[liscio]

I think this comes down to really "living with the app for a while" to make that decision.

I've used other apps, including other 'slow-downers', and I really just couldn't find my footing in them. Some are horrid cross-platform apps with unfortunately chosen keystrokes, and pretty much all of them had terrible UIs.

After using them, I decided to write Capo. It was a need that, in my opinion, just wasn't being met.

I wrote an app that can run on your laptop, with your guitar on your lap, and you can control it very quickly and figure out a song with no fuss. I take guitar lessons weekly, and this app scratches my itch beautifully.

You don't have to visit deep menus, fancy settings panels, or anything out of the way to accomplish the main task which Capo does very well.

I hope this answers your question (albeit in a very wordy, roundabout way).

[mechanical_fish]

As a banjo player, let me testify: Slow downers are really useful, and they really need to be driveable using only your left hand, because there are these big fingerpicks on most of the fingers of your right hand. It's really hard to shake hands with a banjo player.

So the UI thing is quite important. Maybe even important enough to make me spend money on a second slow downer. ;)

[zzzmarcus]

What's the first slow downer you use? I'm a banjo player as well but haven't found a good way on a mac to slow Scruggs to the point where I can distinguish his notes.

Capo looks amazing, but if I'm going to drop consider dropping 40 bucks I want to compare :)

[liscio]

You really should download and use the free trial to decide for yourself. In fact, all the slow-downers on the market have free trials.

In Capo, you have all the functionality you need, with the limitation that after 5 minutes of audio pass through for a given song, audio quality will begin to degrade.

Learn a handful of songs with Capo, a handful with the others, and let me know (use the Feedback item in the Help menu) how it went!

[mechanical_fish]

I've got "Amazing Slow Downer". Recommended to me several years ago by Bill Evans.

ASD costs $30 and was a truly awesome app in its day. And it does seem to have all of Capo's functions, except for the nifty waveform display. But the UI is cluttered, overcomplicated, and ugly cross-platform stuff. If I didn't already own ASD I would just buy Capo. As one who does already own ASD I am still considering buying Capo.

[liscio]

Actually, I designed Capo for one-handed use. And, if you don't have a newer keyboard w/ the option key right beside the arrow keys, you can use pgdn/pgup to go between the markers, rather than opt-left and opt-right.