digi001, I see. It’s an interesting idea however, for me, it’s not a top priority. Maybe in the future this kind of feature will be made part of Cubase, variable speed was one of the good things about linear tape in terms of it being used as a creative medium. Anyway, thanks for answering and explaining this a bit more.
Excellent method, Steve.
I have to mention this again because it really is a neat little tool … I know you’d have to render a track, run it through this etc., but for the amount of times I’ve had to do this, it’s really not a problem. You really have to try this out, if only for the fun of it! (it’s not really free – we should donate to support these developers who solve such problems!)
I noted that link and will most likely try this program at some point. Thanks for mentioning it.
Record at higher speed, playback at normal speed or vice-versa. The audio recorded will have a different character. Great for thicker guitars and whatnot. The time stretch function doesn’t do it.
9.5 out now. No Varispeed. I give up.
Logic Pro has had Varispeed built in for quite some time. 
Awesome implementation as well. You can choose to affect speed only or pitch as well.
For instance, slow it down to be able to do that almost impossible guitar solo.
Adjust pitch as well and double the guitar and you’ve got a magic sound for the guitar.
Or vocal. Or rap or…
Simply awesome for the pure joy of creativity.
I switch to Logic every now and then just to be able to do it.
Would love to see it in Cubase, though.
The time would be now to do this…many in my recording circle have moved on just because of the lack of this one feature…Varispeed can’t be that hard…also bring back the full screen mixer as in cubase pro ver 7…should do it now while you still have a customer base and people are interested…don’t be like companies of the past…
I really hope this is included in Cubase 12! …Otherwise I may finally be on my way to Reaper.
Steinberg, do you realize that Revolver to White Album wouldn’t have existed using Cubase…because no Varispeed! Please!!
The purpose is to use it like a tape machine to slow it down, then you could sing harmony, then a little slower and another track of some harmony, then a little slower and more harmony…done, bring it back to normal speed and you have a very rich harmony of background vocals that’s only you…do it with any instrument…that’s not to hard to understand is it?
This actually is hard to understand. If there was a one-knob-varispeed, the changed sound output would have to be calculated by an algorithm. And it would be one of the algorithms you currently already have.
So in your specific example just sing the same stuff several times and use pitch shift afterwards to get it to the right pitch in order to create your harmonies.
To me it sounds you try to avoid an algorithm that would be used anyway.
a few FYI points for those with appropriate hardware…
For the past decade or so, I varispeed Cubendo by external hardware just as I do with my Jh24 and other tape machines.
Specifically, by setting my audio interface (momentarily) to external clock and then using any convenient varispeed hardware (old adat xt machine …no loaded tape necessary etc…anything with a pitch knob or up/down pitch buttons as clock master to the interface via wordclock/9pin etc.
With Cubendo 13 (or can be done with any earlier sb version) …hit play…or record on the daw…reach over to the unit with the pitch knob…crank it up…or down…and Cubendo instantly follows…up/down in semitones…faster/slower in tempo
When pitched up or down…let’s say 10%…or a few semitones up or a few semitones down, the frequency response of any pre-existing tracks…can noticeably change…for the moment…as it does on a tape machine…while you do the overdub.
When I finish and click the interface to its internal sync, everything’s back at initial sonic range etc
Just as on a real tape machine. One knob to click into internal or ext or varispeed on the 24trk.
I noticed about a decade ago that Reaper could do this as well…but I’ve never liked Reaper 
For my purposes…and since I historically record on tape machines, the method is flawless for me.
I realize that I have equipment to do this type of thing that others may not have. For sure, an internal varispeed-via-software-only would be convenient.
However, for those that have the equipment lying around, the method I just described is instantly do-able.
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Well as far as the algorithm, you’re 100%, except the point is ease of use and saving time with all the steps that cubase has always made you go there to get to the same point…I want to be creative and not go to school every time I need, what I consider a easy normal task…I have been using cubase even before it recorded audio…50 years of tape equipment and the ease of use and most of all the flexibility…now wavelab and cubase are excellent editors, but over time they have deleted this, moved that, to make what once was a real asset to work flow more difficult…you have reaper, logic and even mixbus 32c with very simple varispeed [tape knob] type of set ups…guess I’m lazy…I want an iphone and an android…want to press a button to get something done and not go thru 5 steps to get there…
I will refer only to your recently described use-case of vari-speed, the creation of harmonies.
In this regard I disagree with almost every single sentence that you wrote.
It is not faster to use vari-speed than using pitch shift.
The sonic result would not be better.
Cubase never had vari-speed, therefore it is false to say it got dropped at some point in time.
And the old style of working only is faster to people who are used to that. But we live in the 21st century now and the current solution is faster than what you ask for.
This having said, in this topic are several people asking for such a knob for different reasons. I think most of the request are a case of “stuck in the past”. Why would anybody assume that the Beatles would use vari-speed if they were born in the year 2000? But there might be something to it in terms of micro-harmonies shifting. I admit not to have dived deep enough into this field.
Hi! Devils advocate here!
Why would you assume they would not?
I know Jacob Collier uses Varispeed in Logic Pro and he was born just a few years ago.
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I think the terminology can be confusing. “VariSpeed”, etc.
Here is an example of my use case:
I want to sing a part down one or two semitones, then bring it back up to the correct pitch, so that there is now a change in vocal character mimicking what you’d get by recording to physical tape, singing slightly lower and speeding the tape up slightly.
I don’t want the digital artifacts one gets with tools like pitch shift, etc
I am looking for how to do that in Cubase, or Reaper, or maybe a plugin/VSTi.
Since a vari-speed knob in a DAW would use a digital algorithm just like time-stretch and pitchshift does… it really depends on the algorithm being used. You might end up with the same algorithm.
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Well, the Beatles pushed the envelope on different aspects of music, amongst them music production. I am not sure in what regards Jacob Collier has pushed any envelope. He is a great musician, no doubt, but a comparison with the Beatles leaves most of human beings look pretty blank.
Unfortunately you did not post any examples so I searched for one on his channel and found an (older) stream video where he uses Varispeed in Logic as some kind of mastertune. He set the key to D half sharp.
That seems to be a good example on why to have such a functionality.
I wonder if Logic achieves that by resampling the master output.
If that is the case and Steinberg were to introduce the same I wonder how that would work with any plugins that might be inserted in Control Room.
Furthermore I wonder what effects Varispeed has to any external MIDI gear that might be used.
Thanks @Johnny_Moneto !
Oh, that of course makes sense now that I think about it 
I guess I’ll need to compare the artifacts associated with Cubase Pitch Shift artifacts with VariAudio, with whichever “Tape” algorithm is in Cubase (I forget the name), with Revoice Pro … and see which sounds best.
In the end, the conversion and ideas, yours or mine, is totally subjective to the individual…what’s right for you may not be right for your neighbor…as far as vari-speed and the creation of harmonies, I do it all the time with my adats, my 1’’ reels and in software…my issue, because of 30 years using cubase is I would like an easy to use varispeed in my favorite daw and not the multiple steps Variaudio in 'Elastique Pro Tape…and I never say cubase dropped varispeed, they just called it different names…I have never heard any of my engineering friend young or old say the newer stuff is easier…actually in some instances they say just the opposite…but once again, it really doesn’t make any difference how you or I feel, because everyone is going to look at it their way…all personal preference…