I’m trying to learn to play some folk tunes on mandolin. I’m looking for some software that will let me loop sections and change tempo (without changing pitch). To help learn by ear, i want repetition and then slowly build up speed.
I thought Audacity would do it but it looks like it is lacking the real-time component (or at least seems to be in its infancy) unless there’s something i’m missing?
Get yourself a copy of ableton - the lite version comes free with loads of things including a bunch of music apps so you can often find codes that others are able to share. For your purposes you only need this lite version which is limited to 8 tracks.
The normal session view clip recording on an audio track will be exactly what you need
I’d also recommend REAPER, a full DAW just like Ableton, but the full feature set is free instead of a lite version, but Ableton’s a good one, too. I think OP would be harder pressed to find a program that specifically does that compared to just using a DAW that can easily do that and much more.
Reaper is not free, the trial is just very lenient on how long you use it. If you do keep using Reaper after the evaluation period, you should buy it - 60$ is a laughably small amount for such a powerful DAW.
Anyways, Reaper is super lightweight so it could be a good bet for OP. Although the number of stock VST plugins is fairly small.
In terms of what OP wants to use it for, it’s free in all but name. Even after evaluation you only need to say “thanks I’ll buy it later” and the popup goes away, all features still work.
It’s that friendly approach and incredible price that got me to fully purchase it and buy into the ecosystem I’d then been long acquainted with. Would highly recommend Reaper. Agreed on the light amount of default plugins, but again for such a small, specific use case it should be more than fine
Thanks for that, i expected something a bit more lightweight, but i suppose its a fairly niche use case.
Will put out some feelers for a code
if you want to get in the weeds, you could write a Max patch to do that pretty easily, and it has a free trial. Maybe too much of a learning curve but if you’re looking to write it yourself I’d give it a look.
Most dj software can do this, and many are free or have a “lite” mode. Check out virtual dj, rekordbox, and their competitors.
