SpeedShift Slowdown Manual

Overview

SpeedShift Slowdown slows your audio down like a tape or a record, with the pitch dropping as it slows, and lets you shift the pitch separately on top. Use it to slow a whole mix, find a slowed down key and tempo that work, in Chop mode, slow the audio in windows that snap back to your project's beat, or in Stretch mode, slow it down without changing its pitch.

• It plays while your DAW plays. When the transport is stopped, your audio passes through unchanged.
• Slowed audio falls behind. Slowing down makes the audio take longer to play than it took to arrive, so the slowed audio falls further behind the live input the longer it plays. Forward, the speed arrows and the speed presets jump back to the live audio. See Forward and Chop mode.
• Undo: Edits can be undone with Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) and redone with Cmd+Shift+Z or Cmd+Y.
• Info bar: The bar at the bottom explains whatever is under the mouse. While your DAW plays, it shows the current playback speed, tempo and pitch.

1. Speed Control

Speed slows the audio down by up to 12 semitones (half speed). The pitch drops with it, like a record played slower, and the tempo slows by the same amount.

• Slider: Drag it to set the speed. The Speed Semitone parameter can also be automated by your DAW.
• Arrows: Step to the next whole semitone. They also jump the audio forward to the live input, so the change is heard straight away.
• Value: Click the number to type an exact speed. Right click it for Edit Value and Reset Value.
• Reset: Double click the slider to return it to 0.

💡 TIP: When the tempo comes out at an awkward number such as 140.04, use the tempo control to make it 140.00.

2. Pitch Control

Pitch shifts the audio up or down by up to 12 semitones without changing its speed, on top of the pitch change that the speed causes.

• Slider: Drag it to set the pitch. The Pitch Semitone parameter can also be automated by your DAW.
• Arrows: Step to the next whole semitone.
• Value: Click the number to type an exact pitch. Right click it for Edit Value and Reset Value.
• Reset: Double click the slider to return it to 0.

💡 TIP: When the result sits between two keys, use the key control to bring it into key.

3. Waveform

The band across the middle shows the audio coming out of the plugin, scrolling outwards from the centre. It is a display only.

4. Active Buttons

• 33⅓ RPM: Sets the speed to the classic slowdown of a 45 RPM record played at 33⅓ RPM, and resets the pitch. Press it again to return the speed to normal.
• ½ Halftime: Plays at half speed, an octave down, and resets the pitch. Press it again to return the speed to normal.
• Reverb: Press once for a serial reverb, again for a parallel reverb (its reverb has a low cut at 100 Hz and a high cut at 6000 Hz), and again to turn it off. The button is lit while the reverb is on.
• Spindown: Slows the audio to a stop like a record player being switched off, fading to silence, and stays silent until you press it again. While it is on, the speed, the pitch, the key and tempo fixes, Forward and preset loading are locked. The Spin Down parameter can also be automated by your DAW.
• Forward: Skips past the slowed audio that has built up and plays the audio that is arriving right now. Not used in Chop mode, which catches up by itself.

5. Key Controls

Set the Working Key to the key of your song with its arrows, and Resulting Key shows the key after the speed and pitch changes. A result between two keys shows both, for example "D# / E". The working key does not change the audio.

Click Resulting Key to nudge the pitch so the result lands exactly on a key. Hovering over it shows how far off the key it is.

6. Tempo Controls

Resulting Tempo shows the tempo after the speed change, worked out from your DAW's tempo.

• Click Resulting Tempo to round it to the nearest whole number, for example 140.04 to 140.00. The pitch is adjusted to keep the same key. Hovering over it shows how far off a whole number it is.
• Refresh (the circular arrows) appears when your DAW's tempo has changed since it was read. Click it to read it again. This does not change the audio.
• Target Tempo (the target icon) opens a window where you type the tempo you want and the speed is worked out for you. Redo Speed (Tempo and Pitch) changes the speed and resets the pitch, so the pitch moves with the tempo. Adjust Tempo Only (Keep Pitch the Same) changes the speed and corrects the pitch, so only the tempo changes.

7. Simple, Chop and Stretch Modes

Choose the mode with the SIMPLE, CHOP and STRETCH buttons under the top bar.

• Simple: The audio is slowed continuously, as described above.
• Chop: The audio is slowed in windows that line up with your DAW's bars. At the start of every window the plugin jumps back to the live audio, so the slowed sound stays on your project's beat, like a halftime effect.
• Stretch: The audio is slowed continuously like Simple mode, but its pitch stays the same.

In Chop mode, the Speed and Pitch panel is replaced by:

• Window: The length of each window: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 Bar or 2 Bars. The window follows your DAW's tempo and time signature.
• Smoothing: The small circle next to the window sets how smoothly each window joins the next: Off (a hard retrigger), Default or High. Click it to step through them.
• Speed and Pitch: The same speed and pitch as in Simple mode. Their arrows step by exactly one semitone.

Forward is greyed out in Chop mode, and at a speed of 0 the windows have no effect. The mode, the window and the smoothing are saved with your project and with presets.

In Stretch mode, the Speed control is replaced by:

• Stretch: How fast the audio plays, from 0.50 (half speed) to 1.00 (the original speed), without changing its pitch. The arrows step by 0.05. Click the number to type a value, or right click it to reset or edit it.
• Pitch: The same pitch as in Simple mode. Because the stretch keeps the pitch, this is the whole pitch change.

In Stretch mode, Halftime, 33 RPM, the tempo rounding and Target Tempo set the stretch instead of the speed. The stretch is saved with your project and with presets, and your DAW can automate it as Stretch Factor.

8. Settings

Click the SOTTOVOCE logo at the bottom right to open the 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.
• Load Preset: Loads a preset from the Default Presets or User Presets list. Unavailable during a spindown.
• Save Preset: Saves the current settings under a name you choose.
• View Preset Folder: Opens the folder the presets are kept in.
• Pre-Post Processing Effects: Two switches. 1.5 dB Reduction (Gain Stage) lowers the level before processing to leave headroom, and Hard Limiter (Clip Prevention) stops the output from going above full scale. Each item names the action it takes, and an item drawn in red is switched off.
• 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.