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Half-speed playback

Posted: July 31st, 2013, 12:28 pm
by dpb
Shift+space in pro tools. I use that all the time to check sync and to see if I'm trying to do too much in a small amount of time. Sometimes I'll hit half-speed play and it will point out that maybe the sound I've got in my head, doesn't actually fit in the time duration of whatever it is I'm trying to design a sound for. From there I'll try to drop elements and focus on the main ones.

Anyone else use shift+space a lot? Do other DAWs have the same functionality with a shortcut combo?

Re: Half-speed playback

Posted: August 6th, 2013, 2:17 pm
by schapps
I've actually never used the different playback speeds for work. I should give it a try...

But the other day, quite by accident, I did notice that not only can you play back at half speed in Pro Tools with shift+space, you can also play back at a variety of other speeds with the numpad.

Try using ctrl+numpad (Windows: WinKey+numpad)

ctrl+5 will playback at normal speed
1-4 at lower speeds
6-9 at higher speeds

While playing, you can also hit numpad + or - to change playback direction (forward and reverse). Pretty cool!

Re: Half-speed playback

Posted: August 6th, 2013, 11:17 pm
by joe_griffin
I use shift+space as a gag, when a writer directs VO talent to slow down a read I sometimes will play back the previous take at half-speed. It gets a laugh, and I do it seldom enough that hopefully it has not gotten old! :?

On the serious side, I have also done half-speed recording, the same way Les Paul did for many of his guitar overdubs, to get a very thin, high, brittle, VERY fast guitar part. It's a fun flavor to throw in from time to time.

Edit to add: I also use half-speed playback for doing tricky fader moves more precisely. Throw the automation into touch mode, shift+space, and you've got twice the time to make those fader moves more precise.

Re: Half-speed playback

Posted: October 2nd, 2013, 3:23 pm
by axk
I've found that half-speed playback is great for checking sync against picture quickly, especially if you have complex routing in Pro Tools that isn't conducive to just using the Scrub function across a track.