow you to play through and explore the sound in a variety of ways and literally freeze the sound. The plugin is limited to processing the first 30 seconds of an audio file and only works within Ableton as a M4L device and will not play in any other DAW. We recommend you use resampling if you need to record the effect to a new audio file.”
Don’t forget to check out our Ableton Online Courses here.
Video Transcription:
[music]
Dan Herbert: Hi, I’m Dan Herbert and I’m a course developer and teacher at Point Blank Online. I’ve been working for over 20 years as a musician, sound designer, and programmer. I released tracks in the mid ’90s on [Alps Tasty] and Storm. I’ve also worked in TV and film.
In this series of tutorials we’re going to be checking out the Max for Live plug-ins which we’ve been developing here at Point Blank. These are available for you guys to download for free. Make sure you subscribe to the Point Blank Youtube channel and also check out our free sample courses at Pointblankonline.net. [music]
The new Max for Live device from Point Blank is a time stretching plug-in based on a technique known as phase for coding, and stretches out sounds to the extreme with potential for creative sound design. As an example we could make a 30 second clip last for a half an hour, which could create slowly evolving drone-like textures. And, we look at techniques like this on the Ableton sound design course for generating new sounds and tambours.
We’ve included four different modes to control the amount of time stretching either using, midi, or your mouse, and most of the parameters are available to automate. If you’re unsure how to install a Max for Live device, please watch the other videos in this series. But, I’m just going to unzip my download and then drag the plug-in directly onto a midi track. Once it’s loaded then I’m going to load up some audio, so, I’ve got some audio here, just drag that from the browser and drop it onto the plug-in.
You can also import audio directly from your timeline. It will take a few seconds to analyze the file and instantly only analyses the first 30 seconds of a track. [music]
Let’s bring down the volume. [music]
So it sounds as though its playing normally. However, if we adjust the speed control, here, it’s a quite dirty-sounding time stretch. [music]
As you bring it right down, so all it’s doing is playing through this file at really slow speed. If you want to, we can select over a certain portion in the sound that you want to play through, and we can also move this selection point around. You can also change the loop by clicking up and down with this tool.
Let’s zoom in a bit. Got the zoom tool. Drag upwards. And we can freeze the file. So, you can really take your time to explore it. Forwards, or we can kind of jump around, with these kind of step-like textures. So, this is the default playback mode. If we want to turn it off just click the mute button here, and that mutes the audio. We’ve also got a number of other modes as well so timeline sync basically controls how it progresses through the file. If I press play, it starts from the beginning of the file, and moves through the file one frame at a time and it’s synced to the timeline. If you want this to progress really slowly, or faster, and obviously, if you adjust the tempo, this will also be reflected on how it progresses through that file. So you might find an example of when you’re going really slowly, you get some really interesting textures. Let me press stop, and it will change these textures in sync with your timeline.
The selection tool doesn’t have any impact when working with the timeline sync. The midi trigger mode basically allows us to trigger the sound from our midi keyboard. So, if I play middle C, and you can see this number changing here when I play different notes. Play a chromatic scale. So, depending on the selection, if I just select the whole file and play the keyboard again, so I’m just playing over an octave, again chromatically… And I can change that range by adjusting this range control here. C minus tool basically assigns the whole keyboard, so from note 0 up to 127. This on, C1, was assigned 5 octaves to whatever you’ve got selected, or if you’ve only got one octave keyboard you could potentially… you can see how far its jumping. So that’s C, C sharp, D, et cetera, et cetera. So those are the kinds of possibilities for kind of creative use, here. And, you can record that midi in, and edit it however you see fit.
And, the final mode we have, here is the slider mode. And, this allows us to actually explore the sound [parsecs]. Choose slider… Now, essentially what it does is freezes the playback speed. So, I can just move this slider up and down. Now this is related to the is related to the selection, so if I want to get finer control… Let’s find another portion of the file up here. We can obviously explore it, just like we did before… Or, we can get it to just slide around, adjusting this slew parameter. We can go backwards, we can go forwards… Or, what we could also do is, actually, manually adjust this parameter here. And this gives you the finest amount of control…
There we go, just press mute, so that is the Monster Time Stretch plug-in from Point Blank. It allows you to really stretch out sounds and explore hidden sounds within them. Try with say, acapellas, or kind of single parts. You can really create some mashed-up sounds from processing stereo mixes as well. [music]
A: At Point Blank Online, you’ve got two methods of interaction with your tutor. Firstly, you’ve got the weekly online master class which is in real time. And, then also we’ve got feedback on your assignments, and that’s known as DVR.
So the online master class is a one hour session that you get with your tutor every week. You can ask questions about lesson content, and get instant feedback. And, also demonstrations on the fly from their computer desktop with our streaming technology.
DVR stands for “Direct Video Response” and the concept is really simple. You upload your Ableton logical key-based project file to your tutor, he downloads it, and then pushes record on the screen capturing software and evaluates your work. So, basically giving you one to one feedback. You see all of the mouse movements and any parameter changes made by your tutor. It’s kind of like sitting in the studio over their shoulder, watching what they are doing as they work. We have found the DVR process has truly revolutionized the way that we teach online. And, the results speak for themselves. Book your place in a course now, by visiting Pointblankonline.net.
[music]
This post is included in Freebies, News, Plugins
Sonar / Cakewalk Tips & Techniques
- DAWs >Sonar / Cakewalk
Screen 1: You can select the various available stretch methods in Preferences, under Audio / Playback and Recording.
Zplane's advanced time‑stretching and pitch‑shifting algorithms are now available in Cakewalk.
There have been many updates to Cakewalk by BandLab since it was acquired, as well as multiple stability improvements. However, a big question on users' minds was whether there would continue to be any kind of major updates. The latest update (2018.09) answers that question.
One of Sonar's biggest limitations involved time‑stretching, and that carried over to Cakewalk. Although it was possible to change an entire project's tempo, it was a complicated, multi‑step process. Real‑time stretching was good enough only for a preview; rendering was necessary to find out what something really sounded like when stretched. Furthermore, the AudioSnap and VocalSync functionality based on the stretching engine exposed its limitations. I did find AudioSnap's stretching‑based functions very useful (although this often required correcting the transient detection manually, which is still an issue). However, the sound quality wasn't up to today's standards.
Free Timestretch Vst
Leaving On A zplane
Zplane's élastique time‑stretching algorithms have become something of an industry standard; you'll find them in products from multiple companies. Now Cakewalk has incorporated these algorithms, and their inclusion touches the entire program — including AudioSnap, which has resulted in major improvements as well as significant bug fixes. In addition to improved sonic quality, élastique time‑stretching also uses memory more efficiently, preserves transients without phasing artifacts, processes audio faster than the previous Radius algorithm, and preserves formants for both monophonic and polyphonic material.
There are two zplane algorithms — élastique Pro and élastique Efficient. The names are pretty self‑explanatory, but after working with both versions, élastique Efficient sounds very close to élastique Pro. Choosing Efficient for online, real‑time rendering and Pro for offline rendering narrows the sonic gap between real‑time and rendered audio. In Preferences, you can specify either algorithm for online and offline rendering (see Screen 1).
Free Time Stretch Vst
Note that the pre‑2018.09 algorithms are still available. For example, when using VocalSync or stretching with narration, I still find Radius Solo (Vocal) optimum for offline rendering. Stretching algorithms are complex, and optimised for different tasks, so it's important to do a little trial‑and‑error to evaluate which algorithm is most appropriate for a particular application.
élastique, C'est Chic
Zplane's élastique is now available for any stretch‑based functions — slip‑stretching, clips following project tempo, transposition, audio quantisation, length processing, fit to time, VocalSync and, of course, AudioSnap. These all benefit from the improved stretching. However, be aware that projects using élastique stretching won't sound as intended if opened in versions prior to the 2018.09 update. Of course, the easiest solution is to convince any collaborator to update to the latest version instead of trying to open a new file in an old program. Speaking of which, I don't understand why some people continue to use Sonar Platinum instead of Cakewalk — Platinum lacks several bug fixes, is no longer supported, and will never be updated. What's more, as long as it's installed on the same computer as Cakewalk, Cakewalk can access all the plug‑ins and other goodies that came with Sonar Platinum.
On the other hand, because the Radius algorithms remain available there's no problem with opening up older projects in the latest Cakewalk. However, you'll likely find it worthwhile to process any stretched audio with the new élastique algorithms instead.
Note that Cakewalk uses the default stretch options (as specified in Preferences) for the default mode set in the Track Properties or Clip Properties Inspector. You can override these in the Track Properties Inspector's Tracks field for Stretch Methods, and in the Clip Properties Inspector field for AudioSnap.
That's Not My Tempo
Suppose you recorded a project at 124 bpm, but decided that it would be better had it been recorded at 128 bpm. Until now there were two simple ways to solve this:
- Continue with the project until its conclusion, and then use a high‑quality stretching algorithm on the final mix.
- Load the final mix into the Loop Construction window, and raise the pitch to speed up the tempo. This is still valid if you want the tape‑style varispeed method that changes both tempo and pitch (and which also doesn't produce artifacts). However, you don't always want to change both pitch and tempo.
The following steps tell you how to change a project's tempo to a different tempo, assuming the project doesn't have to follow varying tempo changes (ie. you want a single, static change from one tempo to another):
1. Bounce the clips in each audio track to create one continuous WAV file per track, then slip‑stretch the beginning of each clip to the project's start (00:00:00).
2. Slip‑edit and snap the end of each audio track to the next measure after the end of the song, and note the measure (eg. measure 65).
3. Bounce each track to itself. Now every audio track should contain a WAV file of the same length. You needn't be concerned with MIDI tracks, which inherently follow tempo.
4. Change the tempo to the new tempo.
5. Slip‑stretch the end of each audio track's clip to measure 65 at the new tempo (to slip‑stretch, while holding Ctrl+Shift, click on the end and drag to measure 65, as in Screen 2).
Screen 2: A song cut originally at 92 bpm has been tempo‑shifted to 96 bpm, by slip‑dragging each file's end. Each file now ends on the same measure as it did at 92bpm, but the tempo is about four percent faster.
Assuming you're using élastique Efficient as the online algorithm, you might be surprised at the sound quality. Now bounce each of the stretched clips to itself to invoke the élastique Pro offline algorithm to obtain the best possible audio.
With projects that follow tempo changes, you need to tell the program which files should be stretched, and Cakewalk is no different in this respect from other programs where audio can follow tempo changes. However, the more complex the project, the more you're asking Cakewalk to do. So, let's start with the most foolproof way to have a project change its fundamental tempo, and also, follow tempo changes:
1. Bounce all the clips in a track together to create a single WAV file. (You actually may not need to do this — but it can't hurt, and could help.)
2. Surprisingly, I had good luck with stretching clips that didn't start at the beginning of the song, and didn't end on measure boundaries. However, old habits die hard — so I slip‑stretch the beginning of each track's clip to the project start, and the end of all clips to the same end point, snapped to a measure boundary. You'll need to bounce each clip to itself again to make these changes permanent.
3. Click on a track and open the AudioSnap palette. For now it needs to follow the current project tempo (not the target tempo), so click on 'Clip Follows Project'.
4. Repeat step 3 for the project's other tracks. Now if there are tempo changes, the audio will follow them.
While most of the time you won't encounter any problems, I've run into two potential issues.
Screen 3: All previous algorithms are available for transposition, but you'll probably want to use zplane's options.When you enable AudioSnap, the clip should show transients. However, in a couple of cases, even though the Edit Filter said Audio Transients, they weren't being displayed. This happened with tracks that had lots of Take Lanes, and who knows what was going on in there... There were muted clips and such. If you follow the steps above, stretching should still work, but if you want to see the transients, fold up the Take Lanes and delete any unused ones prior to bouncing the clip to itself.
In a few isolated cases, it wasn't possible to specify the current project tempo. For example, with a project at 92 bpm, the nearest option AudioSnap offered was 91 bpm, and choosing 'From Project' for the Average Tempo didn't help. I selected the nearest value, then tried selecting the Average Tempo again. This time 92 bpm was an option. I chose it, and all was well.
Transposition
Although most users will probably consider time‑stretching as élastique's biggest benefit, transposition uses these algorithms too. The Radius algorithm was OK, but élastique lets you get away with transposing by greater intervals, and with fewer artifacts. (See Screen 3.)
Life Affirming
élastique isn't the only change. Some people liked the one‑line opening affirmations (the notifications that appear when you open a project), and some didn't. Others wished they could add their own. Well, now you have control over this feature. Create a text file in Notepad called ProjectOpenNotification.txt, and place it in the AppData Cakewalk Cakewalk Core folder. You can have up to 100 affirmations, each up to 100 characters. Place one on each line. If you leave the text file blank, you'll see no affirmations. To return to the original set, just delete or rename the text file you created.