Well, this is the first time I can remember this happening. Tuesday, I covered a GBP20 Max object for independent tempo and pitch modification in Max 5:
elastic~: Pitch, Speed Control Module for Your Max 5 Patch

I wasn’t personally so blown away by it, but it looked interesting, and it uses algorithms used in a number of commercial projects. But Max guru Devin Kerr put his money where his mouth was — or is that, no money where his … um … ears are — and released a free version. Unlike elastic~, it uses all included Max objects. Aside from saving you some dough, that has the significant advantage of being able to easily share patches based on his patch with fellow Max users.

Devin writes:

So I took 15 minutes and made a simple patch and video demonstrating what I’m calling “Free_Elastic”. This Max patch uses high-quality, FFT pitch shifting and is based on the standard groove~ object. It allows for much more control and customization (fft size, overlap, etc.) than “elastic~” does, and it’s FREE!

Free_Elastic: Independent Pitch/Speed Control in Max [Devin Kerr's blog]

Even if you like elastic~, you can’t really argue with the nice work Devin did on his patch. Hope this leads to some other great patching work. Now, can we get a Pd (Pure Data) port for a truly free experience, anyone?

More Goodies

Andreas Wetterberg (of Covert Operators) points to Mattijs Kneppers’ wonderful work. Object-oriented patching? Check. An MPC-inspired drum sampler? You got it.

And most notably in this context:

Real-time, natural sounding granular time stretcher / pitch shifter, version 009, patches only. Download test sounds here.

Time stretching and pitch shifting without artifacts (Max 5 only).

This patch uses the pitch~ object by CNMAT, that you can download here:
http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/downloads.

Granular time stretching has the advantage over a spectrum-based (phase vocoder) approach that it has no inherent latency. This patch aims for the same sound quality (absence of artifacts) as the time stretching features of mainstream applications such as Ableton Live or Reaktor.

That said, actually, you might enjoy those artifacts. But if you’re a Max user (or Pd user willing to do a little bit of porting), this should more than satisfy your appetite for warping. And, Andreas, I’m with you … I prefer the granular stretching sound. (Because it’s really a grain sampler and not just a delay, you may also want to check out the terrific video tutorial Peter Dines did in Reaktor. And there’s a lot more of this stuff elsewhere, as well.)

If you’re looking for pitch- and speed-independent warping and other sonic effects, and Max 5 is your modular patching tool of choice, a new tool is now available to add to your arsenal. elastic~ is an object similar that allows high-quality audio warping. The developer claims it uses the “same algorhythm as software giants Cubase, Ableton Live, and Kontakt.” I’m personally still quite happy with granular tools in software like Reaktor — and have recently gotten interested in exploring implementations in the free and open source SuperCollider, but of course there are great advantages to working in Max, and the implementation here seems unusually elegant and easy to use.

The developer writes:

With elastic~ it’s easy to tempo match loops together (either to each other or a global tempo); create a sampler that doesn’t change the speed of your sample as you change pitch; correct out of tune samples; create harmonizers; and just generally loop and bend and warp and stretch and……

elastic~ Product Page

The software is the creation of Simon Adcock and Joe Jarlett.

Product price is GBP20 — though thanks to the US Dollar surging against the Sterling, that’s not so bad. If you grab this and make stuff with it, let us know. Got an external you prefer, or other tool (a la SuperCollider) for audio warping, let us know that, too. (Warping audio is a personal and intimate process. I can’t imagine you’d share it with just any tool.)

Update: The engine in question is Elastique — quite nice, in fact, to have this “ported” effectively to Max/MSP! (And check out how many places it’s used — fascinating.)

Typical time stretching: Expensive software, rigid controls, wait for calculations.
TimeToy: Free or US$17 'Pro' version, flexible controls, real-time, mic input.

Now you're talking. TimeToy can be fun as an improvisatory
sound-warping tool or used live in performance; use rubber band-style
controls to plot time manipulations, or (with the Pro version) even
scrub and warp live. A microphone input lets you work directly with
incoming audio signal.

Mac OS X-only. (Via MacMusic)