Pitch changer

Two ways to change pitch

The Speed & pitch tab has two pitch modes, and they do very different things.

Follows speed (tape style)

This is how a record player or tape deck behaves: play it slower and everything gets lower; play it faster and everything gets higher. The two are locked together. At 0.85× the song drops about 2.8 semitones, at 0.8× about 3.9 semitones, and at 1.25× it rises about 3.9 semitones. That linked sound is what makes slowed + reverb and nightcore edits sound the way they do.

Set separately (time-stretch + pitch shift)

This mode separates the two. It uses Signalsmith Stretch, a time-stretching and pitch-shifting library, to change the key without touching the tempo, or the tempo without touching the key. A Pitch slider appears, running from −12 to +12 semitones in 0.1 steps. The Pitch shift preset starts in this mode with the pitch at −2 semitones and the speed at 1×.

Because Speed and Pitch are independent here, you can combine them freely, for example slowing a song to 0.9× for practice while also moving it up a whole step.

Natural-sounding vocals

Every voice has formants: resonant peaks created by the shape of the singer’s throat and mouth. They’re a big part of what makes a voice sound like a particular person, and in natural speech they stay roughly fixed whatever note is sung.

A plain pitch shift moves the formants along with the notes. Shift up and the singer sounds smaller and chipmunk-like; shift down and they sound muffled and oversized. The Natural-sounding vocals switch turns on formant preservation, which moves the notes but keeps the formants close to where they were. The result sounds like the same singer performing in a different key. It is on in the Pitch shift preset. For purely instrumental music the difference is smaller, and some people prefer the brighter or darker colour of a raw shift.

Semitones and musical intervals

The Pitch slider works in semitones. One semitone is a half step: the distance between two neighbouring keys on a piano, or one fret on a guitar. Twelve semitones make an octave, which doubles (or halves) the frequency. This table translates semitones into the intervals musicians use.

Use negative numbers to go down: −2 is a whole step lower, −5 a fourth lower, −12 an octave lower. Moving up 5 semitones lands on the same key as moving down 7, so if a big shift sounds unnatural, try the shorter route in the other direction.

What people use a pitch changer for

Singing in a comfortable key

If the chorus is just out of reach, lower the song by 1–3 semitones until the highest note sits comfortably in your range. If it feels too low and quiet to sing, raise it instead. The tool doesn’t detect the key for you, so work out or look up the original key, count the semitones to the key you want, and enter that number. To find a comfortable range by ear, move the slider in whole semitones while you sing along.

Playing along with your instrument

Some recordings are in keys that are awkward on your instrument, or the band tuned down a half step. Shift the song so it matches your tuning: if a band tuned to E♭ standard and you play in standard tuning, raise the recording by 1 semitone. Combine this with a slower speed to practise a difficult part.

Matching a different reference pitch

Most modern music is tuned so the A above middle C is 440 Hz, but some instruments and recordings use a different reference. The 0.1-semitone steps help here. 432 Hz is about 0.32 semitones below 440 Hz, so setting the pitch to −0.3 brings a 440 Hz recording to within about half a hertz of 432 Hz. Older recordings that run slightly sharp or flat can be nudged into tune the same way.

Creative edits

Moving a song down 2–3 semitones at the same speed gives a darker, heavier mood without the slowed sound. Moving it up a couple of semitones brightens it. For slower or faster versions where the pitch follows the speed, the daycore maker and sped up song maker are set up for that.

Getting a clean result

• Smaller shifts sound better. Within about ±4 semitones most music sounds natural. Beyond about ±7, artefacts become easier to hear, especially on drums and vocals.
• Compare with the original. Press Original or the B key to check that the vocals still sound like the same singer.
• Use fine steps for tuning, whole steps for keys. Values like 2.0 or −3.0 change the key cleanly. Fractions such as −0.3 are for matching a reference pitch, not for transposing, since they leave the song between keys.
• Watch the low end on downward shifts. Lowering a bass-heavy song by several semitones pushes the bass deeper, where small speakers can’t follow. A little bass from the bass booster controls, or a low cut around 30 Hz, keeps it tidy.
• Export at high quality. If you’ll keep editing the file, choose WAV or FLAC. For listening, MP3 at 320 kbps is plenty.

The tempo (BPM) estimate stays the same in this mode unless you change the speed, which is a quick way to confirm you’ve only changed the key. Posting a transposed version of someone else’s song can still infringe their copyright, so share only music you have the rights to use.