Reader’s note: This post is geared towards students of Crescendo Music System but others will find it useful as well.
The Amazing Slow Downer (ASD) app is a great tool for the practicing musician. Here are of some of the cool things you can do with it:
- Speed up or slow down a song on the fly without changing pitch;
- Change the pitch of a song on the fly without changing the tempo; and,
- Select and repeat a song section.
ASD also connects with Spotify and Apple Music so you can play and adjust music from those services.
OK Ted, you’ve convinced me. Where can I get this Amazing app (see what I did there)?
I am so glad you asked! Here you go:
OK, now that you’ve gotten the app, open it up. On Apple devices the interface should look something like this:Â
On Android devices it should look something like this:
Loading a Song to Play
There are several methods of loading a song, depending on where the song file resides.
From Streaming Services
For streaming services like Spotify, you may need to login to your account, depending on whether you have an Android or iOS device.
On Android devices, you need only be logged into your Spotify account through the Spotify app. ASD should automatically connect to it.
On an iOS device, you must log into your account and grant access the first time you want to use ASD with Spotify. Tapping on Spotify in the main menu will bring up a login screen:
Type in your credentials and Login. A screen may pop up where you give ASD access to your Spotify account. Click on “Agree.” That’s it. You can now use ASD with any songs in your Spotify library.
From an Android device, access your Spotify songs by tapping on the “Lists” icon in the upper right-hand side of your screen. This will bring you to another window. Tapping on “My Spotify Playlists” loads your Spotify library. Navigate to the song you want to load and tap on it. That should bring up the ASD player with all the controls you need to adjust the speed and pitch, and to loop your song.
From an iOS device, access your Spotify songs by tapping on the “Lists” icon in the upper right-hand side of your screen. This will bring you to another window. Tapping on “Spotify” loads your Spotify library. Navigate to the song you want to load and tap on it. That should bring up the ASD player with all the controls you need to adjust the speed and pitch, and to loop your song.
From Your Apple Music Library
If you have music in your Apple library, you can access and play it on your iOS device by first tapping on “Import Song,” and then tapping on “Apple Music.” This should bring up your music library. Navigate to the song your want to play and tap on it. It should now be in your ASD library.
Songs Already on Your Device
If you’ve previously downloaded songs to your device you need only navigate to it in ASD and tap on it to add it to your library.
From the Main Menu on an Android device, tap on “Songs.” This should bring up a file browser that allows you to navigate to the folders on your device that contain music files. Once you’ve found your song, simply tap on it and ASD will import it into its library.
From the Main Menu on an iOS device, tap on “Import Songs” at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the iOS version of a file browser. Locate your song and tap on it. ASD will import it into its library.
Adjusting the Speed
To slow down or speed up the song, simply tap on the slider button on the line that says “Speed.” Sliding the button to the left will slow down the speed, sliding it to the right increases the speed. The ” –%” indicator on the right-hand side of the screen displays the percentage of change.
On Android devices:
On iOS devices:
Adjusting the Pitch
To increase or decrease the song’s pitch, simply tap on the slider button on the line that says “Pitch.” Sliding the button to the left decreases the pitch, sliding it to the right increases the pitch. The ” -.–%” indicator on the right-hand side of the screen displays how many semitones (aka half tones) the pitch has been changed. The overall amount of change is + and – one octave.
So if you want to hear Jerry Garcia sound like Dolly Parton, increase the pitch by 7 semitones. If you want to hear Norah Jones sound like Sam Smith, decrease the pitch by 4 semitones.
On Android devices:
On iOS devices:
Selecting and Repeating Song Sections
Being able to loop sections of a song, while also changing the pitch and/or speed, are the most powerful tools ASD has to offer. You can work on difficult passages or riffs without having to continually rewind or locate where they begin and end.
There are two methods of enabling looping. The easier method is to select the starting and ending points of the section you want to repeat. Try it out by playing a song. To mark the beginning of a loop tap on the following icon:
On Android devices:
On iOS devices:
Note the slider starting next to that icon. You can adjust the starting point by tapping on it and sliding the marker to the left or right, depending on whether you want to move the beginning mark closer to the beginning or ending of the song.
On Android devices:
On iOS devices:
To mark the end of the loop simply tap on this icon:
On Android devices:
On iOS devices:
Again, you can adjust the end point by tapping on the slider next to that icon. And remember, you can still change the pitch and/or speed while in loop mode.
On Andriod devices:
On iOS devices:
To exit Looping, just tap on the following icon:
On Android devices:
On iOS devices:
ASD remembers the loop setting for each song you load. So, if you want to restart the last loop you set, just turn the Looping function back on by tapping on the same icon you used to turn looping off.
Phew, you did it. You made it all the way through this scintillating yet turgid blog post. I hope you didn’t need to take a nap somewhere along the way.
But if you’re tired, that’s okay.
It’s a good kind of tired.
Maybe a brisk walk or some jumping jacks will perk you up.
Me? It’s beer-thirty.
Feel free to leave comments or questions below!
15 thoughts on “Introducing the Amazing Slow Downer App by Roni Music”
Ted – your instructions and advice about the ASD worked! I’m working on the chords for “Got My Mojo Workin” which at full speed has a tempo of 256 bpm. Yikes! I used the ASD and followed the instructions you gave me at the studio a couple of weeks ago and now I can play the song at a manageable tempo for practicing the chords. Thanks again.
ASD has been invaluable in learning tricky (and sometimes fast) passages. Being able to isolate and loop a section–sometimes one measure at a time–and reduce the tempo makes it easier to get a handle on all those fast notes. Two notable examples are the Chuck Leavell piano solo in “Jessica” and the arpeggios in “Peaches en Regalia.”
Any song I download , ASD only plays about 40-50 seconds of it ! How do I rectify this problem ?
Hey Niall, thanks for the note. Are you using the free version? That may limit the length of playback. Also, make sure you have the looping turned off. Hope this is helpful. If not, as another comment and I’ll try and straighten things out.
Hi Ted,
Does ASD still connect to Spotify? I don’t see the option, but I’m wondering if that’s because I’m using the free version. Thanks!
Hi Ted,
THE OLD WAY OF DOING THIS 🙂
This reminds me of many many years ago a friend of mine (guitarist) had a device that could playback recordings at half speed. This, because of the physics of music, would result in it being exactly one octave lower. Then he would he would put it through an octave changer to bring it back up to the original octave but still at half speed. Ah, the good old days….
Hi.there I have a bought copy..I purchased the other day.. I have used it before .its great for me….can I put it on more than 1 laptop ?
Thanks
Kenny
Hi, I have been using ASD with Spotify for some time and have found the pitch shift very useful. I am now thinking of changing to Apple Music but apparently the pitch feature is not available with Apple Music.
Can you confirm that this is the case as, if so I will have to stay with Spotify.
Thanks,
Pete.
Hi Pete, I really have no idea if it works with Apple Music. It seems like it would!
It would be great of I could see the audio curve in the app!
Do you know if it’s possible to use it with Apple Music on an Android phone?
Hi Laura, I don’t know for sure, but I would imagine it’s possible in the same way I can access Spotify. I just looked it up, and no one seems to have that answer.
I do have an Android and the app did not automatically connect to my Spotify. I went to connect the Spotify by putting in credentials and it said it failed so it’s not picking it up automatically and it doesn’t seem to be working with credentials now what?
Does Spotify work with the MacOS desktop version? I’m sorry if it’s answered elsewhere but I can seem to find a definitive answer. Thanks!