CD/Music Trainers

[raymo]

Anyone got the know how on these? I saw a tascam gizmo for $140 in the GC ad, but I dont know which brands are good and which arent, and whats a good price. It'd be nice to have a gizmo to slow down the tempo of the cd w/o completely changing the tone.

[raymo]

Re: CD/Music Trainers

Noone knows anything about these types of units?

[monk]

Re: CD/Music Trainers

There is a software called "Amazing slowdowner" that does this with mp3 and still keeps a descent quality without pitch-changing.

It could save you alot of money [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: CD/Music Trainers

I picked up the Tascam unit a few weeks back. It's cool but you definitely need to go in with the proper expectations: the effects quality sucks, sound quality (even on straight CD playback) is poor, there's a *lot* of digital distortion when slowing down the CD (sounds like they didn't utilize any sort of algorithm to fill in the "missing" samples on playback) and the menu structure that allows you to tweak the existing presets is probably the single worst control layout I've ever experienced on any product.

That said, the unit works very well for what it was designed to do, namely allow you an all-in-one solution for slowing down and playing along with / learning your favorite tunes. Just don't expect top-notch sound quality.

Worth $140? Maybe, if you're looking for something small that you can drop on the end of the couch while you're watching football on Sunday afternoons (basically what I was looking for). Probably not if the poor sound quality and horrendously awful built-in effects are really a concern. I'd imagine there will be better units of this type in the near future.

And I concur on the Amazing Slowdowner, it's far more capable and better sounding than the CD-GT1 but it, of course, ties you to your PC.

[DK127]

Re: CD/Music Trainers

I've been thinking of getting that Tascam unit too but now I'm having second thoughts. I'll probably go a different route as far as improving my guitar playing. I'll start looking at the MR8 recording unit and/or a drum machine perhaps.

[raymo]

Re: CD/Music Trainers

YetAnotherOne, thanks for all your input, basically I can give a crap if it has all those effects, all i want is a decent unit to slow down cd's and learn em with. I heard the sabine and pandora models blow bigtime.

As for computer based programs, being tied to the computer is not feasible for me.

[Easyrider7467]

Re: CD/Music Trainers

Whats up,
I just purchased a Tascam CD-GT1 unit. For me, I always wanted a unit to slow down a song even a bit. Years ago (18ago) I tried slowing down records but that change the pitch,etc. This unit, I feel is just what I was looking for. Granted you lose some quality when slowing it down but its not bad. And for $150.00, you cant go wrong when you consider what you may pay for some high end pro unit. When you consider what a portable CD player runs and doesnt come equipped with the features, its not a bad deal. I did purchase a set of $20 computer speakers to hook up to it though. (doesnt have any). Satisfied User. J