Creating or adjusting a tempo map using MIDI and AudioSnap

Last updated on 3/18/2016

By Joe Connor

This can be useful if someone has created an intricate tempo map and then needs to speed up/slow down certain parts, or really in any case where the audio needs to change speed and the click needs to stay lined up with it. It's also useful for manipulating audio Groove Clips!

  1. First, save your project with a new version number (i.e. New project –> New project1) just in case something doesn’t go right with the tempo map.

    Save project

     
  2. Now, you’ll need to create a MIDI click track. Create an instrument track and pick a sound with a nice solid transient to use for your click. A drum soft synth works well.
     
  3. Place a hit on each beat of the track. You can create a simple four-beat clip, then click and hold the Draw tool and choose “Pattern,” then simply click and drag through the rest of the track to “roll out” the pattern all the way to the end.

    Pattern tool

     
  4. Switch back to the Smart tool. Then, with the clip selected, bring the Now Time to the point where you'd like to split it, and press S to perform the split. Hold down the Ctrl key and mouse over the right-hand edge of a clip, and you’ll see a yellow bar appear. Continue holding down Ctrl and click and drag the primary MIDI/Groove clip to stretch it to the desired tempo. Then, stretch the MIDI click track to the same extent. Of course, when you stretch or condense your clips, you’ll need to move any following clips so they don't overlap with the newly stretched clips.
    Tip: when changing the lengths of clips in the MIDI click track, line them up with other clips easily by enabling Snap by Landmarks. To do this, right-click on the Landmarks button and ensure you have Clips checked as a landmark, then click Apply and close the Preferences.

    Snap by landmarks

     
  5. Bounce the MIDI click down to audio. The simplest way to do that is to solo the MIDI click, then select Tracks > Bounce to Track, and bounce down the “Entire mix” to a new track. You’ll end up with a new click track that looks something like this:

    Bounced click track

     
  6. Unsolo and then mute the old MIDI click track now that you’ve bounced it to audio.
     
  7. Highlight the newly bounced clip (rename the track something other than Entire Mix if you’d like) and press Alt+A to open up AudioSnap.
     
  8. Click the On button in AudioSnap to enable it. Then, press the down arrow next to “Set Project from Clip” and choose whether you would like the tempo to be set every beat, measure, or one tempo for the entire clip. Also, be sure to set an average tempo, since depending on your source material, AudioSnap can detect a ratio of the actual tempo (i.e. detecting ~75bpm instead of ~150bpm).

    Audiosnap Set Project from Clip setting

     
  9. Then, click Set Project from Clip. The new tempos should be all set. Your MIDI and Groove Clips should now be playing back at the new tempos. If you’re using audio clips, make sure to enable Groove-Clip Looping (Ctrl+L) so they follow the tempo.

 

 

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