...wicked
Forget about TapeStop. It has a bug that makes automating it impossible.
 
The easiest way is to bounce the mix out and do the edit on the mix file. Sound Forge can whip this up quick and easy, I think you can also do this in Reaper by automating the master playback rate.
 
A month or two ago Craig Anderton had a Sound on Sound article on how to fake varispeed treatments in SONAR that I also seem to recall mentioned this in some way. 

Interesting.
 
I've used Tapestop on a couple of projects and have had no problems automating a slow down.

Are you doing a full "spin down" or "spin up" effect? Or are you just wanting to alter the playback rate to a different rate?
 
If it's the latter, I'd suggest Reaper. Srsly it's the only reason I keep it around. Separate playback rates for the master AND for each clip. It's pretty good at that.
 
If you're doing a full-stop type effect, then try the DimPro recipe. You'd probably have to do a hard edit on it at some point but at least doing the DimPro method gives you maximum flexibility to the final stage.
 
Interesting notes about TapeStop. I haven't used it in a billion years because of the automation bug. Maybe they posted a new version.
 
You could also try Glitch. It has a spin down process in it. It's a way bigger plug than just that, and it requires a few tweaks to get it working (because it's a plugin and you need to configure it as a synth to get it working IIRC)

I use Waves Soundshifter but I think it only comes with the larger bundles, they're generally pretty expensive for single plugs.

...wicked
Are you doing a full "spin down" or "spin up" effect? Or are you just wanting to alter the playback rate to a different rate?
 
If it's the latter, I'd suggest Reaper. Srsly it's the only reason I keep it around. Separate playback rates for the master AND for each clip. It's pretty good at that.
 
If you're doing a full-stop type effect, then try the DimPro recipe. You'd probably have to do a hard edit on it at some point but at least doing the DimPro method gives you maximum flexibility to the final stage.
 
Interesting notes about TapeStop. I haven't used it in a billion years because of the automation bug. Maybe they posted a new version.
 
You could also try Glitch. It has a spin down process in it. It's a way bigger plug than just that, and it requires a few tweaks to get it working (because it's a plugin and you need to configure it as a synth to get it working IIRC)

Well I'm more or less just looking to have creative options for either or and wasn't really sure where to start so figured I'd ask. As always I'm getting some good suggestions to at least wrap my head around the concept and most importantly learning appropriate terms so I can research this stuff independently.
 
For example: When you say "separate playback rates for the master and each clip" I'm guessing this means that each item being played back is playing at a steady tempo/rate but at a tempo/rate that is potentially different but independent of the mian output or other tracks (and you said clips so maybe even within a track but for separate clips within said track). That is useful, gives me ideas and is indeed part of what I was looking to learn about.
 
When you and others say things like "spin up/down", "varispeed" and "TapeStop" (the last of which seems to be a plug but also possibly a description of the effect of a tape shuttle resolving to a complete stop) I'm assuming that means more of what I was looking for (like the effect at the end of War Pigs).
 
Ideally I just want an easy way to manipulate and mangle audio like one could with a hardware transport panel and a tape machine feeding into another tape machine (or other capture equipment so the speed/pitch change is captured/printed for its own playback). It'd be even more ideal if this could happen by drawing automation for individual tracks or busses and even MORE ideal if there were a way to make the tempo map in Sonar follow along so then MIDI tracks would follow (the last bit isn't as important but man would that be cool).
 
So yeah... perhaps a tall order but the DimPro solution will probably do most of the work in a pinch and I'll look into the other plugs/DAWs (I am eventually going to be buying Reaper for my laptop anyway because Sonar is too much for it to handle methinks).
 
More of a puzzle to be sorted though and this one had been brewing in the back of my mind for a while. I just figured maybe there was some tool I was overlooking but I guess this is just one of those things that gets weird when dealing with digital tracks as opposed to tape.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Cheers.

http://www.waves.com/plugins/soundshifter

Sanderxpander
I use Waves Soundshifter but I think it only comes with the larger bundles, they're generally pretty expensive for single plugs.

Noted. Perhaps there's a tool crammed in with one the Izotope packages I've been eyeballing but have been needing less and less for various reasons. The inclusion of Melodyne in X3 made the urgency of an Izotope package much less urgent. I had been getting itchy for Nectar as pitch correcting solution but the money can go elsewhere for now.
 
I've also watched some vids on VVocal recently. It seems to do some pretty nutty stuff that I don't think Melodyne can. I think I'm still able to use it in X3 (because I still have X2/1 installed). Maybe there is a passable fakeout solution there as well.
 
Cheers.

Two votes for Soundshifter.
 
$150 is a little much to satiate this particular curiosity. Good to know it's there though.
 
Thanks
 
 

Yeah I probably wouldn't have bought it for 150 just for the odd chance I'd need it. I steadily upgraded from Renaissance Maxx via Diamond to Horizon. At some point it was just included. They really have a lot of cool "utility fx".

...wicked
The easiest way is to bounce the mix out and do the edit on the mix file. Sound Forge can whip this up quick and easy, I think you can also do this in Reaper by automating the master playback rate.
 
A month or two ago Craig Anderton had a Sound on Sound article on how to fake varispeed treatments in SONAR that I also seem to recall mentioned this in some way.

You don't need Sound Forge or Reaper. Like true analog  tape variable speed, speeding up shortens duration and raises pitch, while slowing down lengthens duration and lowers pitch and Sonar can do this. The most common variable speed tape effect I did by far was speeding up the final mix by 1 or 2%, which of course also raised pitch by 1 or 2%. This technique easily accomplishes this function, as well as the "Chipmunk effect" and a bunch of other cool stuff.
 
The speed change can be up to four times faster or slower, and you will not hear digital artifacts. In other words, it’s just like using tape except that with this technique, the speed change is not continuously variable. The thread referenced by scook has that and other "varispeed" techniques.
 
1. Open the clip in the Loop Construction window.
2. From the Clip drop-down menu, enable Stretch On/Off.
3. Move the Threshold slider all the way to the left (0%) so all the markers disappear. This is very important.
4. The two right-most fields adjust semitones and cents respectively. Do not enable the Pitch button! That will just confuse things. Cents will adjust +/-49 cents which should be enough. If not, for example if you need to make the pitch 70 cents sharp, set semitones to 1 and cents to -30. (For Chipmunk effects, set semitones to +12 .)
5. Render the clip, and it will reflect the pitch/speed changes you made.

Beepster
Now I'm wondering (and again this is merely out of curiosity) if there is some magic equation that relates to tape speed and pitch...

Just a simple linear relationship. For example an increase in speed of 10% corresponds to an increase in pitch of 10%. No magic involved.