> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://logicpros.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# How to Slow Down Audio in Logic Pro with Varispeed
- URL: https://logicpros.net/logic-pro-varispeed/
- Published: 2026-10-19T13:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T16:05:53.000Z
- Description: Use Varispeed for the whole project, choose the right pitch mode and set the resulting tempo. Includes the current control-bar route and fixes for common mix-ups.
- Author: Marcus Sullivan
- Tags: Tutorials, Recording, Features & How-To

To slow down audio across a Logic Pro project without changing its pitch, turn on **Varispeed**, choose **Speed Only** and enter a negative percentage or a lower resulting tempo. Start there if you want to practice a part more slowly or hear whether the whole song feels better at a different pace.

[Download](#)

One region is a different job. Varispeed affects the entire project, so a single vocal phrase, sample or tape-stop ending needs a local edit. I’d settle that scope before touching either the project tempo or a region edge.

## Show Varispeed in the control bar

If you cannot see the control, follow [Apple’s current Varispeed setup](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/varispeed-alter-speed-pitch-audio-lgcp1cc678a7/mac) for Logic Pro on Mac:

1. Control-click an empty part of the control bar.
2. Choose **Customize Control Bar and Display**.
3. In the Display column, change the LCD pop-up menu to **Custom**.
4. Select the **Varispeed** checkbox, then close the customization panel.
5. Click the Varispeed button in the control bar to enable it.

![Logic Pro control-bar Display settings with LCD set to Custom and Varispeed checked](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/71/2071c898-de7d-454c-9b19-3de1581e628d/content/images/2026/10/logic-pro-varispeed-enable.webp)

Set LCD to Custom, then enable Varispeed in the Display column.

The checkbox makes the control available. The button switches the effect on and off. If you can see a value but playback doesn’t change, check the button before you try another editing method. A value of 0% also leaves the speed unchanged.

## Choose whether the pitch should stay or move

Click the **upper part** of the Varispeed display to choose a mode. The lower part chooses the unit used for the value, so the two menus solve different problems.

![Logic Pro Varispeed mode menu showing Speed Only, Varispeed Speed and Pitch, and Varispeed and MIDI](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/71/2071c898-de7d-454c-9b19-3de1581e628d/content/images/2026/10/logic-pro-varispeed-mode.webp)

Speed Only keeps the pitch. The other modes deliberately change it.

### Speed Only: a slower song in the same key

Use this for learning a fast passage, checking a groove or comparing nearby tempos while keeping the original pitch. Apple describes [Speed Only as pitch compensation on the master output](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/varispeed-alter-speed-pitch-audio-lgcp1cc678a7/mac): Logic balances the pitch change caused by the speed adjustment.

That explains the name, but it doesn’t promise identical sound quality at every setting. Listen to exposed consonants, cymbals, sustained chords and reverb tails as you lower the speed. Choose the smallest change that serves the musical purpose. A convenient practice setting isn’t automatically a good final mix setting.

### Varispeed (Speed and Pitch): the tape-like change

This mode couples speed and pitch. Slowing the project lowers the pitch; speeding it up raises it, like changing a tape machine’s playback speed. Choose it when that tonal change is part of the idea. Switch back to Speed Only when you want a slower performance in the same key.

### Varispeed and MIDI: check the external instruments

Apple’s third mode adds [transposition of External MIDI tracks, quantized to semitones](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/varispeed-alter-speed-pitch-audio-lgcp1cc678a7/mac), to the tape-like speed and pitch change. It’s specifically about external MIDI sound sources. You don’t need to choose this mode just because the project contains MIDI regions.

Semitone quantization matters. A small speed change can put the audio between semitones, so don’t assume a hardware synth will match an arbitrary fractional pitch shift exactly. Compare its tuning with the audio at the chosen setting. If the goal is unchanged pitch throughout, I’d start with Speed Only.

## Set a percentage or an exact BPM

Click the unit in the **lower part** of the display. Percentage is handy for quick comparisons. **Resulting Tempo** is better when you already know the BPM you want. The same menu also offers Detune in semitones and cents, and Tuning Reference in Hz. Drag the value vertically, or double-click it and type a value.

The documented [Varispeed range is −50% to +100%](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/varispeed-alter-speed-pitch-audio-lgcp1cc678a7/mac): half to double the original project tempo. A negative value slows playback, and a positive value speeds it up. Minus 100% isn’t a stop setting available in this control.

![Varispeed set to Speed Only and minus 25 percent beside an original project tempo of 120 BPM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/71/2071c898-de7d-454c-9b19-3de1581e628d/content/images/2026/10/logic-pro-varispeed-tempo.webp)

At a fixed 120 BPM, minus 25 percent plays at 90 BPM. The project’s original tempo display stays at 120.

For a project with a fixed original tempo of 120 BPM, these are calculated examples, not measured results:

- **−10%:** 108 BPM.
- **−25%:** 90 BPM.
- **−50%:** 60 BPM, the slowest supported setting.
- **+100%:** 240 BPM, double speed.

To calculate the percentage yourself, use **(target BPM ÷ original BPM − 1) × 100**. Going from 120 to 90 gives (90 ÷ 120 − 1) × 100 = −25%. Entering 90 in the Resulting Tempo display avoids that calculation.

The regular Tempo display still shows the original value. Seeing 120 there while hearing slower playback is expected. Apple notes that [Resulting Tempo follows the current tempo, including project tempo changes](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/varispeed-alter-speed-pitch-audio-lgcp1cc678a7/mac). A fixed percentage across a tempo map doesn’t turn the whole song into one constant BPM.

## If you only want to slow one audio region

Leave Varispeed off for this job. Select the audio region and **Option-drag its right edge** to stretch it to a longer duration. The current [region time-stretch command creates a new PCM audio file and replaces the region with it](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/time-stretch-regions-lgcpf7c0ebee/mac). Keep the original available in a separate project or audio copy before committing to this route. The Tracks area’s current Snap setting limits where the new end can land.

To slow only part of a longer region, cut that passage out first. Set the left and right locators around it and choose Edit > Split > Region(s) by Locators, the range method the [region-splitting guide](https://logicpros.net/logic-pro-split-trim-join-regions/) walks through. Logic leaves the new middle piece selected, so you can Option-drag its right edge straight away.

Choose its processing algorithm under **Edit > Time Stretch > Time Stretching Algorithm**. This is separate from choosing a track’s Flex Time algorithm. Universal, the default, handles most material, Complex suits orchestral music and finished mixes, and Beats Only, in the Legacy submenu, is Apple’s first choice for dry drum loops. If you need movable timing anchors within a phrase or want several recordings to follow a tempo change, use the [Flex Time editing guide](https://logicpros.net/flex-time-logic-pro/) instead of rebuilding that workflow around Varispeed.

For Flex processing, [Polyphonic stretches audio without changing pitch, while Speed (FX) changes pitch with speed](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/flex-time-algorithms-and-parameters-lgcpa77a4a3f/mac). The right choice still depends on the source. A drum recording, a dry vocal and a finished stereo song are not interchangeable material.

Lowering the project BPM is a different route again. Audio follows the tempo according to its [region Flex and Smart Tempo settings](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/audio-region-parameters-lgcpf7c0af60/mac). Changing the BPM alone doesn’t establish the correct tempo relationship for every imported file. Use the [Smart Tempo guide](https://logicpros.net/logic-pro-smart-tempo/) when matching recordings to a project tempo is the actual task.

## For a gradual slowdown at the end of a region

A tape-stop style ending needs a local slowdown. One fixed slower playback speed for the song won’t give you that. Select the audio region and use the Region inspector’s **Fade Out/Slow Down** pop-up to choose Slow Down, then adjust its time and curve. Apple documents these [shared fade and speed-change parameters](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/edit-fades-lgcpf7c0cd53/mac).

This changes the region’s ending. It does not answer the same request as “play the whole project at 90 BPM in the original key.” Keep the region fade, tempo map and Varispeed jobs separate so you can undo the right change later.

## Bounce deliberately, then restore the playback setting

If you need a file of the project, choose the intended Varispeed mode and value before using **File > Bounce > Project or Section**. Apple’s [project-bounce instructions describe rendering the selected output with its routed, unmuted tracks, effects and automation](https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/bounce-a-project-to-an-audio-file-lgcp785a41c3/mac). Set the range and leave room for the tail.

Listen to the saved file for the intended pace, pitch and complete ending. Do not assume Export Tracks or Bounce in Place is the same signal path as a full output bounce, especially when Speed Only is compensating pitch at the master output. The [bounce versus export guide](https://logicpros.net/bounce-in-place-vs-export-logic-pro/) explains which operation to choose.

If an external MIDI instrument supplies sound through an aux channel, Apple specifies **Realtime** bounce for that external source. Its MIDI notes alone aren’t an audio recording. The sound must reach the Mixer.

For a practice slowdown, click the Varispeed button off when you’re done. Set the value back to 0% if you want the next enable to start at the original speed. You don’t need to replace the project’s original Tempo value just because the Varispeed display showed a different resulting BPM.

Keep the [Record & Edit guides](https://logicpros.net/logic-pro-recording-editing/) nearby for the next step: recording a take, repairing a phrase or preparing an audio file. Varispeed is the quick whole-project pace control. When the change belongs to one part, use the local tools.