Riffmaster Pro vs. Song Surgeon Version 3

Riffmaster Pro has been on the market since 2006. Like most slow-down programs available, Riffmaster Pro (RMP) can speed up or slow down the tempo without changing the pitch.

Tempo or speed change settings range from 20% to 180%. Pitch change settings are done in increments of a semitone and range -80 to +80, although at almost a 7 octave change, the audio is unrecognizable. RMP also has a built in an equalizer and a loop editor. A screen capture appears below.

RFP utilizes the same audio pitch and tempo change engine as the Version 2 of Song Surgeon. Consequently with pitch and tempo change, RMP introduces some amount of distortions. With certain songs, it is noticeable almost immediately; with others, it is not. For example, we opened an organ piece and attempted to change pitch, and immediately we heard a wobbling and distortion. Similarly with tempo, a small change in the tempo of this organ music resulted in undesirable audio distortion. We also tried a rock song and found that we could slow the tempo on that particular song down to around 50% with minimal distortion. These same two audio files in Song Surgeon Version 3 exhibited no distortion.

The name Riffmaster Pro is not meant to designate that there is a Standard and Pro Version, like there is in Song Surgeon Version 3. Riffmaster Pro is most comparable to the Song Surgeon Standard version in terms of features. Song Surgeon's Standard version not only has superior audio quality but also a superior feature set, a better interface, and a much better wav area with customized loop settings not found in RMP.

The new release of Song Surgeon, Version 3.0, contains dramatic changes and improvements from earlier versions. Song Surgeon Version 3 is available in both a Standard and a PRO model. The table below compares the differences between the Standard vs. Pro vs. Riffmaster Pro.

Song Surgeon vs. Riffmaster Pro Comparison Table

The PRO version of Song Surgeon (SS) contains some unique features not found in any similar software.

• Two Algorithms – SS contains 2-time stretching algorithms to accomplish pitch and tempo change. This maximizes sound quality and provides distortion-free audio even at extreme changes.
• Multiple Loop Areas – SS enables you to set an unlimited number of loop areas, not one, which is the standard. Moreover, each loop area can have its own unique settings.
• Wav form editing – SS has a number of useful wav form editing features. This enables users to cut and paste wav form data within an instance or between instances, thereby creating customized audio files for practice or performance.
• Sniffer Technology – SS contains our proprietary sniffer technology which finds the links of audio and video files you play in your browser and helps you download this for use in the program.
• Export – SS enables you to Export changes you have made to a file thereby making them permanent. This new file can be played back in any other player, such as iPods or MP3 players, and the changes made in SS will reside in the new file.

While the slow-down technology remains the most commonly used feature found in these types of programs, and musicians remain the most common users, the new version of Song Surgeon with its many new functionalities will certainly open the door to use it in many other fields such as dance, exercise classes, transcription, karaoke, translation, and worship music, to name a few.

Song Surgeon provides a 4-hour, fully functional working demo. Four hours may seem like a lot of time, but we caution you to close the program when not using it to preserve this time. We also suggest that you watch the training videos found on the website before using the program, as these will help you get up to speed quickly with the operations of this very useful software. You can download the DEMO version from here.