trying to use Varispeed- am I missing something?

[Mark Lemaire]

I have a song that needs the tempo dialed back a tiny bit. I'm hoping you can assist with what seemed to me a simple question, but clearly it's not that simple.

Recording into PMX 11 at 96k.

If I go to settings/ formats and sync, I see the Varispeed box at the bottom. It's set to 'nominal'.

If I switch it to 'varispeed' and then change the first value so that, instead of 1000/1000=100%, it now reads 800/1000= -12.50%, and save that setting, I see now that my sample rate is 84000 instead of 96000- so I guess it's working...

All this is great, but no change in the speed or tempo of the audio playing back. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[fl]

First off, what is your objective for using Varispeed? Is it to slow the tempo temporarily to facilitate an overdub or to apply some special effect, or is it to have the finished production be at a slower tempo and lower pitch?

If the former, then you have to look to your audio interface to see what is available there. Pyramix can request the audio interface to change from one to another of the "official" sample rates (44.1, 48, 96 kHz., etc.), but it's the interface which supplies the master clock, and it's by adjusting this that you can achieve a temporary change in the pitch and tempo, without having to alter your audio files in any way.

For example, with my RME Fireface 800, I can go to Settings > Formats and Sync and click on the "Control Panel" button, which calls the RME Settings app, where I can apply up to a plus or minus 5% speed change to it's master clock, which in turn affects the playback speed. Your interface may very well have a similar arrangement.

If it's a more permanent alteration you want, where the finished production will be at a slower tempo and/or lower pitch, then you need to either samplerate convert your source audio files, or wait and do it to your finished mix. This can be accomplished either through a Render operation if you want to merge an edited sequence of Clips into a single file, or if you would rather convert the individual source Clips, the Media Manager Tab's Convert menu > Quick Convert > and choose the Resampler or the ZTX Pro option (if it's available to you). You'll need to experiment to find which sounds best. Resampling will affect both pitch and tempo simultaneously, much like varispeed. The ZTX Time Stretch option offers controls to modify the pitch and the duration/tempo independently. In either case, in the pop-up where you enter the new file's name and file format, click on the "Properties" button, which opens a second window where you can adjust the actual settings of the pitch/time/samplerate conversion you wish to apply.