Fit tempo to free MIDI track.

[NealF]

Hi,

I've seen tutorial videos on manually creating a tempo map to an audio file.
What I'd like to know is, is there a way to create a tempo map to match a part that was played in free style with no click track?

Thanks.

[Tritonemusic]

You can record a tempo map in real time using Tap tempo (Conductor Track).

It's not perfect, but you can fine-tune things manually, afterwards.

[NealF]

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

[b.g.]

Or record a MIDI track where you tap along with the audio track. Then use Adjust Beats to drag the MIDI events where they should be in the tempo map.

[NealF]

Thanks.

I thought there might be more than one way.

[stubbsonic]

The subject of your post makes it sound like you are trying to tap tempo or refer tempo to a MIDI track and not an audio track.

And it doesn't work the same way.

You can tap the lock and then it will somehow preserve the MIDI performance, but it won't make it match your taps when you tap them in.

The only way I've found to do this is to play the sequence from an external sequence while I record it (in multi-record mode) and tap tempo at the same time.

[FMiguelez]

If I understand correctly, the OP needs to use Record Beats. It was born to do that!
This way, you get to keep your original performance, and DP will beat on time to it, whatever it is.

You can, afterwards, tweak them to perfection with Adjust Beats, if necessary. You can even snap the new bar lines to MIDI notes/audio transients.

There´s a tutorial on YouTube about this on MOTU´s channel.

[NealF]

If I understand correctly, the OP needs to use Record Beats. It was born to do that!

Excuse my ignorance. What is the OP?

[stubbsonic]

You are the OP, the "original poster" as in, the one who started the thread.

[NealF]

Got it.
Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

[Don T]

I have done this in a number of ways.
One way is to mic up the player of the audio part and have them pound out the beats on their leg or clapping or whatever is easiest. Find beats in that file which will work flawlessly (not so much with performance audio if it isn't drums). Adjust beats to taste and now you can conform anyway you want. Works great for guitar players who play ahead and behind the beat for energy and expression.
Of course you can do this after to help get the project ready for overdubs.

[NealF]

Actually, the way I'm doing it is this:

I played a MIDI piano part in very rubato. No click as reference. So then I wanted to line up the beats and bars to match the MIDI part I played.
I know how to do this is you import an audio file. But I didn't know how to do it with a MIDI file.

I've got to check it out further, no time right now, but it looks like you can use the same method to move the bar lines, etc. even though it's just a MIDI file.

[SMS]

Another technique-

Dragging beats works best when the sequence tempo is close to the desired tempo- you can't, for instance, drag a beat past an adjacent beat.

If adjust beats isn't working for you, the following method uses markers, with a tempo event at each marker:

• Lock the MIDI track
• Set markers at the beginning of measures in the freely played MIDI track as often as you feel you need to adjust the tempo (cntrl-m). This can be every bar, every 4 bars, only at new sections, whatever.
• Lock these markers.
• Make sure DP is in Conductor Track mode for tempo.
• View the conductor track in the Event List editor, if needed, use the view filter to only see markers and tempo events
• There will be a tempo event at the beginning of the sequence- if the first marker you entered after the beginning isn't at x|1|000 (x= whatever measure number it should be at), edit the initial tempo event until the subsequent marker falls at x|1|000. This is easy if you just use the cursor to scroll the time of the tempo event when it's highlighted; you'll likely only need to adjust the ticks segment.
• Copy this tempo event, and Merge it onto the Marker you just adjusted to. If it then doesn't show as being exactly at the same time as the marker and this bothers you, go to the Markers window and just manually set the ticks segment of the Marker's time to 000 (its' discrepancy was below the visible resolution).
• Now adjust this just merged tempo event until the following marker is at x|1|000.
• Continue until done. (copy, merge, adjust)

When you're done, you can use adjust beats between the created tempo events and delete the markers you don't need

[NealF]

Thanks.

I'll give it a try.

[Shooshie]

Record Beats is the way to go. If you can tap a key in time, it will get you very close. Note that Record Beats and Tap Tempo are two different things, and even though your finger is doing the same thing in each, DP is doing THE OPPOSITE from one to the other.

Record Beats changes only the barlines, non destructively, and compensates for this change in notation by adjusting tempos. The original performance is preserved exactly as you played it.

Tap Tempo Destructively changes the tempos of a performance, altering the speed of every beat. Of course, you can do a new take on the Conductor Track to preserve the original performance. Tap Tempo does not alter the barlines. You are not creating a tempo map, but a series of performance tempos, as if you were the conductor, and DP is the orchestra, following your beat.

What you asked about is Record Beats. This requires no external sync. Just:
• Cue your sequence to the exact beginning point of the section you wish to make notation-enabled
• Select the menu - Project / Change Conductor Track / Record Beats
• When the dialog comes up, choose "OK is First Beat."
• Be ready with finger on your MIDI keyboard, ready to tap a note hundreds of times.
• Get the cursor positioned over "OK"
• Hit OK. The music begins and plays the first beat.
• You start tapping on Beat 2.

Two rules:
1) don't stop until it's done
2) NEVER HIT TWO KEYS AT ONCE
If you hit two keys at once, DP will interpret them as two beats. Correspondingly, the tempo on the first of those will be off the charts. It's very easy to get lulled into a hypnotic state while tapping a key endlessly to music with no apparent purpose, and let your finger drift to the edge of the key where it catches the neighbor key, even lightly. Don't! Just stay awake and do it right.
You can hit any key.
You can hit a different key every time. Just don't hit two together.

That's it. Well, you can also have it move the new score-enabled sequence to another bar/beat. You will see that in the dialog. Be sure to check "Preserve Original Performance."

Once you are done, you will see how good you are at getting the beat right. Now, you can do Adjust Beats to clean up the score. Read the dialog and do what it says. Leave the dialog open in the background to Adjust Beats. When you are done, CLOSE IT! It also must be enabled, and you should check "Preserve Original Performance."
Start with bars. Drag barlines to the downbeats. Tell it to move all following beats by the same amount. Since you recorded the beats, this should set you up VERY close, all the way to the end, and you should only have to tweak a few of them — especially where big tempo changes happen, such as ritard, stringendo, allergando, etc.

If you want precision on inner beats for scores, switch to beats, next, and adjust "One Beat at a Time." When you go through this time, watch the Conductor Track. You will have to place beats where there are no notes, so you'll need a guide. The Conductor Track will be your guide. Watch the tempos. If they change from beat to beat, you're not placing them right. Of course, sometimes the notes are just out of sync, and you have to decide where the REAL beat is, especially in expressive playing.

There's a video of it in my dropbox. It's ancient and gets out of time (or used to, before broadband was common). You're welcome to try it, but beware the drifting audio:
Shooshie explaining Adjust Beats in the Stone Age

Good luck!
Shooshie