Tempo Follower Problems

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RGPJ
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Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2021 6:01 am

Tempo Follower Problems

Post by RGPJ » Fri Dec 03, 2021 6:16 am

I'm new to Ableton, and I'm trying to figure out how best to use the tempo follower function with live acoustic drums.

I tried using an overhead mic as input, but if I'm just playing the hihat, the level is too low to trigger. If I use a hihat mic, when not playing the hihat, it's too low to trigger.

I watched a video of this in action, and they made it seem like you could move all over the kit, do rolls or whatever, and it would follow...I'm getting very erratic results.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

pottering
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by pottering » Fri Dec 03, 2021 6:58 am

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... lowing-FAQ

It needs "clearly defined rhythmic structure", it is probably trying to find the beats, quarter notes if you are at 4/4 (not sure it cares about the Set's time sig, there is a chance it always expects 4/4).

Not a drummer but I think Hihats are usually faster, like 1/8 or 1/16, either Tempo Follower just kinda ignores them, or tries to fit hihats into "normal" hihat playing, assuming like 1/8 or 1/16.

I think it takes the current BPM into account, so if you are at 100 BPM and suddenly start banging super fast, it will treat those as 1/16, 1/32 notes (or like a roll or fill) at a 101 or something BPM, not like 1/4 notes at 283 BPM.

It definitely doesn't treat every loud single drum hit like a tap in the tap tempo button (which does assume every tap is beat at 4/4, that is a 1/4 note).
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[jur]
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by [jur] » Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:43 pm

pottering wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 6:58 am
(not sure it cares about the Set's time sig)
It does, just like:
pottering wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 6:58 am
it takes the current BPM into account, so if you are at 100 BPM and suddenly start banging super fast, it will treat those as 1/16, 1/32 notes (or like a roll or fill) at a 101 or something BPM, not like 1/4 notes at 283 BPM.
So, you should first define your time sig and approximate BPM for Tempo Follower to get in the correct mood.
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RGPJ
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by RGPJ » Sat Dec 04, 2021 12:38 am

Thanks for the replies.

I have set the time signature and start with the tempo at the general BPM.

I think it would be good if you could have control over what the follower hears, or maybe have the option to input more than one input channel, etc.

I'll keep messing around with it and see if I can get more consistent results.

There is a version of this called Beatseeker, I guess it's an old version? Is it exactly the same?

Thanks.

schlam
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by schlam » Sat Dec 04, 2021 7:40 am

Hello.
It depends of your soundcard, "tempo follower" listens one hardware channel but (internally or externally) you can feed this input with lot of different stuff in the same time.

RGPJ
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by RGPJ » Sun Dec 05, 2021 1:00 am

schlam wrote:
Sat Dec 04, 2021 7:40 am
Hello.
It depends of your soundcard, "tempo follower" listens one hardware channel but (internally or externally) you can feed this input with lot of different stuff in the same time.
I recently got the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20. Do you know if it's possible with that?

Or how I would set that up internally/externally, etc?

Thanks.

[jur]
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by [jur] » Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:09 am

I can listen to a stereo input, so it's up to you to sum as many channel as needed before feeding Tempo Follower.
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RGPJ
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by RGPJ » Sun Dec 05, 2021 7:01 am

[jur] wrote:
Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:09 am
I can listen to a stereo input, so it's up to you to sum as many channel as needed before feeding Tempo Follower.
I don't follow (pun intended).

[jur]
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Re: Tempo Follower Problems

Post by [jur] » Sun Dec 05, 2021 5:18 pm

Typo on my end of course, I meant "it can listen..."
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