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The speed shifting features allow you to adjust the playback and recording speed of the loop so that both the perceived pitch and tempo of the loop change. The most commonly known variant of speed shift drops the playback speed by one octave which many loopers call "halfspeed" mode.

Mobius offers a powerful set of functions and controls that provide many ways to change loop speed beyond just one octave down. The functions available for speed shifting are:

 Speed Toggle

 Sustain Speed Toggle

 Speed Step

 Speed Up

 Speed Down

 Speed Next

 Speed Previous

 Halfspeed

 Speed Cancel

The controls available for speed shifting are:

 Speed Octave

 Speed Step

 Speed Bend

The speed of the loop may be changed in either semitone steps or with very small steps to achieve a smooth continuous shift. Most of the functions and controls apply a semitone shift, The Speed Bend control applies a smooth continuous shift.

14.1 Speed Functions

14.1.1 Speed Toggle, Sustain Speed Toggle

The most commonly used speed shifting function is Speed Toggle. In its default behavior, it will lower the speed of the loop by one octave, then raise it an octave when executed a second time. This is what many loopers including the EDP call "Half Speed".

Speed Toggle is however able to do other things besides halfspeed. When used in a script or with binding arguments, it can toggle between any semitone shift up or down. See the Function Binding Arguments section of the Exploring Mobius manual for more information on using binding arguments.

For example when the binding argument is set to 7, the first press of the function will raise the speed by 7 semitones, or a perfect fifth. The second press will lower it by 7 semitones. If no argument is specified the default interval is -12 which makes Speed Toggle behave like half speed functions in other loopers.

The Sustain Speed Toggle function behaves like Speed Toggle except that you do not execute it twice. It must be bound to a sustainable trigger such as a MIDI note.

The speed shift is active while the trigger is held down and removed when the trigger is released.

Speed Toggle has long press behavior. If you have Speed Toggle bound to a susutainable trigger, and you hold the trigger down longer than the long-press threshold, the function will convert to Sustain Speed Toggle and the speed shift will be removed when the trigger is released.

14.1.2 Speed Step

Speed Step can change the playback speed of the loop up or down in semitones. It is a ranged function which means that it is usually bound to a trigger that supports a continuous range of values such as MIDI notes or MIDI continuous controllers. It is almost always bound to a MIDI note from a keyboard so you can change speed chromatically by playing the keyboard normally. This can make Mobius behave somewhat like a sampler.

The value of the note in the binding becomes the center point of the shift range. If you press this note the speed returns to normal. If you press notes on either side of the center note, the speed will be raised or lowered by the corresponding number of semitones. The range of notes that will cause a speed shift is determined by the Speed/Pitch Note Range global parameter. For best results, it is recommended that the center note use a MIDI channel that is not being used for any other functions. If a Speed Step note is already assigned to another Mobius function, the previous

function will have priority. To avoid these conflicts use a different channel.

The Speed Shift Restart preset parameter is often set when using a ranged binding of Speed Step. This will cause the loop to be restarted whenever Speed Step is executed, similar to the way keyboard samplers behave.

When this function is bound to a MIDI continuous controller, the 0 to 127 range of the controller is scaled to fit within the Speed/Pitch Note Range. A controller value of 64 is considered "center" and will apply no speed shift. Controller values on either side of 64 will raise or lower the speed in semitones.

When this function is given a binding argument, the ranged behavior is not enabled.

Instead the binding argument specifies a fixed positive or negative number of

semitones. Multiple bindings with different arguments can be created to directly jump to desired speeds.

SpeedStep may also be used in scripts but it is not ranged. Instead the amount of shift is specified as an argument to the function. See SpeedStep in the Mobius Scripting manual for usage examples.

14.1.3 Speed Up, Speed Down

This pair of functions simply raises or lowers the speed by one semitone. You might use these if you want to raise or lower the speed in successive semitone steps but don't want to create a separate Speed Step bindings for each step.

14.1.4 Speed Next, Speed Previous

This pair of functions changes the speed in steps defined by the Speed Sequence parameter. The parameter may be set to a space-delimited list of numbers that represents positive or negative speed shifts in semitone steps. For example a speed sequence of "7 12 0" will raise the speed by a fifth, then by an octave, then return to normal.

The Speed Next function advances through the speed sequence from left to right, and the Speed Previous function advances through the sequence from right to left.

You can change direction at any time.

NOTE: The current location in the speed sequence is not shown in the UI which can make this difficult to use. The location is available in scripts with the

speedSequenceIndex variable. This variable may also be set to change the sequence index.

14.1.5 Halfspeed

Halfspeed is an obsolete function that is provided only for backward compatibility with older scripts and bindings. It forces a non-toggling speed shift of one octave down.

The same behavior is possible by creating a binding to Speed Step with an argument of -12.

14.1.6 Speed Cancel

Speed Cancel will remove all forms of semitone and continuous speed shift being applied to the track. It will cancel the effects of all speed functions and the speed controls, and reset the Speed Sequence index back to the beginning.

This can be useful to get things back to normal if you have been combining Speed Step, Speed Bend and Speed Octave in various ways without having to individually cancel each function and return the controls to their center positions.

14.2 Speed Controls

There are three controls that may be added to the track strips to display and change speed.

Speed Controls

14.2.1 Speed Octave

Speed Octave is a control that can be used to change the speed up or down by one or more octaves. The maximum range is 4 octaves up or down. When bound to a

MIDI continuous controller, the controller will sweep through a range of 8 octaves.

The center value of 64 will result in no shift.

14.2.2 Speed Step

Speed Step will appear as both a control and a function in the binding windows. You can achieve similar effects with either target, but main difference is the way in which the binding arguments are handled.

When Speed Step is bound as a control, the binding arguments must follow the conventions of Control Binding Arguments which have values such as min, max and center.

When Speed Step is bound as a function, the binding argument may only have a single integer value which specifies the amount of speed shift in semitones.

Another difference between the Speed Step control and function is the range of values. The Speed Step control range is defined by the Speed Step Range preset parameter which defaults to 24, meaning two octaves up and down. The Speed Step function range is defined by the global parameter Speed/Pitch Note Range. Because the control range is defined by a preset parameter, you can design prests with

different ranges if for example you want a control that sweeps over a smaller range of semitones.

14.2.3 Speed Bend

Speed Bend is a control that can be used to change the speed up or down by very fine units resulting in a seemingly smooth or "continuous" speed change. The effect is similar to using the pitch bend wheel on a keyboard, except that it changes the speed as well as the pitch.

Unlike most controls, this one is commonly bound to the MIDI Pitch Bend trigger which has a larger range of values resulting in smoother bends. You may also bind this to a MIDI continuous controller, but these have less range and may result in a more audible "zipper" sound as you hear the speed change in small steps.

The internal range of the speed bend control is defined by the Speed Bend Range parameter. This defaults to 12 which means one octave up or down.

Note how the range of the external trigger and the internal control range combine. If you set Speed Bend Range to 1 for one semitone up or down, and then bind the control to a MIDI Pitch Bend wheel, you will get an extremely smooth speed shift because a range of 2 semitones will be divided into 16384 steps. Binding to a MIDI continuous controller by comparison will only divide the semitone range into 128 steps.

14.3 Speed Parameters

Most speed-related parameters are found under the Effects tab of the preset window.

Speed Parameters

14.3.1 Speed Sequence

This is a preset parameter found under the Effects tab. It may be set set to a space-delimited list of numbers that represents positive or negative speed shifts in semitone increments. For example a speed of "1" is one semitone above normal, a speed of "-7" is 7 semitones below normal (or a perfect fifth lower). Once a speed sequence has been set, the speed may be changed using the Speed Next and Speed Previous functions.

14.3.2 Speed Step Range

This parameter defines the range of the Speed Step control. The default value of 24 means that the range is 24 semitones, or 2 octaves up and down for a total range of 48 semitones. The smallest value is 1 which gives you a range of 2 semitones, one up and one down.

You may wish to lower the step range when binding to a MIDI continuous controller to give you more control when selecting steps. If the range is too high, very slight

changes to the knob or pedal will change speeds. With a lower range, the knob or pedal must move a longer distance before changing speeds.

14.3.3 Speed Bend Range

This parameter defines the range of the Speed Bend control. The default value of 12 means that the range is 12 semitones, or 1 octave up and down for a total range of 24 semitones. The smallest value is 1 which gives you a range of 2 semitones, one up and one down.

You may wish to lower the bend range when binding to a MIDI continuous controller to give you a smoother and more subtle bend.

14.3.4 Record Speed Changes

This boolean preset parameter is found under the General tab. When false it means that using any of the speed functions or controls will end a recording if one is in progress.

14.3.5 Speed Shift Restart

When this boolean parameter is true, the current loop will be restarted from the beginning whenever the playback speed is changed by the Speed Up, Speed Down, Speed Cancel, Speed Next, Speed Previous, and Speed Step functions.

This is commonly used when doing a ranged MIDI note binding to the Speed Step function so that Mobius will behave simlilar to a keyboard sampler. Once the loop is recorded, you can play it chromatically on the keyboard, retrigging the loop with each new note.

14.3.6 Speed/Pitch Note Range

This parameter defines the range of MIDI notes or controller values that will be automatically bound to the Speed Step or Pitch Step functions. The center of the range is defined by the note or control selected in the binding window. The parameter is found under the Miscellaneous tab of the Global Parameters window.

The default value is 48 which will result in an 8 octave range to cover an entire MIDI keyboard. There is usually no need to change this, but you can specify a smaller range if desired.

14.4 Speed Combinations

You may use all of the speed functions and controls at the same time. For example if you turn the Speed Octave control to -1, then turn the Speed Step control to 12, the effect will be normal speed since when you add the effects of drop of one octave (-12 semitones) to a rise of 12 semitones, you get 0 semitones. No speed shift will be heard.

This can be especially usefull with Speed Bend. Speed Bend typically has a range of one octave up or down or lower if you want a smoother bend. By combining this with Speed Octave you can radically change the speed of the loop, then give it a subtle vibrato in any octave with Speed Bend.

Note that the combination of speed functions and controls are restricted to a maximum of 4 octaves up or down. For example if you have used the Speed Step function to lower speed by 24 semitones, then turned the Speed Octave control down to -4 you will not get a combined shift of 6 octaves down. The shift will be constrained to 4 octaves down. The Speed Octave control values of -3 and -4 will appear to do nothing until you raise it above -2.

Similarly if you have Speed Octave set to 4, the upper half of the Speed Bend control will appear to have no effect since the speed cannot be raised any more.