BPM is NOT actually Beats Per Minute

[james2mart]

I am new to Live, but not new to music. Live's tempo automation in session view is great and I have found a way to do everything I have needed to with this software, but there is one thing that bugs the heck out of me. Live uses the abbreviation BPM to trigger tempo changes in scene names. This is extremely inaccurate. Ableton's "BPM" is relevant for all most time signatures --- that end in FOUR. Any time you use a time signature that does not count measures with quarter notes, the definition of a "beat" changes. This is evident in most sheet music in time signatures such as 6/8 or 12/8 that denote tempos. 6/8 charts, for example, will give numeric value to to either the dotted quarter note or the eighth note. Ableton gives no way to change the definition of your tempo.

120BPM in 4/4 is 120 quarter notes per minute. 120BPM in 6/8 is still 120 quarter notes in Ableton, even though the meter changed and so did the definition of the beat in the song. In most cases, 6/8 indicates a slight triplet feel with the pulses of the music on beats 1 and 4. However, in Ableton, the tempo is the quarter note. Therefore, three quarter notes per measure of 6/8 time, which is almost never the feel of the music.

Yes, I know, I can do the math to calculate what the tempo should be, or I could tap it in. But why make me do math when I'm trying to rehearse a band? Maybe not everyone agrees. Lets say I have a chart in 12/8 that tells me that a dotted eighth note is 107 BPM. To calculate Ableton's version of BPM, I have to take the 107 and triple it - 321. Now these are the eighth notes. To get quarters, divide by 2. 160.5 Ableton BPMs. Or a 6/8 chart that gives an eighth note 150 BPM. Divide by 2 to get 75 Ableton BPMs. Easy enough. But why not do it right and have the (already terrible-sounding) built-in click respond the way that it should when the tempo is set correctly?

Therefore, I think Ableton needs to revamp the tempo and click configuration and allow us to change the value of the beat (eighth note, quarter note, dotted quarter note, etc). Some subdivision of the click would be nice too.... as well as allowing us to pick our own downbeat/upbeat sounds.... Tama's RhythmWatch uses the same sound for every subdivision and lets you separately adjust velocity for quarters, eighths, sixteenths, and triplets. This may be a good model to work from.

Please post suggestions or comments... Let's argue 'til we're blue in the face!

[mriley]

I've been having the same frustration. I want the the dotted quarters to be the denominator and I can't seem to find out how. My work around is to use a click track that I created that accents the 1 and 4 with the other beats quieter. I make sure that the scene's time signature is 6/4. I don't use 6/8 because ableton's global metronome is in quarters tap tempo would mess everything up if I need to adjust tempo. In 6/4 ableton recognizes the tap correctly. I agree that Ableton needs to fix this.

[8O]

If you haven't seen it before - here's one of the threads on how to change the metronome sound - http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=150207 - not too difficult.

[MPGK]

It's a residue of Live's early inability to even play anything other than 4/4.
It's also something that should have been fixed long ago.

[mriley]

Here's another thing I did just a few minutes ago. I resampled my 6/4 click down to 2/4. If I want the global metronome to hit on 1 and 4, I'm good to go. So I'll have the best of both worlds! I'm in nerd heaven!