Lower the key of a song by 2 semitones in the browser

What two semitones means

A semitone is the smallest step on a piano keyboard: the gap between two neighboring keys, or two neighboring frets on a guitar. Two of them make a whole step. Lowering a song by 2 semitones turns G into F, A into G and C into B♭, and the same shift applies to every note in the recording.

Doing it in PitchShed

Click the icon on the tab that is playing, then press − beside Key. The display counts 0, −1, −2. The sound follows each press at once, with no reload, and the video carries on. If −2 turns out to be too much or too little, press + to land on −1, or − again for −3: the range runs 12 semitones in each direction.

When 2 is the right number

A shift of 2 is typical when a recording sits just above your voice, or when you want the chords in a different, more familiar key. A song in E becomes a song in D; a song in A becomes a song in G. If you need to move the other way, up a whole step is the same move with +.

Check the other end

Lowering a song helps the top and costs you at the bottom, because every note moves together. After the change, sing or play the lowest part as well, to make sure it has not slipped out of reach.

Undoing it

The reset link beside the Key row returns the song to its original key with one click, and Reset all puts the key, the speed and the loop back to their defaults. Neither touches the video itself, which carries on playing, so you can compare the original with the lowered version as you listen.