Audio editor for time stretching

[Burillo]

So, here's a problem statement. I regularly jam online with my buddies, and we use NINJAM for that. In order for jam to work, we need to set up tempo etc., but we also use backing tracks. Now, i have some backing tracks that i've accummulated over the years, and most of them line up to a click perfectly - but some don't. Most often, these misaligned tracks do have constant tempo, it's just not a whole number - like, say, it lines up perfectly to a 132.7 bpm click. Sometimes i can get away with simply increasing bpm to match (e.g. play a 75.5 bpm track as 151 bpm), but sometimes it's just not possible.

I want to fix these problems once and for all by timestretching the offending tracks to nearest whole bpm. Are there any audio editors that would allow me to do that quickly (as well as hosting VST plugins to quickly fix problems)? Of course REAPER can handle it, but firing up a whole DAW for this is a workflow hindrance.

To clarify - i don't want to match project to tempo of audio file, i want it the other way around - stretch the audio file to match a given tempo.

[Functional]

If you want a multitrack software that can timestretch, your only answer is going to be a DAW as far as I know. It just doesn't make sense to make a non-DAW software that is capable of timestretching over multiple tracks simultaneously. If I'm not wrong, the elastique algorithms aren't public? And if that's the case, it would cost too much for such a niche software

[Burillo]

it's not multitrack. it's a single backing track, already mixed etc., not a multitrack recording. that's why i'm asking about an audio editor, not a DAW. i know my DAW can do it - i just wish the process of opening, editing and saving the file back wasn't so arduous as it is with a DAW.

it doesn't have to be an editor dedicated to this task either - just a general purpose audio editor which just happens to also be able to do tempo-detection and timestretching.

[Functional]

Honestly, even if it was a singletrack instance, I don't see how any timestretching software can do it any better. The only significant difference I'd see between my Cubase setup and a standalone software is that Cubase takes a bit to load up.

But if you absolutely insist that standalone software is the solution, there's at least TS by IRCAM, listed at $100. I have not tried it, so I cannot say anything about quality. However, IRCAM is pretty much the historical top dog of music technology. OTOH, looking at pictures of the UI, there seems to be no indication of setting up BPM values, which means you'll have to convert the BPM values manually into percentages (and probably be constantly asking "Why not just do it inside a DAW?" from yourself in the process)

Other than that, I honestly don't know anything. There's PaulStretch which also doesn't have any BPM values in it and more importantly the way it handles transients would make it wildly impractical for your purposes.

[Burillo]

The only significant difference I'd see between my Cubase setup and a standalone software is that Cubase takes a bit to load up.

that's not all the difference. if you have one file, that's negligible. if you have multiple, then rendering and replacing the original files takes up quite a bit of time on top of actual time stretching/alignment. so yeah, an audio editor would be superior to a DAW in terms of workflow.

i'm currently checking out Acon Digital Acoustica Basic, it looks like it has the needed functionality.

[Functional]

The only significant difference I'd see between my Cubase setup and a standalone software is that Cubase takes a bit to load up.

that's not all the difference. if you have one file, that's negligible. if you have multiple, then rendering and replacing the original files takes up quite a bit of time on top of actual time stretching/alignment. so yeah, an audio editor would be superior to a DAW in terms of workflow.

Huh? I'm not sure if I'm getting you correctly... sounds like all you'd need is a batch export? This is something that Reaper should be entirely capable of. I mean I still suspect that I'm confused here because I find it doubtful that you wouldn't know what batch export is. I'm just trying to understand your exact issue and this has made me more confused

[whyterabbyt]

Have a look at IRCAM TS.

[Michael L]

IRCAM TS will give you the best quality results over all the others. I use it regularly. You will need to calculate the % stretch.

[Burillo]

The only significant difference I'd see between my Cubase setup and a standalone software is that Cubase takes a bit to load up.

that's not all the difference. if you have one file, that's negligible. if you have multiple, then rendering and replacing the original files takes up quite a bit of time on top of actual time stretching/alignment. so yeah, an audio editor would be superior to a DAW in terms of workflow.

Huh? I'm not sure if I'm getting you correctly... sounds like all you'd need is a batch export? This is something that Reaper should be entirely capable of. I mean I still suspect that I'm confused here because I find it doubtful that you wouldn't know what batch export is. I'm just trying to understand your exact issue and this has made me more confused

they're not all the same tempo, so batch export means having all of them in one project with different tempo markers, which is cumbersome. it could work, but feels like a round-about way to do something that should be pretty simple to accomplish.

look, the issue is simple. i have a track that has a tempo, but it's not a "whole" tempo (e.g. 123.4 bpm as opposed to 123 bpm), so i want to time stretch it to be of "whole" tempo (i.e. so that it lines up with a 123 bpm grid perfectly). now, replace "a track" with "a bunch of tracks, all in different tempos" - each of them has to be analyzed for exact bpm, and corrected to a "whole" bpm rather than fractional.

it doesn't have to be ultra high quality - just easy to do the described scenario, as i understand that it's probably going to be a manual process rather than an automatic one.

[woggle]

use a portable Reaper as your external editor for Reaper - then set up a mouse modifier to click on an item>open in external editor. Then set the tempo and stretch to what you want, save and close the external editor. It will now be the correct tempo and back in the main Reaper. There's probably a few refinements needed to get the process working but it should be quite quick in the end

[Burillo]

use a portable Reaper as your external editor for Reaper - then set up a mouse modifier to click on an item>open in external editor. Then set the tempo and stretch to what you want, save and close the external editor. It will now be the correct tempo and back in the main Reaper. There's probably a few refinements needed to get the process working but it should be quite quick in the end

now that actually sounds like a process improvement, thanks!