Is there a simple way to change the length of an audio clip also affecting pitch?

[marcL]

Is there a simple way to change the length of an audio clip so that the pitch is also affected? Something like running a tape recorder faster or slower (like it was available on my Tascam 38 recorder) or like it is available in Audacity (Change Speed ...).

Edited December 28, 2018 by marled

[msmcleod]

10 minutes ago, marled said:

Thanks Mark! But I thought more of a way of stretching that maintains the inherent pitch change (like in Audacity with Change Speed ...).

The reason is that I have some older wave files (multitrack tape recordings) that have been played with the wrong speed (recording the waves) and I want to recover the original speed/pitch. Because I know the songs' keys I know the target pitch. All tracks belonging together have to be adjusted the same way (also percussion even if it has "no real" pitch).

For this kind of editing, I guess it might be easier to export to Audacity, do the change speed, and import back into Cakewalk.

It's a pity Audacity can't be added to the tools menu (well, actually it can, but it doesn't work quite as expected). 

SoundForge works so much better for this kind of thing, as you can fire up SoundForge directly from Cakewalk, do your edit, save and it's automatically updated within Cakewalk.

[msmcleod]

I tend to convert the clip into a Groove Clip, then adjust the pitch / tempo of the clip accordingly:

Changing the Reference Note of the clip, means that when I insert a pitch marker it will offset the pitch accordingly. For example, if I set the Reference Note to "C", then inserting a pitch marker of "D" will play it one tone higher.

Changing the Original Tempo when "Stretch to Tempo" is active, will stretch the clip to match the current tempo. So for example, if my project is at 160bpm and I want the clip to play at twice the speed, I set the Original Tempo to 80bpm.

 

[msmcleod]

An alternative way (although destructive unlike my previous example), is to stretch the clip using the mouse whilst holding down CTRL + SHIFT, then use the Transpose function.

For example, to make a clip half the speed:

[marcL]

Thanks Mark! But I thought more of a way of stretching that maintains the inherent pitch change (like in Audacity with Change Speed ...).

The reason is that I have some older wave files (multitrack tape recordings) that have been played with the wrong speed (recording the waves) and I want to recover the original speed/pitch. Because I know the songs' keys I know the target pitch. All tracks belonging together have to be adjusted the same way (also percussion even if it has "no real" pitch).

[msmcleod]

Actually thinking about it, you could try this:

• Right click on clip
• Select Process Effect->Audio Effects->Pitch Shift->Time/Pitch Stretch 2

It might take a bit of messing around to get the right tuning, but once you have, write down the numbers and apply to all the other tracks.

Remember to bounce-to-clips afterwards.

[marcL]

14 hours ago, msmcleod said:

Actually thinking about it, you could try this:

• Right click on clip
• Select Process Effect->Audio Effects->Pitch Shift->Time/Pitch Stretch 2

It might take a bit of messing around to get the right tuning, but once you have, write down the numbers and apply to all the other tracks.

Remember to bounce-to-clips afterwards.

Although this sounds best to me (it's exactly the way I would like to do it) I did not have success with these instructions. First I had to change my menu layout to "Sort by Category" to find a "Pitch Shift" submenu (proud, I got it! ?) and then I could not find "Time/Pitch Stretch 2" in my installation, maybe it comes from an additionally installed plugin?

 

15 hours ago, msmcleod said:

SoundForge works so much better for this kind of thing, as you can fire up SoundForge directly from Cakewalk, do your edit, save and it's automatically updated within Cakewalk. 

Thank you! I think this is the way I go for as I have SoundForge 11 installed on my system and I have already included it in Cakewalk's Utilities menu. Also, I have found the "Effects > Pitch > Shift..." effect in SF that should be able to do what I want. I'll give it a try!

[scook]

Time/Pitch Stretch 2 is not bundled with CbB. It is a very old SONAR plug-in found in SONAR's program folder called Stretch.ax. If a version of SONAR is installed Time/Pitch Stretch 2 should be in the Process Effects audio plug-ins. In SoundForge look for elastique Timestretch in FX Favorites.

[marcL]

4 hours ago, scook said:

Time/Pitch Stretch 2 is not bundled with CbB. It is a very old SONAR plug-in found in SONAR's program folder called Stretch.ax. If a version of SONAR is installed Time/Pitch Stretch 2 should be in the Process Effects audio plug-ins. In SoundForge look for elastique Timestretch in FX Favorites.

In both of my Sonar Platinum installations (Laptop & Tower) I cannot find the file Stretch.ax. The only file I find is Stretch.hlp. So it seems that this was either an optional installation or it was only a part of pre-X3 Sonars (I started with X3).

The elastique Timestretch in SoundForge seems not to meet the requirements that I described above as I want a pitch change that ALSO AFFECTS the clip length accordingly (tempo). My test with elastique TS resultet in a pitch-changed clip without any length change. But maybe I just don't understand to set the values correctly? By the way, the Pitch Shift effect of SF does the job!

[msmcleod]

3 minutes ago, marled said:

In both of my Sonar Platinum installations (Laptop & Tower) I cannot find the file Stretch.ax. The only file I find is Stretch.hlp. So it seems that this was either an optional installation or it was only a part of pre-X3 Sonars (I started with X3).

The elastique Timestretch in SoundForge seems not to meet the requirements that I described above as I want a pitch change that ALSO AFFECTS the clip length accordingly (tempo). My test with elastique TS resultet in a pitch-changed clip without any length change. But maybe I just don't understand to set the values correctly? By the way, the Pitch Shift effect of SF does the job!

I think I've got it courtesy of Sonar X1.

There was a spreadsheet someone put together on the previous forum that listed all the various plugins that came with each version since Sonar 3:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-Plugins-Sonar-3-to-Platinum-m3600605.aspx

As a far as I can see, this isn't on the list... but maybe the name is different.

[scook]

I looked through the SONAR Platinum installers and found stretch.ax was included through SONAR_Platinum_Setup_23.10.0.14.exe the last production release.

The hlp file is included in CbB but the binary is not.

 

Here is an image of elastique Timestretch settings doubling the time of a clip and dropping the pitch 12 semitones

When the tool copy returns into the project it must be slip edited to show the entire clip. Clip length in CbB will not automatically adjust for the new length.

 

 

[marcL]

1 hour ago, scook said:

I looked through the SONAR Platinum installers and found stretch.ax was included through SONAR_Platinum_Setup_23.10.0.14.exe the last production release.

I believe you! I just wonder what went wrong on my PCs that they are missing? By the way I use 2017.07 (build 37), because I felt it is more stable than the last version. I will try to reinstall on my laptop.

1 hour ago, scook said:

Here is an image of elastique Timestretch settings doubling the time of a clip and dropping the pitch 12 semitones

Okay, I understand now what you mean. You set the time and pitch independently of each other. But in my case I want the physical dependency of the two to stay intact, i.e. when I restore the original pitch, I want to get the matching (original) tempo automatically. But thank you anyway for your answer, because I like the elastique Timestretch dialog, it maybe surely useful for other applications.

[scook]

Stretch.ax is in SONAR_Platinum_Setup_23.7.0.37(Rebuild_1).exe

Try the synchronize pitch checkbox just under the Mode drop down in elastique Timestretch.

[Julien N]

On 12/29/2018 at 7:31 PM, scook said:

I looked through the SONAR Platinum installers and found stretch.ax was included through SONAR_Platinum_Setup_23.10.0.14.exe the last production release.

The hlp file is included in CbB but the binary is not.

 

Here is an image of elastique Timestretch settings doubling the time of a clip and dropping the pitch 12 semitones

When the tool copy returns into the project it must be slip edited to show the entire clip. Clip length in CbB will not automatically adjust for the new length.

 

 

Sorry to resurrect  this thread that I stumbled upon while trying to figure out pretty much the same thing as the OP.

I copied Stretch.ax from the last available SONAR_Platinum_Setup to C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core and tried to Regsvr32 it (as admin).

Unfortunately, I got an error message implying the module Stretch.ax might not be compatible with the version of windows I'm using (win 10 - 64bits).

Is any of you able to actually use Stretch.ax in the current version of CbB?

Many thanks,

Mdfbrk

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Julien N

[scook]

Yes, Time/Pitch Stretch 2 works in 2022.02 

But it does not appear in the menu.

I had to open an older version of CbB prior to the new menu (I used 2020.11) to get the plug-in in the FX MRU list to test it in 2022.02

I did not attempt to install the plug-in manually, it installed along with X2, X3 and Platinum.

[Starship Krupa]

Even though I never owned a SONAR Platinum license, I have that same elastique Timestretch plug-in. I have both Vegas Pro and SoundForge, so it must have been delivered with one of those. Ain't it great that Cakewalk still supports DX plug-ins?

My guess is that it would install with demos of SoundForge or Vegas, too. This is provided for informational purposes only.

[Julien N]

On 2/18/2022 at 5:25 PM, scook said:

Yes, Time/Pitch Stretch 2 works in 2022.02 

But it does not appear in the menu.

I had to open an older version of CbB prior to the new menu (I used 2020.11) to get the plug-in in the FX MRU list to test it in 2022.02

I did not attempt to install the plug-in manually, it installed along with X2, X3 and Platinum.

Thanks a lot Scook.

I guess I'll keep on opening the clips in another audio editor then when I want to perform simple speed/pitch changes without stretching.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by mdfbrk
spelling

[Terry Kelley]

Cool Edit 2000 integrates very well into CbB utilities. If you are wanting to do a speed change without maintaining pitch, Cool Edit works great. It's not so good at changing speed when maintaining pitch. I use CbB for that with Elastique Pro.

I also use Cool Edit for noise reduction and other dynamic changes and filters. It works like a dream and going in and out of CbB nicely. You can evoke it on a clip basis and it will save back into CbB. I would assume other editors would too.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Terry Kelley

[Julien N]

Thanks Terry.

I use Wavosaur for that purpose. It works really well too and integrates perfectly.

[Terry Kelley]

Wavosaur - I need to check that out. Nothing like moving out of the 1900's!

[scook]

On 12/29/2018 at 12:09 PM, msmcleod said:

I think I've got it courtesy of Sonar X1.

There was a spreadsheet someone put together on the previous forum that listed all the various plugins that came with each version since Sonar 3:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-Plugins-Sonar-3-to-Platinum-m3600605.aspx

As a far as I can see, this isn't on the list... but maybe the name is different.

I think @abacab missed it.

Understandable, it is not a regular plug-in.

Time/Pitch Stretch 2 was part of the SONAR core install and only appeared on the Clip Process Effect menu.

Unfortunately, the new menu system does not pick up the plug-in.