Amazing Slow Downer: A Look at the Transcription App for iOS

Amazing Slow DownerWhile I have reviewed a few different “slow downer”-type apps (including Robick and Capo), I recently gave Roni Music’s Amazing Slow Downer a try and have to say that I’m mightily impressed.

I had used ASD years ago in college and found the original version of the software (shareware at that time) to be useful but, ultimately, unstable. For that reason alone, I hadn’t even really considered ASD when it came to iOS.

I’m happy to report that the app is not only very stable but seems to be the most intuitive and easiest to use in the game.

Opting for minimal graphics and instead focusing on ease of use and functionality, the ASD has essentially only one screen to deal with (not including an additional screen in which you choose tracks from your iPod library).

Amazing Slow Downer iPhone screen exampleYou have 6 sliders in all and a few buttons.

The sliders allow you to adjust:

  • Mix – Panning
  • Pitch – fine adjustment of pitch to .01 semitones.
  • Speed – fine adjustment of speed to 1% ranging from 25% to 200%
  • Two more sliders allow you to adjust your starting point and ending point for a looped section. The last slider allows you to move from within your looped section.

There are a few additional buttons which allow you to:

  • Set your starting point for the loop
  • Set your end point for the loop
  • Move your current position by one second (hold to fast forward or rewind)
  • Turn the loop on or off
  • Move your looped section setting forward or backwards
  • Save your loop as its own file within the app.

You can also store notes for the track as well as tweak the app with a variety of settings.

While I’ve been a big fan of Capo, I do find that if I haven’t used the app for a while, I have to relearn how to use it efficiently (reducing the amount of energy I’m putting into actually working on the track). I’d prefer to get to work and spend less time trying to navigate a pretty but somewhat convoluted app and ASD has allowed me to do that. It couldn’t be any simpler and it just works beautifully.

Amazing Slow Downer is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and Requires iOS 3.0 or later. The app is available for $14.99 on the App Store.

While definitely worth the price, if you’re not sure about dropping $15 right off the bat, check out the lite version. It is full-featured, but only allows you to use the first 25% of a track (up to 2 minutes).

Amazing Slow Downer is not available for Android. The company, like other app companies, explains why: “There is no simple way to do any low level audio programming with the current version 2.3 (or 3.0 etc.) of the Android operating system. This makes it very hard (even impossible) to do a software similar to the Amazing Slow Downer. We currently have no plans to support the Android platform.”

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Leave a Reply to Charles Martel Cancel reply

  1. I use “Transcribe!” by Seventh String software. It’s easy to learn and use and allows me to do anything I need to learn from recordings, and at $60, it’s wort it’s weight in gold!

  2. I’ve used the pc version for years and it works great!, I’m sure the iOS version is even better.

  3. The Mac OS desktop version is the best app of its kind for the price.