Sotto Spindown Manual

Sotto Spindown Interactive Map

Spindown Mode Fade Presets Spindown Curve Info Bar Settings

Overview

Sotto Spindown slows your audio down to a stop, the way a turntable or a tape machine does when it loses power. Speed and pitch fall together. The curve sets how the speed falls and how long it takes, and Spinup mode does the reverse, bringing the audio back up to speed.

Edits to the curve, the fade and the mode can be undone with Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) and redone with Cmd+Shift+Z or Cmd+Y. The info bar at the bottom explains whatever is under the mouse.

1. Spindown and Spinup

Click SPINDOWN at the top right to start a spindown. While it runs the button becomes CANCEL. Click CANCEL to stop, and the plugin crossfades smoothly back to your audio. In Spinup mode the same button starts a spinup instead.

  • Automation: The Spin Down parameter does the same as the button: turning it on starts a spin, turning it off cancels it. The Spin Down Mode parameter chooses Spindown (1) or Spinup (2).
  • At the end of a spindown the output stays silent until the spin is turned off.
  • Transport: A spin runs while your DAW is playing. When the transport stops, your audio passes through unchanged, and pressing play starts a spin that is still switched on again from the beginning.
  • No latency: The plugin adds no delay to your audio.
  • Saved with your project: The mode is saved with your project. A spin in progress is not, so a project never reopens partway through a spin.

2. Mode and Fade

  • Mode: The button to the left of SPINDOWN switches between Spindown (the default) and Spinup. In Spinup mode the audio starts at the bottom of the curve and speeds back up to normal, and the last 0.9 seconds crossfade into your live audio.
  • Fade: In Spindown mode, the fade button fades the volume to silence over the whole spindown. With the fade off, the level holds until the last 0.3 seconds, which still fade out so the spin ends cleanly. Spinup does not fade, so the fade button is hidden in Spinup mode and comes back, with your setting unchanged, when you switch back to Spindown.

3. Spindown Curve

The green curve shows the playback speed over time. Time runs from left to right over 10 seconds. The top of the curve is normal speed, and the bottom is three octaves down, an eighth of normal speed.

  • Drag the two small handles to shape the curve.
  • Drag the large end point left or right to set the length of the spin, from about 10 milliseconds up to 10 seconds. Its height is fixed. While you drag it, the info bar shows the length in milliseconds and seconds.
  • The handles stay in order between the start and the end point. Dragging a handle past the end point pushes the end point along and makes the spin longer.
  • While a spin plays, the area behind the curve fills in blue to show how far it has got.
  • The curve can be changed at any time, even during a spin. Each drag is one undo step.

4. Presets

The preset selector at the top shows the current preset. Click the arrows to step through the presets. The list starts with Default Preset, then the other factory presets in alphabetical order, then your own presets in alphabetical order, and it wraps round at either end. An asterisk (*) after the name means you have changed the preset since you loaded or saved it.

  • Factory presets: Default Preset (10 seconds), Classic Vinyl Spindown (about 7 seconds), LA Stopover (about half a second, no fade), Rio Sunset (10 seconds, holding steady before it drops) and Toronto Outro (about 5 seconds).
  • What a preset holds: The curve and the fade setting. Loading a preset never changes the mode.
  • Saving: Settings > Save Preset asks for a name. If the name is taken, a number is added ("My Spin 2"), so a preset is never overwritten. Loading or saving a preset clears the undo history.
  • Where presets live: Settings > View Preset Folder opens the folder, which holds a Default Presets folder and a User Presets folder.
  • Presets can be changed at any time, even during a spin.

5. Settings

Click the SOTTOVOCE logo at the bottom right to open the settings menu.

Settings Menu

  • View Licence Agreement: Shows the EULA and copyright notice.
  • View Licence Information: Shows the active licence information.
  • View Manual: Brings you to this page.
  • Enable Fade-out / Disable Fade-out: The same as the fade button. Shown in Spindown mode only.
  • Load Preset: Loads a preset from the Default Presets or User Presets list.
  • Save Preset: Saves the curve and the fade setting under a name you choose.
  • View Preset Folder: Opens the folder the presets are kept in.
  • Scale-up Plugin Dimensions / Scale-down Plugin Dimensions: Shows the plugin at 100 or 150 percent. Scale-up is greyed out when the larger window would not fit on your display.

6. Audacity

In Audacity, the buttons that start and cancel a spin are hidden. Every time Audacity applies the effect, the spin starts from the beginning of your selection.