What the effect is
Take a track, slow it to about 80–90 percent so the pitch falls with the speed (that is the important part: time-stretching that keeps pitch sounds wrong here), and add a reverb long enough that the elements smear into each other. Vocals get heavier, drums get lazier, everything feels a little underwater. It became a genre on YouTube and it works on almost anything.
Why varispeed sounds right
Varispeed changes pitch and tempo together. Pitch-preserving time stretching does a different job; it is not inherently wrong, but it creates a different effect. MP95’s speed controls let you explore the first approach. Processing quality and the recording still affect what you hear, so “no time stretching” should not be read as “no possible artefacts”.
Steps
- Play a track in MP95.
- Open Settings → Sound (on the Mac, pull up the desk).
- Switch on SLOWED. It sets the speed and the reverb together.
- Want it subtler or deeper? Drag the speed slider yourself. Hold PGM to store the result in a memory slot.
Combine it
Slowed with the cassette chain gives the warped-tape sound. Slowed with 8D orbits the slowed track around your head. All of it is live, so switch between them mid-song.
Exporting
MP95 is a player, not an editor; it does not render or export the slowed version. It plays your file slowed, now. Slowed + reverb is free and works on the music files you own.
Frequently asked questions
Can I slow down a song on iPhone without an app?
The Music app has no speed control. A player with varispeed, such as MP95, slows any file you own live.
Does slowing keep the pitch?
Not in MP95, on purpose. Slowed + reverb is defined by the pitch dropping with the speed, as on tape.