Change audio track BPM

[wowzors]

I seen tons of threads about changing an audio tracks BPM, but none of them make sense. All I want to see is a pitch meter, where you can increase or decrease the BPM, but for some reason it's more complicated than that in Ableton. How can I do this? I need to lower the BPM of a track over 15 seconds from 120 to 97. I'm using Live intro 8.2.

Thanks

[infernal.machine]

1) Warp the track
2) Automate the BPM of the track in arrangement view and Freeze/Flatten the channel

[wowzors]

1) Warp the track
2) Automate the BPM of the track in arrangement view and Freeze/Flatten the channel

You lost me at #2. So I'm in arrangement view, but I have no idea how to "freeze and flatten" the channel.

Another thing- how come the BPM counter is not what I'm expecting it to be? It says my tracks are 120 bpm, when they're not. If I change the BPM of a track UP, the track slows down. That seems totally backwards.

Also, how come when I split an audio track, change the BPM, it randomly cuts out the beginning/end of the split track?

[yur2die4]

When you warp a track, you are telling Live what bpm the original material of the clip is.

Aside from simply activating the button, you are also to make sure that the warp markers are set appropriately to represent/define the bpm of the track and also tell Live where each beat of the clip hits, for example 1, 2, 3, 4. repeat.

So if your audio clip is an 85 bpm clip, but Live is set at 120, and you turn on Warp, the clip MIGHT use Live's bpm to warp the clip, making it warp the clip as if it is 120 bpm. Instead, you hand-warp the actual clip to find out the actual bpm of that clip.

Once the clip is warped (let's say 85 bpm), you then leave the clip alone. It will be synced with Live's global tempo. If you change Ableton Live's tempo to 85, and the clip is warped at 85, the clip will play back at its normal speed. If you raise Live's tempo to 100bpm, Live will look at the clip that is warped at 85, and speed it up to 100. The clip itself will still say 95 because that is what Live is referencing in order to Know how to change the speed of the clip appropriately for matching the global tempo.

[wowzors]

Sorry, I'm still not understanding what you're talking about. All I want to do is slowly lower the tracks BPM, so why is it so complicated?

[yur2die4]

Hit warp on the track while it is in Arrangement View.

Then automate the global bpm in Live (top left number, right click, show automation).

Add dots.

[wowzors]

When I show automation, a master volume/song tempo box shows up in my track display section...do I change anything there?

Also am I adding dots to the sampler editor section? It doesn't let me change the segment BPM of the track, or am I still looking in the wrong place?

I don't understand why it *sometimes* allows me to change the segment bpm, and sometimes it doesn't.

[yur2die4]

Yes, automate the master channel. That will change the global bpm of the whole program.

Assuming that your clip is warped to a consistent bpm, then the clip will slow down with the overall program.

The concept is basically, play the clip, and move the program's main tempo up and down to get a feel for how to change bpm.

As for the seq. bpm. It is dependent on if there is a warp marker or not, and if there is a warp marker following that warp marker. But I never really touch the bpm box because I never assume the original tempo of a clip. I always make sure to warp the clip properly visually/listening. Then I'll look at that bpm to get an idea of what the clip's bpm actually is.

[Ignifluous]

You've probably already looked at this, but if you haven't, this: https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/audio ... d-warping/ is the relevant section of the manual, starting at section 9.2. It's got screen shots of where the warping controls are.

Another factor may be that sometimes it guesses the bpm of an audio clip wrong. In which case you can correct it (if you now it) by changing it on the warp controls.

The reason warping is more complicated, I think, is that it allows you to change the BPM of the audio clip *without* repitching it. If you do want it to repitch, you'll need to set the warp mode to "Re-Pitch" (the different modes are explained in section 9.3)

[wowzors]

Ahh okay, now it's all coming back to me. 9.2.2 Warp Markers section is what brought it back to me. Thanks for the responses!!

I do have one more question..
- How can you add an effect to a track, but only have the effect control a section of the track? I find myself having to cut a track, then drag specific sections to a whole new track display slot to then activate the effect.

[Ignifluous]

If the effect has a Dry/Wet control, then just automate that envelope. Set it to 0% when you don't want the effect applying, and then jump it up to whatever you want during the sections you want it on.

[presents]

I just figured this out! Yay! I've been having similar troubles getting warp to work.

The tricky thing is that when you go into the track you want to warp (the one whose tempo you want to conform to the BPM of the rest of the track), you think you need to change it's Seg. BPM to the tempo of the new track, but you actually want to set it to it's original BPM. Then live's warp algorithm will automatically match the audio file's playback speed to the new tempo. It feels counterintuitive to me, too, but it works!

Again, all you have to do is:

1) double click the audio track you want warp
2) click WARP on
3) set Seg. BPM value to the tempo of the audio file itself

I hope this helps!