SpeedShift Speedup Manual

Overview

SpeedShift Speedup plays an audio file you import and lets you change its speed, pitch and tempo while it plays. Use it to speed up or slow down a song like a record, find a key and tempo that work, shape the speed over time, chop it to the beat, or stretch it without changing its pitch, then export the result.

• Import a file to start. Drop a file onto the plugin, click anywhere on the empty screen, or use Import. Formats: wav, mp3, aif, aiff, flac, ogg and opus. The file starts playing straight away and loops.
• It has its own transport. The audio plays whether or not your DAW is playing, and comes out of the plugin's output. To play it in step with your DAW's timeline instead, use DAW Sync.
• Not automatable. The plugin has no DAW parameters. Its settings are saved with your project.
• Undo: Edits can be undone with Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) and redone with Cmd+Shift+Z or Cmd+Y. Changing mode, confirming a trim and reversing cannot be undone, and changing mode clears the undo history.
• Spacebar plays and pauses.
• Info bar: The bar at the bottom explains whatever is under the mouse. While audio plays, it shows the current playback speed, tempo and pitch.

💡 TIP: If the sample rate of the imported file does not match your DAW's session, the plugin resamples it for playback. See HD Resample on Import in Settings. Exports are always made from the original file.

1. Speed Control

Speed changes the speed of the audio by up to 24 semitones either way, like a record played faster or slower. The pitch and the tempo move together: up 12 semitones is double speed, down 12 is half speed.

• Slider: Drag it to set the speed. Hold Shift or Cmd while dragging for finer steps. Values near a whole semitone snap to it.
• Arrows: Step to the next whole semitone.
• Value: Click the number to type an exact speed. Right click it for Edit Value and Reset Value.
• Reset: Double click or right click the slider to return it to 0.

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

2. Pitch Control

Pitch shifts the audio up or down by up to 24 semitones without changing its speed, on top of the pitch change the speed causes.

• Slider, arrows and value: Work as for Speed. The arrows step to the next whole semitone.
• Reset: Double click or right click the slider to return it to 0.

💡 TIP: When the result sits between two keys, click Resulting Key to bring it into key.

3. Tempo Adjustment

Tempo Adjustment adds or takes away up to 120 BPM from the tempo without changing the pitch.

• Slider, arrows and value: Work as for Speed. The arrows change the tempo by 1 BPM.
• Reset: Double click or right click the slider to return it to 0.

The resulting tempo is the original tempo changed by the speed, plus the tempo adjustment. It is shown at the top right under Resulting Tempo.

4. Waveform

The waveform shows the whole file, or the trimmed part of it, and colours in how far playback has got. Click anywhere on it to play from there. If the audio is paused, clicking starts it again. Hovering over it shows the time at that point in the info bar.

The waveform cannot be clicked on the trim page or while DAW Sync is on.

5. Active Buttons

• Play / Pause: Plays or pauses the audio. You can also press the spacebar. While DAW Sync is on, your DAW's transport plays and stops the audio instead.
• 33⅓ RPM: Sets the speed to the classic slowdown of a 45 RPM record played at 33⅓ RPM, and resets the pitch and the tempo adjustment. Press it again to return the speed to normal.
• ½ Halftime: Plays at half speed, an octave down, and resets the pitch and the tempo adjustment. 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 shows which reverb is on.
• Import: Opens a file browser to choose a file to import. Formats: wav, mp3, aif, aiff, flac, ogg and opus.
• Export: Saves the audio with your changes to a file. See Export.

In Grid, Chop and Stretch modes, 33⅓ RPM and Halftime set that mode's own controls to the same result. They are unavailable in Automation mode and on the trim page, and Import and Export are unavailable on the trim page.

6. Modes

Choose how the audio is changed with SIMPLE, AUTO, GRID, CHOP and STRETCH under the top bar. Each mode keeps its own settings, and the mode is saved with your project. Changing mode clears the undo history.

Simple

The Speed, Pitch and Tempo Adjustment controls described above, applied to the whole file.

Automation

Draw how the speed, the pitch and the tempo change over the length of the file. The curves are drawn over the waveform, and the readouts at the top follow them as the audio plays.

• Lanes: SPEED, PITCH and TEMPO choose which curve you are editing. CLEAR flattens the chosen curve.
• Add a point: Press and hold to hear the value under the mouse, then release to place the point.
• Move a point: Drag it. Hold Shift or Cmd for finer movement.
• Bend a line: Drag the handle in the middle of a line to curve it. Right click the handle to straighten it.
• Delete a point: Right click it. Right clicking an end point resets it.

Each lane holds up to 64 points. The curves span the trimmed part of the file. While in Automation mode, 33⅓ RPM, Halftime, the key and tempo fixes and Target Tempo are unavailable.

Grid

A pad replaces the three sliders. Left and right change the tempo by up to 120 BPM either way, and up and down change the pitch by up to 24 semitones either way, independently of each other.

• Click or drag on the pad to move the point. Hold Shift or Cmd for finer movement. The label next to the point shows the pitch and the tempo change.
• Right click the pad to return the point to the centre.

Chop

The audio is changed in windows that follow the beat of the original audio. At the start of every window, playback jumps back to where that window starts in the original, so the changed sound stays on the original beat, like a halftime effect.

• Window: The length of each window: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1 Bar or 2 Bars, measured from the original tempo you set with the wrench.
• Smoothing: The small circle next to the window sets how smoothly each window joins the next: Off, Default or High. Click it to step through them.
• Chop Speed and Chop Pitch: Their own speed and pitch, separate from Simple mode. Chop Speed starts at -12 semitones (halftime), and its resets return to -12.

Stretch

Changes the length of the audio without changing its pitch.

• Stretch Factor: From 0.25x to 4x. Above 1x the audio plays faster, below 1x slower. Its arrows step by 0.1, and resetting returns it to 1x.
• Pitch: Shifts the pitch by up to 24 semitones either way.
• Tempo: Adds or takes away up to 120 BPM.

7. Trim, Reverse and DAW Sync

Trim

TRIM opens the trim page, where you choose the part of the file to play and export.

• Handles: Drag the start and end handles. Hold Shift for finer movement.
• Start and End: Type exact times as minutes, seconds and hundredths. The fields always read mm:ss.cc. Click a field to put the cursor where you clicked, and each digit you type replaces the one after the cursor. Tab jumps to the other field and selects its whole time, so the first digit you type clears it and fills it from the left (3 shows 3_:__.__). Type : or . to move on to the seconds or the hundredths, so 1:30 gives 01:30.__. Backspace clears a digit. Return applies the time (empty places count as 0) and Esc discards what you typed. You can also paste a time written as ss, mm:ss.cc or h:mm:ss.cc. A time at or past the end of the file sets the end of the file. The duration is shown beside them. The trimmed part is at least 250 ms long.
• Preview: Click inside the region to hear it from its start, or use the play and pause button. The rewind button goes back to its start.
• Confirm or Cancel: The tick keeps the new region and the cross discards it. Confirming fits the automation curves to the new region and clears the undo history.

Reverse

REVERSE plays the file backwards, and the button is lit while it is on. Press it again to play forwards. Reversing cannot be undone, and the automation curves are not reversed with the audio.

DAW Sync

DAW SYNC plays the audio in step with your DAW's timeline instead of the plugin's own transport. It is lit while it is on.

• Turning it on opens Sync Start, where you set the position in your DAW where the audio begins, in bars, beats and sixteenths or in hours, minutes and seconds. Use DAW Seek Position as Start Point fills in where your DAW's playhead is. Cancel turns DAW Sync back off.
• Press play in your DAW and the audio plays from that position. Before the start position, the info bar counts down the seconds until playback starts.
• While it is on, the plugin's own play button and the spacebar do nothing, and the waveform follows your DAW's playhead.

8. 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. The working key does not change the audio. You can also detect it with Detection in Settings.

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.

9. Tempo Controls

Resulting Tempo shows the tempo after your changes, worked out from the original tempo of the audio. If your changes take the tempo to zero or below, for example an original tempo of 120 with a tempo adjustment of -120, it stops at its lowest limit of 0.01 and the number turns red. No audio will be heard until you raise it again.

• Click Resulting Tempo to round it to the nearest whole number, for example 140.04 to 140.00, by changing the tempo adjustment. Hovering over it shows how far off a whole number it is.
• The wrench opens Set Original Tempo, where you type the tempo of the imported audio. Tap TAP TEMPO along with the music to find it. You can also detect it with Detection in Settings.
• The target icon opens Target Tempo, where you type the tempo you want. Redo Speed (Tempo and Pitch) sets the speed to reach it and resets the pitch and the tempo adjustment, so the pitch moves with the tempo. Adjust Tempo Only (Keep Pitch the Same) changes only the tempo adjustment. The target icon is hidden in Automation and Grid modes.

10. Changing Tracks

The arrows at the bottom left and bottom right import the previous or next audio file in the same folder as the current one, in alphabetical order, wrapping around at the ends. Hovering over them shows the name of the file they will open.

11. Export

Export renders the whole file, or its trimmed part, with your current mode, changes and reverb, from the original file at its own sample rate.

• File Format: Wav, Mp3, Ogg, Flac, Aiff or Opus. Mp3 is listed only when the LAME encoder was installed with the plugin. If it is missing, run the installer again and tick the LAME encoder.
• Pre & Post Processing Effects: The 1.5 dB gain reduction and the hard limiter, the same switches as in Settings.
• Export: Asks where to save the file, then saves it and shows it in its folder.
• Export Directly to DAW: Asks where to save the file, saves it, then shows a Drag to DAW panel. Drag from the panel into your DAW's project or a folder to drop the file there.

12. 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 while importing or exporting.
• Save Preset: Saves the current settings under a name you choose. A preset holds the speed, pitch, tempo adjustment, reverb, reverse, effects, automation curves and the settings of the Grid, Chop and Stretch modes. It does not hold the imported file, its original tempo and key, the mode, the trim or DAW Sync.
• View Preset Folder: Opens the folder the presets are kept in.
• Recent Imports: Imports one of the last 10 files again. Clear Recent Imports empties the list.
• Show Current Import In Folder: Shows the imported file in its folder.
• Enable HD Resample on Import / Enable Fast Resample on Import: Only has an effect when the imported file's sample rate does not match your DAW's session. HD uses a slower but higher quality resample for playback. This has NO EFFECT on the exported audio, which is always made from the original file.
• Enable / Disable Always Prompt Original Tempo: When enabled, Set Original Tempo opens after every import.
• Enable / Disable Playback Looping: When looping is off, playback stops at the end and returns to the start.
• 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.
• Detection: Detect Key and Detect Tempo listen to the imported audio and offer the key or the tempo they find, to use as the working key or the original tempo.
• 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.