Precise editing of tempo automations in the Arrangement View

[[nis]]

This question pops up in our support inbox quite often, so I thought I'll post
some tricks here on the forum. Pardon if this has already been mentioned elsewhere.

Problem: It's a bit cumbersome to tweak breakpoints of a tempo automation
to specific values, e.g. if the new tempo should be 125.0 BPM, dragging a breakpoint
might only go to 124.94 or 125.23 BPM, etc.


Here are a few tricks to adjust the tempo better:

1. FINE TUNING OF DEVICE PARAMETERS / AUTOMATION BREAKPOINTS

As with all device parameters and automation breakpoints, you can fine-tune the values
by holding the CTRL key (PC) or CMD key (MAC) whilst dragging the mouse.
This will give you a better resolution to adjust the values.


2. USE THE MIN/MAX TEMPO RANGE TO ADJUST A BREAKPOINT

If you select the automation lane for the song tempo (with the two automation choosers
on the master track), you'll also find two number fields for the tempo range underneath.
The purpose of these two number fields is to limit the displayed range of the
tempo automation lane. However, you can also use these two number boxes to edit your
automation lane better. Let's assume your current tempo is 120 and you want to set an
envelope breakpoint to a tempo of exactly 125.0 BPM:

- Set the left ("min") number box to a value which is slightly lower than the current
tempo, e.g. 110 BPM.

- Set the right ("max") number box to the target BPM value, i.e. 125 BPM in this
particular example.

- Now drag your breakpoint to the topmost position of the automation lane. As the maximum
display range is set to 125.0 BPM, this should set the breakpoint to exactly 125.0 BPM as well.

This will of course also work the other way around (using the "min" field for the target value).


3. RECORD A TEMPO CHANGE

- Set the playback marker to the position where the new tempo should start.

- Type the new tempo value into the tempo field.

- Enable the global recording and hit 'play' to start the recording.

This will record the new tempo value into the tempo automation lane. Note that there
must be at least 1 fixed breakpoint in the tempo automation lane before you record,
otherwise this won't work.


4. USE DUMMY CLIPS TO CONTROL THE MASTER TEMPO

Instead of using the tempo automation lane, use dummy (audio) clips and set them to
"master", so that Live's project tempo follows the clip tempo:

- Put any audio clip into an audio track.

- Set the clip volume (not track volume!) to -inf dB, so that the clip plays pure silence.

- Type the desired tempo into the clip's "Seg.BPM" field. Make sure there are no warp markers
in the clip, except the first one. You might need to delete all other warp markers first.

- Set the master/slave switch (which is located underneath the "Warp" switch) to "master".

-> As soon as the playback position reaches this audio clip, Live's master tempo will now
follow the clip's tempo. Enable the clip's loop function and drag the left and/or right
clip edges to the desired start/end point in your Arrangement.


I personally use option #2 all the time, as it seems to be the easiest way. We'll hopefully
improve breakpoint editing one day, but until then, these things may help a bit to get
some precise tempo changes going.

Best,
Nico

[longjohns]

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... ilit=exact

did not cover dummy clips in that one, good call nico

[joaoorecchia]

This is great, thanks. I've always struggled with that one. I don't change tempos in a track often enough to have stressed about solutions but next time I do I'll be thanking you.

[ChrisMusix]

Yes that #2 is clever.

Now if there was only a way to do this same type of thing with Push's tempo knob, I'd be happy