Timestretching without distorting a sample- is it possible??

I've been trying to timestretch a sample, the tempo of which is about 174 bpm (btw my mpc detects it as 172.2) and would like to convert it into 168 bpm. Every time I try to do it, after the conversion there are some distortions in the sample and it does not sound well. Is it impossible to do it without any distortion, I mean- does timestretching work without distorting only for very small changes of tempo or what? I've tried to do it both by timestretching only the part of the song that I'd like to sample and with the whole song itself but it doesn't work. Please help! Peace

Not on the MPC. Try some FFT-based software. PaulStretch comes to mind but I don't think it will work with such a subtle tempo difference.

Otherwise, just chop it up

If I chop it up I'll have to change the tune of the sample and Iit's important for me not to do it this time.

In the way of timestretching and the pitchshifting the mpc really sucks.....
I started to use Melodyne which is able to do both without any hearable distortion and the result is perfect...

I use the time stretch & pitch change on my 4000 and it is as smooth as silk

Then you are lucky if it sounds good on the 4000....
On my 2500 it sound so metalic that is unuseable even for stretching for small values...

MoreBuck$ wrote:I use the time stretch & pitch change on my 4000 and it is as smooth as silk

To a critical ear I doubt it's anywhere near being as "smooth as silk".

I don't even like most software solutions either.

Coz wrote:I don't even like most software solutions either.

To be honest I don't like the hw solution as well and I would like to do all the sample manipulation in my mpc but as we wrote in the posts above, it sounds bad and the tune and pitch are not always almighty....

I gave up ont his dream with my MPC1k a long time ago. Ive recently added Ableton Live to the arsenal.... I swear the past few weeks, ive been flipping samples i was afraid to use in the past. You can timestretch/pitch change darn near anything. So many new possibilities now.....

Coz wrote:To a critical ear I doubt it's anywhere near being as "smooth as silk".

I don't even like most software solutions either.

I came from a background of using software, i have used Ableton live since 'Live 5', Cubase before that from the first SX. If i wanna use software i know how to utilize it, but i don't.
Try it on a 4000 then come back to me...

for oneshots, crossfade loop always sounds better than timestretching because it doesn't smear your transient

MoreBuck$ wrote:Try it on a 4000 then come back to me...

Come back to me with legitimate examples... I'm happy to be proved wrong.

Nym wrote:...crossfade loop always sounds better than timestretching....

Yep, time stretching, no matter how much I mess with it, has always proven to be a waste of time.

Note-by-note chops with cross fade looping applied to each chop is my go to method whenever I need something to be in a different tempo. It's basically a hand made patch phrase, but much more accurate and flexible.

When I have to timestretch or pitchshift something that is on cd I use my Stanton cd turntable to pitch/stretch and then sample right into my 2500; if it's a sample that I have as a .wav, I'll put it on a re-writable cd and then do the same thing. It definitaly doesn't sound perfectly smooth (I'm sure if I had a Pioneer turntable it would sound better) but it does sound much better than if I were to do it in my MPC. Other than that, like Nym said, I'll usually use the crossfade loop to fill in the gap when the sample ends too early and when timestretching it will throw the sample off; it does sound better that way.

B.A. wrote:(I'm sure if I had a Pioneer turntable it would sound better)

Even the 'master tempo' on CDJs isn't great unfortunately.