Tempo/Time Signature Editing

The Tempo window contains the Time Signature Editor and the Tempo Window Editor.

Tempo window

The Tempo window is available only if at least one track contains a MIDI file (as Time Signature and Tempo information is stored in MIDI files).

Time Signature Editing

The Time Signature (nominator/denominator) of a selected part can be changed using the Edit button. Editing the time signature does not affect the actual notes or controller values of MIDI tracks.

The Paste and Repeat buttons take into account the global Insert setting. The Cut and Delete buttons always act as if Insert is on (ie. the righthand part shifts left if you delete a part).

Using the Tempo Editor the tempo (beats per minute, BPM) of the selected part can be changed by dragging the line up or down. The Tempo Editor features tweakable edits, thereby minimizing any rounding errors.

Edit operations affect the following items:

MIDI Tracks (the MIDI file, Automated Fader effects and automation data)
Automated Fader effects and automation data of Groups, Effect Returns and Master sections are affected only if the song contains no audio tracks.

Note: tempo editing does not affect Audio Tracks.

The Edit button pops a window which lets you type a BPM value. In this window, the Tap button pops up a 'BPM Tapper' window, which lets you play the tempo on the space bar.

The Paste and Repeat buttons take into account the global Insert setting. The Cut and Delete buttons always act as if Insert is on (ie. the righthand part shifts left if you delete a part).

Dragging selected part, dragging left/right end only

If the right hand side of the selected part is dragged while pressing the Ctrl key the tempo will be adjusted accordingly. Adding the Shift key will keep the tempo at the left hand side of selected part unchanged.

The Detach button detaches the Tracks from the Tempo Editor. In this situation the tempo can be edited without affecting the notes in the Tracks. This feature can be used to match the tempo to a 'freestyle' recording, or to go from, for example, 100 measures at 120 BPM to 50 measures at 60 BPM.

Extracting tempo from a Track

Using the Extract button tempo can be extracted from a Track. This Track has to contain beats only (ie. you can't extract tempo from an album track or a guitar solo track).
Typically, one will have to record a track while playing back the song. The track can be either MIDI (tap the beat on the MIDI keyboard) or audio (clap your hands to the beat, counting "one two three four" will probably work too if done "staccato").The Extract button pops up a list containing all the Song's Tracks. The Track containing the beats can be selected. Also, you can specify what the beats represent (quarter notes, 8th notes etc.).

Extract Tempo window

After extracting the tempo you can edit the Time Signature manually. Typically, the length of the first measure (#0) will be adjusted so the second measure (#1) coincides with the start of the song. This might require the use of a weird time signature like 27/4 in the first measure.

Note: the Tempo editor can be used only if there's a MIDI track present. A MIDI track might have to be added for this purpose in order to extract tempo from an audio file.