Can I change the key of a piece of music?

Newbie Forum
#1

I’ve got some CDs of instrumental renditions of traditional carols that would be great to sing along with, but for the fact that the key in which they are played is too high or too low for most voices.

I’m wondering if there is a free program that I could use to raise or lower the key of these recordings so that they would be in a comfortable range for singing along.

I’d like to make a CD of these carols to take to our family gathering this year so we can all sing along with it.

Is this doable?

I’ve got two hand-me-down computers, one running Win XP and the other Win 2K. I usually use the Win 2K computer for burning CDs because it’s the one with all my music on it, and I’ve never been able to figure out how to get it to network with the XP computer . :frowning:

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. “Clueless”

P.S. I wonder why my signature doesn’t appear in a post when I start a new thread, so I have to manually type it.

But once a thread is started, and I reply to a post in that thread, then my signature automatically appears.

Weird, huh? :confused:

#2

Audacity can change pitch without altering tempo. Or change tempo without pitch. Or both. Best of all, it’s free and has plenty of guides for it.

#3

Bingo!

Thanks, olyteddy!

I’ve already got Audacity on one or the other of these computers, so all I have to do is figure out how to use it.

Thanks again for that good news!

#4

it takes lot of memory and patience to make a file and convert with audacity. :slight_smile:

#5

1: Start Audacity
2. Click “File” and “Open”…find the track you want from your hard drive…in .wav form (also possible to work with MP3 if you have the right plug-in)
3. Select the complete track: Click anywhere on the track, then CTRL and A
4. Click “Effects” and select “Change Pitch”. The window which opens offers you the possibility to select which key you would like the track to be in…without altering speed.

#6

[QUOTE=padoor;2469469]it takes lot of memory and patience to make a file and convert with audacity. :)[/QUOTE]

So I learned yesterday when I tried to use Audacity to edit one of the carols.

Audacity finally just locked up completely on my old hand-me-down Win 2K machine.

So today I’m going to try the same project on my XP machine (which a friend of mine patched together from cannibalized parts). It has a much faster CPU and a lot more memory.

If only I could figure out how to network the two machines. XP just doesn’t want to play nice with Win 2K. :frowning:

#7

[QUOTE=deanimator;2469553]1: Start Audacity
2. Click “File” and “Open”…find the track you want from your hard drive…in .wav form (also possible to work with MP3 if you have the right plug-in)
3. Select the complete track: Click anywhere on the track, then CTRL and A
4. Click “Effects” and select “Change Pitch”. The window which opens offers you the possibility to select which key you would like the track to be in…without altering speed.[/QUOTE]

Thanks deanimator,

I’ve been having a lot of fun with Audacity, even if it did lock up yesterday and I lost all my work.

I’m going to give it another try today.

I feel like a kid with a new toy!

#8

you can use a reverse connected ethernet cable if you have 2 network cards in one of the machine.
else use parellel port connection - you need special cables for either of the connections.

when you have lot of RAM and good cpu power audacity will work wonders.

enjoy:)