What is varispeed

Gazillion Industries · September 14, 2026

In 1966 the Beatles gave George Martin two takes of "Strawberry Fields Forever" in different keys and tempos and asked him to join them. He sped one up and slowed the other until they met, and the splice became one of the most famous edits in pop. That's varispeed: change the speed and the pitch comes along for the ride.

Varispeed changes playback speed and pitch together, the way a tape machine or a turntable does when it runs faster or slower. Speed up and the audio gets shorter and higher; slow down and it gets longer and lower. Doubling the speed raises the pitch an octave (12 semitones), and each semitone is a speed change of about 6%. Unlike modern pitch shifting, it doesn't separate pitch from time, and that link is exactly what gives it its sound.

The short version

What: speed and pitch change together
Faster: shorter and higher
Slower: longer and lower
Octave: double speed = +12 semitones; half speed = −12
Semitone: about a 6% speed change
vs pitch shifting: varispeed keeps them linked; pitch shifting separates them

Where it comes from

Tape machines and turntables have always had speed controls, and engineers used them creatively long before plugins. Recording a part with the tape running slow makes it sound faster and higher on normal playback; slowing a record down makes a voice deep and a groove heavy. Hip hop producers learned the same lesson sampling records: play a 45 at 33 and everything drops about five semitones and gets heavier.

The math, once

Pitch follows speed on a curve. A speed ratio of 2 is exactly +12 semitones, 0.5 is exactly −12, and one semitone is a ratio of about 1.059. So −20% speed (a ratio of 0.8) lowers the pitch by about 3.9 semitones, and +10% raises it about 1.7. A 45 rpm record played at 33⅓ runs at about 74% speed, roughly 5.2 semitones down. You don't need the numbers to use it, but they explain why small speed changes sound so big.

Varispeed vs pitch shifting and time stretching

Modern pitch shifting and time stretching pull pitch and length apart with DSP, so you can raise a vocal without changing its tempo. That's powerful, but it adds artifacts and loses the natural character of a speed change. Varispeed doesn't cheat: the whole sound, including its formants and its room, moves together. Voices get chipmunk-bright or molasses-deep, and drums get snappier or heavier in a way that sounds like a machine, not an algorithm. The other approach is covered in how to change pitch without changing tempo.

SKRUU does both: varispeed pitch, and time that moves independently of it.

What producers use it for

Slowed and sped-up edits: see how to make slowed and reverb.
Chopped and screwed: the Houston sound is built on slowing records down. See how to chop and screw a song.
Sampling: pitching a sample by speed keeps it sounding like a record.
Transitions: a speed ramp at the end of a section, or a slow-down to a stop.

Questions people ask

Did the Beatles use varispeed?

Yes. The best-known example is "Strawberry Fields Forever," where George Martin joined two takes in different keys and tempos by speeding one up and slowing the other until they matched.

What does varispeed do?

It changes playback speed and pitch together: faster playback is shorter and higher, slower playback is longer and lower, just like a tape machine or turntable running at a different speed.

What is varispeed in Logic Pro?

Logic Pro has a Varispeed feature that changes the playback speed of the whole project, with a choice between changing speed only or changing speed and pitch together.

What SKRUU does

SKRUU is our varispeed pitch and time stretch plugin, and it keeps the two on separate knobs. PITCH runs from −20% to +10% in 128 states and reads out in semitones as well as speed. TIME runs from −50% to +25% and moves nothing but the length. Lock either one and play the other, or run both, and with ELASTIC on the knob springs back along one of sixteen return shapes. DRAG sets how long a new speed takes to arrive; turned up, it's a hand on the platter.

George Martin had two tape machines and a deadline. The trick still sounds like magic.

Keep reading

How to change pitch without changing tempo — How pitch shifting and time stretching work, which mode to use, and how to avoid artifacts.
How to make slowed and reverb — Slow it with varispeed, add a long dark reverb, and make sped-up versions too.
How to chop and screw a song — Where DJ Screw's Houston sound comes from, and how to screw and chop a song in a DAW.

SKRUU — varispeed pitch and time stretch for Mac and Windows. Pitch and time move independently, with sixteen elastic return shapes.

Hear it — $29

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