Further than slowed, on purpose
Vaporwave takes the same two moves as a slowed edit and pushes both past the point of subtlety. The speed goes to roughly 65% rather than 80%, which drops the pitch by most of a fourth, and the reverb tail runs for three seconds or more instead of two — long enough that notes overlap the ones after them and the track stops having clear edges.
That blurring is the aesthetic rather than a mistake. The genre grew out of slowed-down eighties pop and mall music, where the point was to make something familiar sound like a half-remembered version of itself.
Which songs take it well
Anything with sustained chords, a lot of reverb already, or a slow vocal. Eighties pop, soul, city pop and lounge were the source material for a reason: they were recorded with space around them, and slowing them down opens that space up rather than filling it in.
Fast rap and dense modern masters fare worst. Everything is already compressed into every gap, so at 65% the result is a smear — if you want to try one, pull the reverb well down and the speed up towards 75%.
The controls that matter
Reverb first. The preset is deliberately wet and it is the first thing to change if the words disappear. The bass boost is doing more work here than in the other presets: slowing a track this far thins it noticeably, and three decibels of low shelf puts the body back.
The output is longer than the input — at 65%, half again — plus the reverb tail, which is added rather than cut off at the end. The estimate above the controls accounts for both.
Frequently asked questions
How slow is vaporwave slow?
Usually between 60% and 70% of the original. That is a much bigger drop than a slowed and reverb edit, which sits nearer 80%, and it is what separates the two styles more than the reverb does.
Why has the vocal gone muddy?
Too much reverb for that particular track. Bring it down towards 30% and the words come back; songs that were already recorded with a lot of natural space need much less added.
Why is my file longer than the song?
Slowing to 65% makes it about half again as long, and the reverb tail is kept rather than cut off at the last note. The estimate shown before rendering includes both.
What songs work best?
Eighties pop, soul, city pop and anything with sustained chords and a slow vocal. Dense modern masters and fast rap tend to smear, because there are no gaps left to open up.
Does anything get uploaded?
No. Decoding, processing and encoding all happen in your browser, on your device.
Something wrong with this tool, or an idea for it? Tell us