Change speed and not pitch

[BETELGEUSE58]

Is there a simple way to slow down a piece of audio whilst remaining in the same key? I use Adobe Audition in Windows to slow down guitar solo's to learn them and it retains the pitch. I really need Audacity to do this too. Is there an extra plugin I can get? The change speed function in Audacity changes the pitch and its no good for what I need to do. Any help appreciated.

[mickyc_ca]

That depends on what you consider to be simple.

There are two options here. One is to download a console application called soundtouch at :

http://www.surina.net/soundtouch/

Or, compile the sources for beta version 1.3.5, and include the soundtouch within it. I just finished that process, and it took a little time to find everything I needed, but I got it done. If you are willing to spend a little time doing it, I believe that it is worth the effort.

I hope that this helps.

[steve]

This feature is included in Audacity 1.3.5
If you use Ubuntu - download it from the Intrepid repo.

[BETELGEUSE58]

Thx for replies. I do use Ubuntu so I will do it that way.

Thankyou

[BETELGEUSE58]

Changed repo and upgraded to 1.3.5 and works great. Exactly what I needed. Changed repo back.
Thankyou.

[jonnyD]

I'm interested in slowing down trax as well to study guitar solos. I went to download a version of Audacity 1.3.5 as you mentioned and I only see a 1.3.6 (beta) version. http://audacityteam.org/ Is that what you meant? Do I need to do anything different with Windows XP?

Changed repo and upgraded to 1.3.5 and works great. Exactly what I needed. Changed repo back.
Thankyou.

What's a repo that needs to be changed?

[steve]

I went to download a version of Audacity 1.3.5 as you mentioned and I only see a 1.3.6 (beta) version. http://audacityteam.org/ Is that what you meant?

When this topic was started, the latest version was Audacity 1.3.5 (beta)
Since then, Audacity 1.3.6 (beta) has been released.

Do I need to do anything different with Windows XP?

For Windows XP there is an installation file available from this page: http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_windows

What's a repo that needs to be changed?

"repo" is short for "repository". It applies to computers running Linux (and BSD), but not to Windows.

When you use a Microsoft operating system, you buy the operating system on disk, or have it pre-installed on your computer. To add functionality to your computer, such as word processing, CD writing, photo editing, games and so on, you purchase additional programs on disk, or download them from various places on the internet and install them.

For people that want to use Linux, they will choose a particular "distribution" ("distro" for short) to suit their needs - that is similar to a "version" of Linux, but much more. All distributions of Linux are based on a common "kernel" which is the core of the operating system. On top of the kernel are all of the other bits and pieces that make up a complete desktop system, including a file manager, word processors, web browsers, CD burning software, photo editing software, games, and so on.
When you install a desktop version of Linux (there are also versions for web servers and other specialist applications), it will install not only the operating system, but a set of programs and utilities to provide just about everything that you are likely to need on your computer.

Each distribution of Linux will also maintain an on-line storage of all the programs that are included with the initial installation, plus hundreds or thousands of additional free programs that you can install if you want them. This is the "repository" ("repo" for short).

When a new updated version of a Linux distro is released, the people that maintain the distro will add an updated repository full of updated goodies for the lucky Linux user. The discussion here, was about grabbing a copy of the latest version of Audacity that had not yet been officially released, by temporarily adding a pre-release repository as a source for downloading programs, so that Audacity 1.3.5 could be installed, even though it had not yet been officially released.

The system of using a "repository" is part of the "package management" system on Linux, and is one of the great things about Linux. It means that you can install just about anything with just a couple of clicks, and also update not only the operating system, but any program that you have installed from the repository either automatically, or manually with a couple more clicks. Unfortunately this system could not be used with Windows, because they want you to pay for most programs.