What software to slow music down when learning by playalong

[Jaygetsreal]

Seeking the advice of TBers as I have run out of ideas.
I used to slow songs down in QuickTime Player but they removed that feature. iTunes never had the ability and whenever I try using a DAW like Cubase it mangles the sound badly. Same happens if I try and change the pitch to get a different key.

So what can I use either to slow down playback on the fly or to process & save a track at say 80% and 50% speed? I'm on a Mac. Oh and I mean the original song recording, not a MIDI file.
TIA

 

[2112]

I use VLC Player. Simply use the left and right square brackets to increment and decrement playback speed by 10%. Plus, it's free so experimenting has no impact on the ol' moth-holder (wallet).

 

[LukeSlywalker]

I’m following along. Sometimes this would be helpful for me but I never tried it because i thought the pitch always changed when you slowed it down

 

[bajaandy]

I use the AnyTune app. Speed up, slow down, change key, etc.

 

[Jaygetsreal]

Thanks, I will try those. Maybe I'll experiment using Running up That Hill

 

[Winslow]

I use VLC Player. Simply use the left and right square brackets to increment and decrement playback speed by 10%. Plus, it's free so experimenting has no impact on the ol' moth-holder (wallet).

Seconded, co-signed, and [bleep] yeah.

 

[5StringBlues]

Be aware that YouTube has a feature where you can slow things down without changing pitch.

 

[ddnidd1]

Check out Transcribe! by Seventh String. It performs speed changes but does a LOT more. Designed specifically for learning songs.

 

[Hyoga]

I use Audacity on PC. Slow down without changing the pitch works well.

 

[two fingers]

Amazing Slow Downer app. It is ridiculously good. I use it on my phone. Couldn't be happier.

 

[bfields]

Be aware that YouTube has a feature where you can slow things down without changing pitch.

Yep. And there are convenient keyboard shortcuts for it and for some other useful stuff. And a youtube link is often what I get when someone asks me to play a song. So that's super-convenient, and usually the first thing I try.

For something I'm going to do more work on I usually use Transcribe!, as @ddnidd1 suggests. The most useful part there isn't actually the speed- and audio- processing tricks, it's the markers--on one of my first passes through the song I'll mark the start of each section (verse, chorus, bridge...) and then it's really quick to skip to the part I need to work on later.

 

[Michael Vee]

Amazing Slow Downer app. It is ridiculously good. I use it on my phone. Couldn't be happier.

ASD does the job and is easy to use. I've had it for years now and like two fingers, couldn't be happier with it.

ASD website

 

[lark_z]

+1 on Audacity. Even slowing down 10% can really help.

 

[DblG]

I have the AnyTune app, but it will not work if I don't "own" the song. I have to buy the song on iTunes, it doesn't work with songs in my library from my subscription. Unless I'm doing something wrong...I've only used in a handful of times.

 

[micguy]

I use Anytune - I use it to transpose, and speed stuff up - I seem to need speed training more than I need to slow stuff down. Yes, it will slow stuff down as well.

 

[bherman]

Amazing Slow Downer app. It is ridiculously good. I use it on my phone. Couldn't be happier.

100% agree, great app

 

[biguglyman]

Another vote for Audacity. Free, lots of great features, free, easy to use, free, and did I mention it's free?.

 

[basseux]

I always wonder why not all music app, like streaming ones, have that.

 

[lokikallas]

Jamup

 

[Cave Puppy]

Sounds weird but sometimes SPEEDING UP a song with a complicated bass line can work better than slowing it down. Seeing the forest for the trees type of thing.