A cPod is a version of Song Surgeon with an associated audio file that once opened allows the user to adjust key and tempo of the associated file.   Moreover, to use a cPod, the user doesn’t need to own or even have Song Surgeon installed on their machine.  The only requirement is that they have a Windows machine.    (sorry Mac users but we have not been able to successfully replicate this functionality in a Mac.)

We have been tweaking the cPod concept based upon input and are now testing a version that allows users to EXPORT the changes they make in the cPod and create a new audio. Previously, the music in a cPod could only be played in the cPod, the changes made could not be Exported and saved.  The cPod functionality build into the current versions of SS continues to work this old way, however for the files on these two pages, you may now export and create a new file which you can then use in your standard music player. If testing proves successful, we may implement this cPod future on users machines in the future.

Here is a video that explains how these new cPods work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CeeDIKYZzTs#!

Praise and Worship Music

To introduce this concept we have created a new page on our website with about 100 FREE church hymns or songs of praise and worship.  This page can be found here:

http://songsurgeon.com/page/praise-worship.html

Many small congregations don’t have a full complement of musicians often use instrumental tracks in the worship services.  These are absolutely free so if your church could benefit from such backing tracks, please stop by and take a look.  Also, please feel free to send this page to your family, friends and members of your congregation that might also be interested.

Classic Rock Backing Tracks

Similar to the praise and worship music we also have a page of 10 backing tracks of 60′s and 70′s classic rock music that are bundled in this new type of cPod. These are also FREE.

http://songsurgeon.com/page/guitar-backing-tracks.html

http://youtu.be/qJsw0kXzJDc

The sniffer continues to work as it always has on all other sites.

Facebook:    http://www.facebook.com/Musicslowdown
Youtube        http://www.youtube.com/user/toddason#g/u
Twitter          http://twitter.com/songsurgeon3

In addition we would like to remind you of the Song Surgeon forum.  It is greatly under utilized but it can become of an easy way to share information, news, and uses about Song Surgeon. We encourage you to sign up and begin using the forum.

http://forum.songsurgeon.com

Until Next Week,

I teach guitar and I have found it to be a highly effective tool in this area. I routinely use it to reduce the speed of a song I am teaching to allow my student to more easily keep pace with the piece. First I open up the song in Song Surgeon, then set the tempo to 75% of the original, and work with my student through the lesson. I can then export the song as an economically sized .mp3 that is easily sent as an email attachment to them. A number of my students have already commented on how much this has helped them in the learning process!

For my song writing and composition, I often use it to edit a single track of something I’ve recorded with my Sony PCM-M10 portable recorder. The portability and ease of use of the Sony (and I suppose, many of the other handy new digital handheld recorders available today) make it a perfect fit for saving concepts/ideas in process to a high quality stereo single track output as either a .WAV or .mp3 format. Then I export the native file to my MacBook Pro laptop, and open it up in Song Surgeon.

Song Surgeon makes it easy to edit out false starts, and other clutter from the track. I also take advantage of the EQ feature of the program to boost the gain as well as tonality. Impressive! Then I save the track as a high quality .WAV file that can easily be opened in GarageBand and/or other digital recording software. It’s really useful in this way!

Another cool aspect that I have grown to like a lot is the pitch adjustment. I was learning an old Stevie Wonder song recently. The original key as recorded was hard for me to sing and play without using a capo on the first fret. So I lowered the original one-half step from B-flat to the key of A. Bingo! It was not only easier to play, but I could also hit the vocals for the higher notes Stevie was jammin’ on! The sound quality was virtually unchanged too…so that is, to me, a big winner as one of Song Surgeon’s diverse features.

Another cool aspect to this part of the program is to how you can fix the pitch on songs that were slightly out of perfect pitch in the original recording (and, which happened a whole bunch in the sixties and seventies!!!). After you use this feature a few times, it is easy to remedy this kind of problem, and then, save it with a new name. Awesome!

Without a doubt, Song Surgeon has been a very good investment. It is becoming a handy tool to my daily workload of teaching and songwriting/composition on guitar.

I know there is a lot more to learn about the product, and it seems that I keep finding another new way to use the program just about every week.

Keep up the good work!
M. McGreevy

If you haven’t yet explored this ability you definitely should because it is one of the more POWERFUL features found in Song Surgeon.  I have attached a link to one of our training videos which shows you how to do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1HL-GE7So9k

I am interested in having Song Surgeon customers make videos about their experiences with Song Surgeon.   Here is my offer.

f you are willing to make a video – either a screen capture video demonstrating one way in which you use Song Surgeon… or a simple video of you telling how you use Song Surgeon and what you like about it – I will give you Song Surgeon Version 4 (when it is released) absolutely free.  The video must be of good quality, something that both you and I would be proud to post.

Here are the requirements.

1. Make video about Song Surgeon     
2. If you have FaceBook/Youtube account upload the vid to these pages
3. Give me permission to use this video on SS
4. When done send me a link to the video or send me the video.
In exchange for doing this, you will get Version 4 PRO absolutely FREE. If you have any question, please let me know. (info@songsurgeon.com)

This is one of the more common questions or issues we deal with at the Help Desk. It is predominantly found on Windows machines, and 99% of the time it is easily fixable.  Strictly speaking the problem is not with the sniffer but rather with configuring your computer to allow it to run and getting users up the learning curve on how to use it. 

I have made a video which walks you thru the steps of how to troubleshoot this issue on your Windows computer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLKK_9fFQsw

If you have this problem or any others, and need additional help, please complete a Help Desk ticket.

• Standard for $45
• Pro for $75
• Upgrade to Pro $35

Sale ends next Monday… here is the link:

http://songsurgeon.com/v4/order/

Until Next Week,

Matthew D.

I am interested in having Song Surgeon customers make videos about their experiences with Song Surgeon.   Here is my offer. 

If you are willing to make a video – either a screen capture video demonstrating one way in which you use Song Surgeon… or a simple video of you telling how you use Song Surgeon and what you like about it – I will give you Song Surgeon Version 4 (when it is released) absolutely free.  The video must be of good quality, something that both you and I would be proud to post.

Here are the requirements.

1. Make video about Song Surgeon     
2. If you have FaceBook/Youtube account upload the vid to these pages
3. Give me permission to use this video on SS
4. When done send me a link to the video or send me the video.

In exchange for doing this, you will get Version 4 PRO absolutely FREE. If you have any question, please let me know. (info@songsurgeon.com)

In Windows you open Song Surgeon, and then open a song in it.  You then click the icon again and open a second instance of Song Surgeon  and open the second song.  After this you copy and or delete the segments of data between these two instance. 

The only requirement for this to work correctly is that the frequency and bit depth of the songs are the same… and since most songs are standard 16 bit, 44,100 Khz, there is normally no problem.

The steps in the Mac version are similar except after you open Song Surgeon, you don’t open a second instance, you only need to go to the top text menu and select Open  and open a second blank window of Song Surgeon.

Here is a video that shows how to do this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1EFsi3LL_dc#!

Today is not my favorite day… I just sent the government more of my hard earned money… as I am sure many of you have also done… or will do.  So if you’ve been sitting on the fence regarding the purchase of Song Surgeon and now find yourself with even less money than you previously had, we’ll give you a break on price.  For the next 2 days…you can buy:

• Standard for $45
• Pro for $75

This sale ends on Thursday, April 18 at noon.  Here is the link…

http://songsurgeon.com/v4/order/

Competitor Product Promotion

We are seeing an ever-increasing number of people that have competitors products contact us about Song Surgeon.   I want to encourage this, because we believe Song Surgeon is the best slow down type product on the market.   To encourage all of you that have competitive products to buy Song Surgeon, I am willing to give you a significant discount.   

If you are such a person, please forward to me a copy of your order receipt.  Once I receive this verification, I will the provide you with further details on how to order and receive a 30% discount. Send an email to info@songsurgeon.com and put the words “competitive upgrade” in the subject line.

So Again if you own…Slow Gold, Amazing Slow Downer, A Tascam Unit, Riffmaster Pro, or anything else that is a slow down type product, send me  a copy of your invoice… and we’ll give you a great price to MOVE UP to Song Surgeon.

Until Next Week,

EUREKA !!!!

I have now successfully downloaded a Youtube audio.

James, I must commend your caring attitude. Not only have you a fantastic product, but your follow-up service is second to none. Well done and thank you.

Jim B. 

If you are willing to make a video – either a screen capture video demonstrating one way in which you use Song Surgeon… or a simple video of you telling how you use Song Surgeon and what you like about it – I will give you Song Surgeon Version 4 (when it is released) absolutely free.  The video must be of good quality, something that both you and I would be proud to post.

Here are the requirements.

1. Make video about Song Surgeon     
2. If you have FaceBook/Youtube account upload the vid to these pages
3. Give me permission to use this video on SS
4. When done send me a link to the video or send me the video.

In exchange for doing this, you will get Version 4 PRO absolutely FREE. If you have any question, please let me know. (info@songsurgeon.com)

If you are such a person, please forward to me a copy of your order receipt.  Once I receive this verification, I will the provide you with further details on how to order and receive a 30% discount. Send an email to info@songsurgeon.com and put the words “competitive upgrade” in the subject line.

So Again if you own…Slow Gold, Amazing Slow Downer, A Tascam Unit, Riffmaster Pro, or anything else that is a slow down type product, send me  a copy of your invoice… and we’ll give you a great price to MOVE UP to Song Surgeon.

Until Next Week,

http://songsurgeon.com/page/cloud-pods.html

As a way of recapping, let me briefly remind you of what these are. Song Surgeon cPods are analogous to a Power Point Pack and Go file. cPods contain all of the necessary files to run Song Surgeon on a Windows computer, without the requirement of having Song Surgeon installed. The Song Surgeon cPod runs an instance of Song Surgeon with a single audio file embedded in it, which the cPod creator selected when the cPod file was created. Moreover, it is not just the audio file selected that makes a cPods unique but it is the fact that you can set markers, loop areas, and change pitch or tempo. All of these settings are applied to create a customized cPod file. Any Windows machine can use a cPod even those that don’t own and don’t have Surgeon installed.

Currently, cPods can be created from the EXPORT command of any  Song Surgeon program (Windows only – we haven’t yet figure out how to do this in Mac).

This website we are discussing would allow all user to share the lessons they make with other SS users.

http://forum.songsurgeon.com

Or if you prefer you can email directly to us at:  info@songsurgeon.com

As an inducement to do this, I am offering a free 2 GB mp3 player for the 10 most original uses of Song Surgeon that are posted. In order to qualify for one of these mp3 players you must describe what you are doing in detail.  One or two sentences won’t cut it.   It needs to be described in such detail that someone who is reading your description could open Song Surgeon and reading your description have a good shot and being able to do the same thing.

As they have in the past, these will go fast.  If you’re interested don’t wait.  If the offer is still available you will see the window on the shopping cart advertising it.  If you don’t see the deal, you’re too late. They’re gone. 

You MUST use this special link to take advantage of this offer.

http://songsurgeon.com/page.c5.163.html

Until Next Week,

http://forum.songsurgeon.com

As an inducement to do this, I offered a free 2 GB mp3 player for the 10 most original uses of Song Surgeon that are posted.**  I want to recognize the first one of these.  Here is an except….

“We are constantly adding material to our song library and before we heard about Song Surgeon, we as everyone else, were all relegated to the arrangement, key and tempo of whatever available tracks there were. Song Surgeon has provided us with the ability to take our own home studio created tracks as well as online downloaded tracks and tailor them to PRECISELY fit our needs. Using Song Surgeon, we can put any track in our needed key, set our required tempo, delete any undesired instrumental solos, long beginnings and endings and by cutting, copying and pasting and utilizing the very precise “Zoom” feature we are able to create song arrangements that absolutely suit our specific anticipations without rhythm interruptions or audio distortion…”

You can find the entire post here: http://forum.songsurgeon.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=564

Congrats to Lee Durley and Ray Paul… I will be sending out mp3 players to both of them.

**In order to qualify for one of these mp3 players you must describe what you are doing in detail.  One or two sentences won’t cut it.   It needs to be described in such detail that someone who is reading your description could open Song Surgeon and reading your description have a good shot and being able to do the same thing.

A1: Song Surgeon allows you to choose bitrate settings for certain Export file formats, such as mp3 and mp4.  If you want the highest possible quality then use the highest bitrate setting.  It is useful to know that as you increase the bitrate you increase the file size.  It is also helpful to know that most people cannot hear the difference between a bitrate setting of 320 and 160.  General speaking I would suggest that you don’t go lower than 128 kpbs, because you may start to hear diminished quality. 

In Win machines, you not only can choose the bitrate setting, but you can also choose the frequency.  It is important that you choose the same frequency as the file you are working with, which in most cases will be 44,100.  You can see the bitrate settings and frequency of the open file, at the top-left of the SS user interface in small white text, whenever you open an audio file.

http://songsurgeon.com/v4/order/

Metronome Features                    31%
EQ Features                               30%
Vocal Reduction Enhancement     30%
Recording and Line in features      29%
Handling of multiple tracks           28%

Geez, Jim, I’m a little embarrassed that I couldn’t figure that out on my own. LOL!  I’m good to go now, thanks.  BTW, some of the guys I play with at church have purchased, or planning to purchase, SS.  I find the functionality to be superior than other similar applications.  You guys did a great job on it!  Chris

I would like to encourage you to share how you use Song Surgeon with us and with other users on our Song Surgeon forum.  As an inducement to do this, I will award a free 2 GB mp3 player for the 10 most original uses of Song Surgeon that are posted.

http://forum.songsurgeon.com

In order to qualify for one of these mp3 players you must describe what you are doing in detail.  One or two sentences won’t cut it.   It needs to be described in such detail that someone who is reading your description could open Song Surgeon and reading your description have a good shot and being able to do the same thing.

I have created a forum category for this purpose.  It is called “Unique Uses”.  Please use this category.  If you are not a forum member you will need to register first before you can post.

The volume of an exported file is controlled by the VOLUME slider, so you should keep it at 100% when you export to maintain the original volume. The only exception to this rule is with files that are highly compressed. In those cases maintaining this volume might cause clipping (see next question below.)

Q2: Why is there distortion or a crackling sound heard on playback or export when I change key or tempo?

When you are working with highly compressed files where the audio data is pushing the limits of the audio envelope, you may need to reduce the volume to prevent distortion (clipping).   SS modifies the wav data when it adjusts pitch and tempo and these modification change the shape of the data. Though subtle, these changes can cause a file that is pushing the audio boundary limits to exceed the limits, thus introducing distortion.   In most cases, reducing to 95% volume is sufficient to prevent this, but in a few isolated instances we have observed the need to reduce to 85%.

And, if you are an existing customer, you can get a 1-time, 35% discount off your purchase of Version 3, from an earlier version.   That means that Standard model is available to you for $31.85 and the Pro version for $51.35. To get this discounts, log in on the first page of the shopping cart as you begin the ordering process.

http://songsurgeon.com/v4/order/

We have a long list of possible new features for Song Surgeon Version 4; many are things you have suggested. Unfortunately, there are just simply too many features to implement or include in a new build.  As a result we need your help to determine which of these should be included in the next build, and which will be postponed until future builds.   Your input will determine, to a great extent, what we will tackle and what we won’t so PLEASE take a couple of minutes and complete this survey.

http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=8ea6e0b1-9029-47ba-baca-1fff7ddcd5e0

Thanks for the tutorial, AND speaking with me yesterday.

Song Surgeon is one of THE best software programs I’ve ever used, and benefit from it *every* time I use it.

I share it with every customer that comes into my shop, and every musician I think can benefit from it (ALL the serious ones I know).

The “music world” has needed a tool like this for a l-o-n-g time -  there have been a few that have come up with a theoretical idea how to do it, YOU have given us a PRACTICAL solution/tool.

Sincerely,

Ron