Repair Time-Stretched Drum Loops?

[Boy Wonder]

For flavor in my downtempo music, I sometimes use sampled drum loops and fills. The problem is when Cubase time-stretches from 128 bpm to, say, 70 bpm, the audio quality is degraded to the point it might not be useable. Is there a plugin to repair that new lo-fi sample?

[BertKoor]

From 128 to 70 is quite extreme. Here are some things I might try:
* Select an algorithm that preserves formants
* Set the mode to "tape". The pitch drops, but quality is not affected
* Stretch in multiple passes, each max 10% slower
* First slow down to the right tempo in "tape" mode, then pitch that up again to the original pitch
* Reconstruct the loop/fill from single-hit samples

[Boy Wonder]

Thanks for replying. I just checked Cubase's sampler. Its modes are music and solo, no tape. Its algorithm is set for formants, though. Nevertheless, I tried the slow-down examples as well as a few audio restoration plugins (RX 10, Unchirp, etc). They worked minimally, which is to say, not very effectively.

In any case, I found my fix - buy drum loops that are already downtempo to begin with.

[BertKoor]

Disclaimer: I don't use Cubase. I got the terminology from here:
https://steinberg.help/cubase_le/v11/en ... tch_r.html

Seems this relates to processing a piece of audio on a regular track, not the Sampler instrument.
So what if you insert the loop as an audio track and then do the stretching?

[whyterabbyt]

I kinda 'feel' that instead of going 128->70, then going 128->64->70 might work better?