Riff Station(This is damn cool)

There's a free Winamp plugin called slowmedown at the Ronimusic site too: !Slow Me Down - DSP plugin for Winamp Works w/ Winamp 2 or 5. Slowmedown plus a loop plugin like this (Loop Master Musicians Tool - Winamp) makes a pretty nice simple transcribing setup.

ASD is the only program I've tried that actually sounds better than slowmedown. Transcribe! isn't very close IMO, especially on the solo instruments in the example I posted. It sounds there's a bell sound added to certain piano & clean gtr. notes, and bass (or Chapman Stick as in the clip) gets weird artifacts that sound like extra note attacks/muting just before/after actual new notes.
 
Digit said:
Song surgeon! IMO, you can customise files easier and quicker, amazing slow downer is ok too, but take a look at song surgeon before you buy, it slows the file down more as well for complex lead runs!
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The algorithm in Riffstation has no limit to how much you can slow down... but we limited it at 50% because we felt that the quality was compromised too much below that. Funny story...we actually have an "infinite" slow down mode which we tested but didn't release. You can actually sustain a chord infinitely with it. I'm not sure how useful this is but this was the test > Infinite Slowdown Example - YouTube

Let me know what you guys think.
 
NHD said:
Hi Dan, good to talk to you :)

I'm very interested in this kind of software. I've been in touch with Andy Robinson, the creator of "trancribe!", giving input and feedback.
I was also on the phone with Heath Nicholson, who invented "Riff Master Pro". I was excited about the idea of a visually more appealing software with the featureset of "transcribe!" Unfortunately Heath was interested in all my ideas except for the most important issue... sound quality.
None of the other programms deliver the slow down sound quality of "transcribe!" or "amazing slowdowner". Also "transcribe!" being the simple little programm it is offers very nice and intuitive tools to store and organize loops. This is super handy for learning and revisiting songs!
I'm not sure if you will be able to improve the soundquality of your slow down algorythm or if you actually think it's that important. For me personally it is. That's why I'm using "transcribe!" until "ASD" catches up on features or something more modern with the same quality comes along...

Thanks for listening.
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Absolutely, sound quality is the most important thing for us. We are all guitar players and of course audio nuts so we really want to build the best tool available in all senses :). I think what ASD and Transcribe has done is a great! They have set a good benchmark... but we will continue to improve our algorithms...until there is nowhere left to go.

BTW if you guys haven't seen it yet, check this video of Martin (one of the creators) during one of our test sessions > Martin G @ Riffstation plays the solo from Under a Glass Moon from Dream Theater - YouTube > he makes me sick with his awesomeness :)
 
Dan from Riffstation said:
The algorithm in Riffstation has no limit to how much you can slow down... but we limited it at 50% because we felt that the quality was compromised too much below that. Funny story...we actually have an "infinite" slow down mode which we tested but didn't release. You can actually sustain a chord infinitely with it. I'm not sure how useful this is but this was the test > Infinite Slowdown Example - YouTube

Let me know what you guys think.
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I vote to get that into the release! I can see where that would help when trying to pinpoint a note or a chord that goes by too fast. Would be a great feature.
 
Dan from Riffstation said:
Absolutely, sound quality is the most important thing for us. We are all guitar players and of course audio nuts so we really want to build the best tool available in all senses :). I think what ASD and Transcribe has done is a great! They have set a good benchmark... but we will continue to improve our algorithms...until there is nowhere left to go.
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What I don't understand is why the app window size is fixed. Waste of space. For example, in Chord Viewer a maximized window could show a much larger part of the neck, not needing to indicate the fret position.
 
Dan from Riffstation said:
Absolutely, sound quality is the most important thing for us. We are all guitar players and of course audio nuts so we really want to build the best tool available in all senses :). I think what ASD and Transcribe has done is a great! They have set a good benchmark... but we will continue to improve our algorithms...until there is nowhere left to go.

BTW if you guys haven't seen it yet, check this video of Martin (one of the creators) during one of our test sessions > Martin G @ Riffstation plays the solo from Under a Glass Moon from Dream Theater - YouTube > he makes me sick with his awesomeness :)
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That was a killer attempt at the solo and great isolation as well Dan.
 
IMO it,s simply a tool, nothing more-nothing less. Use it as intended and it can be fun AND useful. Like all tools it does have limitations, but let's face it there is no such tool as one that does everything. I really don't understand the nay-sayers, if you don't want it, don't buy it.
 
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I havent downloaded the trial yet.... wanted to ask....if anyone knew

Can you export the files you edit/transpose? (mute guitars etc. and then export the entire backing track?)
 
I picked up the Riffstation software just the other day. Works quite well.... I like it.

I have used other software to slow down the tracks and loop them etc. But this software is really cool for the isolation of the guitar tracks....it really works well depending on the recordings of course. Example: All the Van Halen tracks are pretty easy to pull out for main guitar tracks since they are mostly panned left. But, tough for bands like Def Leppard with two guitars and mixed differently. All in all it is very easy to use and works nicely.

I havent had the chance to use it for making Riffs (played with it a bit) and the Chord viewer is cool for beginners that can follow along with the chord changes as they prepare. I mainly use it for isolation tracks on guitar and learning solos etc.

A couple of things the RiffStation guys may want to add for future releases??? .....just wanted to put in a few thoughts while I have been using it.

- Hot Key or Short cut keys for play back and pitch/tempo etc. (Makes it so much easier when trying to replay parts to listen)
- Start and End points for the tracks (so you may easiy punch in an entry point and end point)
- Additional isolation areas so you may add more than one and isolate different areas of the track (mute/solo for each one)

Very cool product guys! 8)
 
yek said:
What I don't understand is why the app window size is fixed. Waste of space. For example, in Chord Viewer a maximized window could show a much larger part of the neck, not needing to indicate the fret position.
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Full screen mode has been one of our most requested features so we will be doing that for the the next version. We have lots of ideas for this :)
 
GuitarMan86 said:
I picked up the Riffstation software just the other day. Works quite well.... I like it.

I have used other software to slow down the tracks and loop them etc. But this software is really cool for the isolation of the guitar tracks....it really works well depending on the recordings of course. Example: All the Van Halen tracks are pretty easy to pull out for main guitar tracks since they are mostly panned left. But, tough for bands like Def Leppard with two guitars and mixed differently. All in all it is very easy to use and works nicely.

I havent had the chance to use it for making Riffs (played with it a bit) and the Chord viewer is cool for beginners that can follow along with the chord changes as they prepare. I mainly use it for isolation tracks on guitar and learning solos etc.

A couple of things the RiffStation guys may want to add for future releases??? .....just wanted to put in a few thoughts while I have been using it.

- Hot Key or Short cut keys for play back and pitch/tempo etc. (Makes it so much easier when trying to replay parts to listen)
- Start and End points for the tracks (so you may easiy punch in an entry point and end point)
- Additional isolation areas so you may add more than one and isolate different areas of the track (mute/solo for each one)

Very cool product guys! 8)
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Thanks Man and thanks for the suggestions. There are a few hotkeys but we forgot to put them in the documentation. Space bar will play and stop, "L" key toggles loop on/off and the arrow keys allow you to shuttle forward and back. Punch in and out for loop would be cool. We'll put that on our list along with the isolation tool suggestion.
 
Dan what would also be nice is a way to mark the sections either with a tic or a label. I use that a lot on capo. Being able to create a tic mark and label it Intro/verse 1/chorus 1 etc would be great. Or even better would be to highlight different sections or regions that you could name. Make it so you can color them some translucent color so all the verses would be translucent blue, the Choruses would be translucent purple bridges would be ... I know you get what I'm saying. The other question it would be nice if you double clicked the reverse button to go to home. That's it for now. I found this product awhile ago and I'm very happy I purchased it. I can't wait to see the improvements that others are suggesting.

Thanks Dan for a great product, and look forward to the updates. Peace
 
scottburrow said:
Dan what would also be nice is a way to mark the sections either with a tic or a label. I use that a lot on capo. Being able to create a tic mark and label it Intro/verse 1/chorus 1 etc would be great. Or even better would be to highlight different sections or regions that you could name. Make it so you can color them some translucent color so all the verses would be translucent blue, the Choruses would be translucent purple bridges would be ... I know you get what I'm saying. The other question it would be nice if you double clicked the reverse button to go to home. That's it for now. I found this product awhile ago and I'm very happy I purchased it. I can't wait to see the improvements that others are suggesting.

Thanks Dan for a great product, and look forward to the updates. Peace
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We plan to add this feature for sure in the next version. THe loop tool will allow you to save and label multiple loop selections. They will all save in the session file so you can mark out your verses, solos...etc...

Thanks for all the support here guys, we really appreciate it.
 
Dan from Riffstation said:
We plan to add this feature for sure in the next version. THe loop tool will allow you to save and label multiple loop selections. They will all save in the session file so you can mark out your verses, solos...etc...

Thanks for all the support here guys, we really appreciate it.
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Hey Dan one more question about the isolation. Can we isolate to the point where we can only hear the guitar parts,as opposed to silencing the guitars and hearing the remaining track.What
I mean is if we can remove the guitar and hear the remaining track,can we do the opposite to just hear the isolated guitar parts?
I am asking this an Axe FxII user,because then we can tone match any guitar part that is out there due to the Fractal's
capability to Tone match.
 
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