Tempo Mapping/Beat Detections in DP

[cleantone]

New forum looks great! I've got it bookmarked and hopefully will be on the forums a bit.

I've been looking for info on this. I've never really had the need. I mostly record live music. I will be working on some new stuff that will require me to map the temp for songs measure by measure. Honestly I've been using DP since it was Performer but don't really ever need the conductor track. I'm still in DP4 although I am thinking about an upgrade. I finally got a new Mac and now I could upgrade DP finally. Anyway... Anyone do any tempo mapping or beat detection in DP? I've looked around for info but can't find any for DP. Do I need to get ProTools or CuBase to get this done?

[jarok]

Hi

Take a look here:

The Digital Performer Tips Sheet
http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... f=1&t=6480

jarok

[Phil O]

I agree with jarok (as usual). Check out the tips sheet and familiarize yourself with all the terminology in the manual. It's a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it, the job should go smoothly. I recently had to create a tempo map from a live performance. I'm a drummer so the easiest way for me to create hits accurately was to simply set up a microphone and click sticks. I then used the beat detection feature to create a tempo map from that track - worked great! Good luck.

Phil

[cleantone]

Thanks for the link. I swear that I searched "tempo mapping" and it hit zero times. I'll check those posts out though for sure.

[Shooshie]

Tempo Mapping shows 3 hits on the first page of the Tips Sheet. There are some things that will help avoid confusion:

There are four kinds of "tapping" that are involved with tempo mapping, barline placements, and setting tempos in Tempo Slider mode. Only one of them is for moving the barlines. The rest are for setting tempos. To list them and describe them briefly, and we're talking about DP6.01:

1) Record Beats: Most people errantly call this "tap tempo," but that's not what it is. (we'll see that in a minute) While in Conductor Track mode, Record Beats requires you to tap the keyboard to follow the music, but you are not conducting the orchestra: it is conducting YOU. Your taps, then, don't change the performance, but only how it's displayed. DP places barlines and beats at your taps. The idea, of course, is to align the barline & beat grid with the music itself. It's sort of the opposite of "quantize." Instead of moving the notes to the beat grid, you move the beat grid to the notes, preserving the original performance. When done, it will sound exactly the same as it did before you did it, but the bar lines will be correctly placed. This establishes a working link between the music as it sounds and the music as it would be notated on paper or on screen. Since the barlines and beats change, but the music does not, something has to reconcile them. That would be the tempos. Tempos are mapped for each beat, so that the music remains in place, the beat is moved to the music, and yet it still sounds just as it did when you performed it and recorded it in MIDI. (or audio; this works with audio, too) This is NOT called "Tap Tempo." It is a form of beat mapping, but only in COMBINATION with moving the beats to match the notes. Note: Record Beats rarely comes out exact. it usually requires followup with "Adjust Beats," which we'll talk about in a minute.

2)Tap Tempo: This is the one where you conduct the band by tapping on your keyboard. This requires slaving DP to external sync: your MIDI keyboard while in Conductor Track Mode, and with the Conductor Track "record-enabled." Specify your count-off beats in the DP preferences. DP will do its best to follow you. I find this works best if I'm beating 8th notes, rather than quarters, but that requires you to set up your tempos/metronome that way, and I'm going to let you figure that out. Meanwhile, just tap quarters. Tap-Tempo requires the conducting skill of thinking ahead, knowing where you want the tempo to move, and to be ready to move it (change tempos) in the beat before you "get there." Once done, unslave DP to hear the playback. You can punch-in and punch-out Tap Tempo. Tap Tempo takes getting used to, so be prepared to UNDO and try again.

3) Tap Tempo Pad: in Tempo Slider mode, you can tap on the tap-tempo pad (around the tempo slider area) with the mouse, and it will pick up your beats and change the tempo slider.
4) Tap Tempo ASCII Keyboard: On your ASCII Keyboard (the one I'm typing on right now), in Tempo Slider Mode, tap the \ key (right above the Return key) a few taps, then hit Return. The Tempo Slider will follow your taps. Hitting Return finalizes it. You can do this with as few as two taps.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
That's all the "tapping" features. You can see how easy it is to get them mixed up. Very few people in this forum or anywhere else will say "Record Beats" for #1 above. Almost everyone calls that "Tap-Tempo," even though the real Tap Tempo has an entirely different function. Remember: Record Beats is non-destructive. It does not change your performance, even though you are tapping. Tap Tempo changes your performance, and is thus "destructive" to your performance.

Next: Adjust Beats involves no tapping, but generally does the same thing that Record Beats does. Instead of tapping, you grab the beats by the grid-lines and move them, one at a time, to match up with the music to which you want to add barlines and visual beats. As long as you check the "preserve realtime performance" box, it will be non-destructive. There is a fairly long video that shows some advanced techniques for this, and shows you how to use it. It's in the Tips Sheet on page 5. Sometimes the audio is not synced with the video, which makes it a little bit harder to figure out what's going on, but you'll get the idea if you watch it through.

There are also commands that tell DP to match the sequence with the tempo of a (processed, analyzed) soundbite, or vice-versa. I'll leave you to read that in the manual, which explain it very well. Just always keep in mind what you're trying to do and compare your results with what you expect them to look like. If they don't, then retrace your steps, figure out where it went wrong, and try again after UNDOing things. Undo History may come in handy for going back to a particular place.

So much for Adjust Beats, Record Beats, Tap Tempo, Tap Tempo Pad, and Tap ASCII keyboard for Tempo.

Shooshie