Chop Shop Phrase Sampler

[PhilHunt]

Awhile back someone asked me where they could find the Chop Shop device I use to slow Chet and Jerry licks down to learn them, here's one that popped up on ebay. They are getting harder to find. I hook my ipod up to it, put on some headphones, plug the guitar into it ,and sit on the couch and learn those tough licks.
It's nice because you can isolate left or right, remove vocals, change pitch, and slow it down real slow. It records 30 seconds and then plays it back.
Phil

http://www.ebay.com/itm/C-Tech-CHOP-SHO ... 43b052e19c

[Randy Finney]

These are cool.

On the software side, I have been using "The Amazing Slow Downer" http://www.ronimusic.com/ for years but recently discovered "Transcribe!" http://www.seventhstring.com/xscribe/overview.html which is far superior and is now the best transcription software I have discovered so far.

Randy

[RandeDager]

Hi Randy,

Isn't "Transcribe" the software that converts from digital audio to MIDI? If I'm correct about that, then I've heard that it doesn't capture enough detail to include everything once the MIDI equivalent is created. Maybe the latest version is fine. I'll have to look into that. However, for most of us who have spent decades deciphering what we hear, it is only for very difficult songs or sections of songs that something like this is needed. Songs like "Cascade" are pretty straightforward, and even though they are fast, it is the physical technique that is the real challenge, at least for me. I was thinking of more complex songs with a lot of counterpoint and multiple things going on simultaneously, as opposed to single note songs.

[Randy Finney]

Yeah, it must, as it guesses at the notes and also attempts to name chords. This feature is iffy at best and you can turn this off. I like it because it has really good EQ capabilities, will sync with video, has more advanced looping/bookmarking, processes in real time, and can record analog.

Overall, I just think it sounds better.

I find slow down programs are not so much about figuring out what the notes are as they are about practicing things slowly.

Randy

[RandeDager]

Hey Randy!

Well, for practicing things slowly, I like the newest version of Band-in-a-Box because it now has digital-audio capability and sounds quite realistic and can still be adjusted for tempo. It has come a long way over the years.

I was talking mostly about learning difficult passages while maintaining the key. Like many here, In the "old days" I would slow down a 33 1/3 rpm record to 16 2/3rpm and have to listen to everything an octave lower and try to "ungarble" everything. Those old days of trial and error with listening have been invaluable to me. The new technology is a blessing to so many people but my own inherent ability would never have reached this level if I had started out this way. Now it's just much more efficient to work with what is available, but I feel that I have a strong internal base upon which to build.

Ha ha, I'm beginning to relive my first days on this board back in 2007 when I had "diarrhea of the fingers" and was posting hundreds of times in any given week! I've cut down on the number of posts but I'll always be "a man of many words". By the way, I really miss Mike Joyce! He was an extremely in-depth and articulate poster here, not to mention one of great value.

[Steve Sanders]

I have a Sabine BackTrak Riff Recorder that used to be available from Musician's Friend that allows you to record digitally up to 30 or 45 seconds and play it back at the same pitch at full speed, 2/3 speed, 1/2 speed, or 1/3 speed. It has really helped me figure some difficult passages and has really helped me clean up my act and hear and learn what was really being played and not the way I "thought" it was all these years. I too used to slow down the old 33 ablums to "16" and try to figure it out that way. That was when I was startin' out. I soon discovered I could record a song on my trusty reel-to-reel at 7 1/2 ips and play it back at 3 3/4 ips with the same effect but with more control over what little ditty I was trying to figure out. I learned "Yankee Doodle Dixie" by recording "Yankee Doodle" on the left channel and rewinding and recording "Dixie" on the right channel. My old recorder has sound-on-sound. Course I recorded them reeeeeaaaaal slow so I could learn it. A lot easier that way! But the new digital stuff is much, much better! When I first got started we had a Western Auto Trutone stereo that was a coffee table with a slide out dilly that had the turntable and AM /FM stereo in it. The speakers were on each end and that made things difficult. And yes, I really did have a nickle taped on top of the tone arm! Bad on vinyl records! I would head down to the drug store ever now and then and get a new set of Black Diamond strings ($1.25) and a new sapphire needle ($0.79). Our air conditioning back then was a "swamp cooler" and those strings sure did rust quickly! Ah, the good ol' days!!!! Steve

[ancontreras]

Hi guys, I have just put on ebay my Chop Shop for sale (cheap!!) It is an excellent learning/transcribing tool, if you don´t like to run your computer each time you are gonna study, if you don´t trust on mp3 low quality audios for transcribing and you prefer doing it directly from your audio (CD), this is your device...Hurry up!:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0745888633



Thanks
Antonio.

[jay]

Just an FYI...
If slowing a video down is the object, the newest Windows Media Player will slow down videos, at pitch, 50%. I actually think it will do it quite a bit slower, but without the audio. Haven't played with it that much.

[ancontreras]

Hi again, just to let you know that you can get the Chop Shop for only $34.50 (That´s ridiculous! Only for a few more days. )

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... 0761194991

Cheers.
Antonio

[rabolton]

Hi,
I have used one called Transkriber for a number of years. http://www.reedkotlermusic.com/
Haven't had to opportunity to do any comparisons so don't know where it falls in with the others, but it has definitely been a help which is the most important thing I guess.

Cheers,
Ron