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Warp

Warp provides a way to independently control both the rate and pitch of playback in real-time, allowing you to ‘slow down’ lightning-fast instrumental solos, or ‘retune’ an audio-file’s pitch to match the existing tuning of your preferred ‘non-virtual’ instrument.

Rate can be varied between 25 and 400 percent of normal speed, while pitch can be varied by +/- 1200 cents (1 octave).

Warp Toolbar item

Warp, like Reverb and Mix, uses large-format radial knobs to control these settings. The knob behavior can be changed in the Advanced preferences pane.

Warp Inspector

You can open the Warp Inspector using the Inspector button in the Toolbar (Cmd-2).

Fine control of rate and pitch can be made in the Warp Inspector.

To apply Warp effects, check the Warp enable checkbox.

Three additional audio quality controls are provided: Smoothness, Tightness and Quality. These settings are persistent.

The setting for Quality has a definite impact on the amount of CPU processing required to apply the Warp’s effects. On slower machines (G3 iMacs, PowerBooks and iBooks primarily) the lowest quality setting is the only level that won’t overburden the CPU. On slower G4s the ‘medium’ quality setting will consume more CPU cycles but will provide a noticeable improvement in sound quality. If you have a fast, modern Mac then the maximum quality setting should be OK.

Smoothness and Tightness can be adjusted to suit the particular audio file; in some cases this can be used to reduce (or induce) a percussive effect.

Global mode

When Global mode is switched on the current Warp settings will apply for all songs.
When Global mode is switched off, as it is by default, Warp settings will be saved along with the current track. Whenever this track is played, the saved Warp settings will be applied.

Note that only per-track settings for Neutrino Playlist items are saved persistently across sessions. Conversely, settings for iTunes and Watched Folder items are stored until Neutrino is quit.

Warp lock

When Warp lock is enabled, Pitch is automatically changed as the Time slider is adjusted.

QuickTime playback and Warp

When a track is played in QuickTime mode, for example a movie or a protected file (generally an m4p file purchased through the iTunes store), all Warp controls apart from Rate and Pitch will become inactive.

To maximise the sound-quality of QuickTime’s rate & pitch shifting algorithm, Neutrino attempts to set the render quality of Quicktime files to their maximum setting; while Quicktime itself will lower the achieved render quality to match the CPU, faster Macs should achieve better sound quality with rate & or pitch shifted QuickTime playback.

Related

More about Reverb & Equalize.