Hey Keni,
 
Odd that we have the same puzzle to fix. My tapes are from 1963 - some I can play back on my Roberts 770x (2 speed options) and some still sound like chipmunks.
 
From what I understand they must have been recorded for economy sake or to lengthen the taping time at 1 7/8 inches per second. If I just had short clips I would do them in Sonar by stretching but the tapes are 7" reels so that is not a reasonable option.
 
Best solution which I will trying next week: Download Audacity for free, set Audacity sample rate to double what you normally use, when recording play back reel to reel at it's slowest speed, after recording go to Audacity Effects and select pitch, set pitch to minus 51.50 and fine tune after if necessary. Audacity has a MONO/Stereo option.
 
Dan

danholobow
Best solution which I will trying next week: Download Audacity for free, set Audacity sample rate to double what you normally use, when recording play back reel to reel at it's slowest speed, after recording go to Audacity Effects and select pitch, set pitch to minus 51.50 and fine tune after if necessary. Audacity has a MONO/Stereo option.
 

I doubt the sonic results using Audacity, Wavelab, etc. will be any better than what I've described with SONAR, but I'd be interested in your findings.

Anderton
You can do this in SONAR easily.
 
1. Slip-edit the end of the clip so it's twice as long, then bounce the clip to itself.
2. Open the clip in the Loop Construction View.
3. Choose Clip > Stretch On/Off and set the Threshold to 0 (i.e., no transient markers).
4. Change the pitch semitone parameter to -12.
 
The file will now play at half speed. Bounce the clip to itself...done. This is the same result as slowing down tape by half-speed.
 
Note: In Step 3, you do NOT want Loop On/Off enabled. This is not about looping. Also Threshold must be set to 0.

I wonder if it would be faster to use the Clip Inspector as much as possible. The only thing the LVC has that is missing from the Clip Inspector is the Slice Threshold Setting.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work unless the threshold setting is set to zero - there can't be any slices, and SONAR defaults to putting in slices.
 
 

danholobow
Hey Keni,
 
Odd that we have the same puzzle to fix. My tapes are from 1963 - some I can play back on my Roberts 770x (2 speed options) and some still sound like chipmunks.
 
From what I understand they must have been recorded for economy sake or to lengthen the taping time at 1 7/8 inches per second. If I just had short clips I would do them in Sonar by stretching but the tapes are 7" reels so that is not a reasonable option.
 
Best solution which I will trying next week: Download Audacity for free, set Audacity sample rate to double what you normally use, when recording play back reel to reel at it's slowest speed, after recording go to Audacity Effects and select pitch, set pitch to minus 51.50 and fine tune after if necessary. Audacity has a MONO/Stereo option.
 
Dan

Hi Dan...

Yeah, i chuckled seeng yours now too... Craig's solution is what i needed though i had to chop it into shorter clips. I was probably going to do that when mastering and making the cd copy anyway...

This was from a full 7" reel recorded at 3.75 ips. My 2-track is a good, industrial machine from the 7.5/15 ips days of tape...

I have an older version of Audacity somewhere, i think on an old laptop. Probably too early a version, but i know i could easily download/install anytime if i need it.

Probably the 15dwy demo of wavelab woukd have worked for me right now too, but i have no money to spend right now

If your tape is recorded at 1-7/8 and full from head to tail, it means a bunch of separate edits. I did a full 7" 3.75 ips tape in 7 segments. As you can keep them in place, the clips can stay in order (after splittin) and if you use dead spots between music etc. the extra steps are painless...

If you have a lot of tapes, this would get old fast...

I did my 7 segments in near 20 minutes taking my time...

Anderton
Unfortunately, it doesn't work unless the threshold setting is set to zero - there can't be any slices, and SONAR defaults to putting in slices.

Yes, the LCV is needed to zero out the threshold. I was thinking it may be easier to lengthen the clip by entering a new length value in Clip Properties. I believe the actual length does not matter as long the the clip is at least 2x the original length. It can always be trimmed later. That said, I find it easier to compute 2x length rather the dragging a clip edge. Also the pitch in Groove Clip properties will accept -12 using the numeric keypad or typewriter keys. It is not possible to use the numeric keypad to enter -12 in the LCV.

scook
I was thinking it may be easier to lengthen the clip by entering a new length value in Clip Properties.

 
That's a good idea. If the LCV threshold defaulted to zero, then you could do everything needed in the Inspector...but I don't know if this is a common enough scenario that it would merit making the tradeoff of opening up the LCV and not having any transient markers.
 

I believe the actual length does not matter as long the the clip is at least 2x the original length.

 
Yes, that's correct. I usually just get lazy and drag out a long way, then trim later.

Anderton
If the LCV threshold defaulted to zero, then you could do everything needed in the Inspector

That or expose the threshold value in the Groove Clip section. Then the whole operation could happen in the Inspector.

Anderton

danholobow
Best solution which I will trying next week: Download Audacity for free, set Audacity sample rate to double what you normally use, when recording play back reel to reel at it's slowest speed, after recording go to Audacity Effects and select pitch, set pitch to minus 51.50 and fine tune after if necessary. Audacity has a MONO/Stereo option.
 

The results i got with Sonar are far better than I expected. The only thing that is a problem is the length of clip it can convert.

So if any of the other programs handle significantly larger clips, that would be the only "improvement" i might need...


I doubt the sonic results using Audacity, Wavelab, etc. will be any better than what I've described with SONAR, but I'd be interested in your findings.

Craig's method works great for the "tape effect". But the reverse is not so straight forward. if you wish to raise the pitch +12 after stretching the length 2x, it won't double the length. It shortens the length as you'd expect physical tape would.
 
So... is there a way to lengthen the clip while raising the pitch using this method?