Which software/plugin has the best time-stretch algorithm?

[Syntho]

I got very spoiled using Logic Pro X on a Mac Pro. Just click on the end of a region, hold option, drag, done. It sounds pretty good too, much cleaner than I would expect. But now that I’m using my old Macs more, I find that the time stretching algorithms available are way too dirty and are filled with artifacts. SVP for example.

What’s the best in your opinion?

[IIO]

 
well, SVP probably does samplingrate conversion with linear interpolation or something.

on MacOS9? probably timemachine/sonicworx, but if you like an algorithm or method always greatly depends on the material.

"best sound" for arbitrary material is probably melodyne, but it is the opposite of programmatically file editing i.e. hard to set a specific time in milliseconds with.

[GaryN]

I got very spoiled using Logic Pro X on a Mac Pro. Just click on the end of a region, hold option, drag, done. It sounds pretty good too, much cleaner than I would expect. But now that I’m using my old Macs more, I find that the time stretching algorithms available are way too dirty and are filled with artifacts. SVP for example.

What’s the best in your opinion?

Lots of variables here…
Are you comparing OS9 and OSX time scaling using identical sample and bit rates? How far you "pull" the the time counts too.
Scaling in "the old days' is less "grab and stretch" than in later apps. Also, SVP and the Acadia audio engine for example, was not designed so much with that kind of manipulation in mind as was PT and DAE, which were "born" more for use in the film industry.

* Note there is also interaction between the "new" audio created with different interpolated sample values and the ADA you happen to have. Resampling digitally encoded audio to be longer in time without changing pitch is a messy business at best. The amount of change, the original sample bit rate, the characteristics of the converter and the nature of the audio itself (big difference between say, a sustained violin note and a sawtooth-based synth and a male vocal etc.) and your personal tastes. What I'm trying to say is that your perceived result depends an a lot of things and getting an unsatisfactory result on project "A" does not guarantee the same result on project "B".

All else being (reasonably) equal, for maximum sonic "purity", I vote for Sonicworx.

[Philgood]

Sorry if that sounds pedantic but when I read IIO's suggestion of Sonicworx's
Time-stretch plugin I couldn't find anything at first.
It was because it's called "Time-Factory".

Is that plugin included in the downloadable package of sonicworx from our forum?

[IIO]

timestretch can by nature not be a realtime plug-in , it is a built-in function (from the menubar) only.

and timefactory is a standalone application (with more options than sonicworx - or peak for that matter)

[cyberish]

interesting reading, also here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/OT-Time-Factory-2-or-Melodyne-m778135.aspx

[GaryN]

Sorry if that sounds pedantic but when I read IIO's suggestion of Sonicworx's
Time-stretch plugin I couldn't find anything at first.
It was because it's called "Time-Factory".

Is that plugin included in the downloadable package of sonicworx from our forum?

* The original Prosoniq Time Factory was a Windows app
* The current Zynaptiq Time factory II plugin requires OSX

However……
There is a DSP Function menu in Sonicworx where you'll find both "Pitch Scale" to change pitch while keeping original length and "Time Scale" for changing length while keeping pitch.

It's controlled in a pop-up box where you set a slider to the desired percentage of the original. Granted, it's nowhere as easy as just stretch-dragging the end of a clip as in Logic but it IS there and it does work.

[refinery]

izotope radius in the PPC OSX days was top notch