How To Use Varispeed In Logic Pro | Change Project's Speed And Pitch

Apple’s Logic Pro is filled with tools and features that help musicians and producers create industry-standard songs. One of the underused features it offers is varispeed. Similar to the original varispeed feature in analog gear, Logic allows you to use this tool to speed up or down your entire project.

Depending on what you intend to do with it, the way you approach varispeed can differ. One use of Varispeed is to speed up/down your project to see if another tempo suits your song. Another way you can take advantage of this feature is to temporarily slow down a song to practice playing a relatively fast and complex part until you’re comfortable performing it with the original tempo.

At first glance, you might not be able to locate Varispeed within Logic’s workspace. So, with no further ado, let’s dive into everything you need to know to implement this feature in your Logic Pro projects.

Getting Started: Enabling Varispeed In Logic

First and foremost, you’d want to ensure you’ve enabled all of Logic’s advanced features. By default, Logic Pro boots up a simplified version of its workspace for beginner producers when you install it. If you want to unleash all of Logic’s abilities, here’s how you can unlock all features:

•  From the top-left corner of your screen, click “Logic Pro.”
•  Hover your pointer on “Settings” and select “Advanced…”
•  From the settings window, check the box next to “Enable Complete Features.”

Once that’s out of the way, you can go ahead and add Varispeed to the Control Bar LCD area. Customizing the Control Bar is one of the essential adjustments you’d want to make in Logic Pro to streamline your workflow. Here’s how you do it:

First, make sure to select “Custom” for the display mode by clicking the little arrow pointing down to the right side of the LCD at the top that shows beats and time.

Now, you can customize the Control Bar and add Varispeed to the LCD area.

•  Control-click the Control Bar and select “Customize Control Bar and Display…”
•  Under the “LCD” column, check the box next to “Varispeed.”

Now, you can turn Varispeed on and off by pressing the “- +” button on the right side of the display area.

Choosing A Varispeed Mode

Varispeed has three modes that you can choose from. The first one is “Speed Only.” As the name suggests, this only affects the playback speed of your project and doesn’t change the pitch. This is the mode you’d want to use when you want to practice a piece with a slower tempo.

Next, you have regular “Varispeed,” which emulates the feature from classic tape machines. By speeding up the tempo, you simultaneously increase the pitch as well, and vice versa.

Last but not least, you have “Varispeed and MIDI” (or “Varispeed +”). This is similar to the previous mode, except that it will also transpose external MIDI notes as the pitch goes up/down by semi-tones.

You can switch among these three modes by clicking the dedicated display area in the Control Bar.

Changing The Varispeed’s Measurement Unit

Logic allows you to speed up/down your project through varispeed using different measurements. By default, it is set to Percentage. You can change it by clicking on the greyed percentage icon under the varispeed mode.

Besides Percentage, you have Resulting Tempo, Detune, and Tuning Reference. Resulting Tempo allows you to change the speed and pitch based on your original tempo.

With Detune, you can change the pitch one semi-tone (half-step) at a time. For instance, if your song is in C, detuning it one semi-tone will transpose your project to C sharp.

Tuning Reference Displays the unit of measurement according to the tuning reference. 440.00 Hz is the standard reference frequency for tuning musical instruments. However, some prefer composing in 432.00 Hz. You hear 432.00 Hz music utilized a lot for meditative purposes.

Using Varispeed can help you manipulate the speed and pitch of your project with a single button. It helps a lot to create A/B tests to see what tempo and key suits your project better. Moreover, you can use it to practice (or even record) instrumental parts that are too fast.

If you're new to Logic Pro, be sure to check out my Free 6 Pillars To Learn Logic Pro Faster guidebook, which covers the essential skills and tools you need to get started. With practice and persistence, you'll soon be able to create the sound you dream of.