Tap tempo weirdness

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 7:08 pm

I've been trying to use the tap tempo button midied to a uc33 or keyboard, keeping the tempo synced to an external input. I've not used this technique for a while, has anything been changed? because after 4 or 8 taps the tempo counter repeatedly bounces between correct tempo and 300 bpm! This is a complete disaster if you have clips playing.

It never used to do this in earlier versions (using 4.0.4) I like to take a radio feed through my mixer and capture loops into Live while clips are playing. Never tried this technique with a band but i'd imagine it would be very diffficult to do with the current tap tempo.

I'm sure it used to work better than this, though none too accurately. Anyone else noticed this happening?

Chris J · Post by **Chris J** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:17 pm

I posted about that problem about in August http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=,
but I was using 3.0.4 so whatever it is it's been there for a few versions.
apparently no-one had that problem for nobody answered the post.
For me it happens with the PC keyboard & mouse.

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 8:51 pm

Glad it's not just me then. I guess the solution is to try and nail your timing in under 8 hits, which is all very well, but if you want to take an average across a longer timespan you've had it.

I really think the tap tempo thing needs some work, if it would work more intelligently and gradually average out between the taps, slowly adjusting itself according to some user set parameters, I think it could be a very accurate way to beatmatch live. As it stands, it's a lot worse now than it was in Live 3.

Bit of a shame really, it's made warping whole tracks much harder.

robert_philp · Post by **robert_philp** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 1:44 am

http://www.b-boys.com/beatcounter.html

I found this very useful, a tap-tempo BPM counter on a web page. Very handy, worked a treat when i was testing the chris cowie DJing method.

Sharkcellar · Post by **Sharkcellar** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:34 am

I think you stole my problem! We have the exact same subject lines for the exact same problem. I posted on 11/10/04 about it. I also wrote a support request to Ableton about it and was getting a little help from some guy named Ch Kleine. Here is a rundown of our conversation:

<ableton 4.0.3 Log.txt><ableton 4.0.4 Log.txt>
>
>
> "Can you mail me the Log.txt file and try to explain what happens?"
>
> What happen exactly is that I have tap tempo mapped to shift+n when I
> try to tap in a tempo I get tempos that are not even close to the
> tempo that I'm tapping. It also seems that I cannot tap any tempos
> faster than about 120bpm, I get tempos like 35, 112, 223, 44... and so
> on, completely random.
>
> "How do you use the tap tempo?"
>
> I use the tap tempo to try to match the apparent tempo of a piece of
> music, usually by ear.
>
> "Do you assign it to a Midi device?"
>
> I don't have any MIDI devices connected, synced or syncing Live. This
> problem happens with Live using no Rewire devices or anything.
>
> Thanks

I haven't heard anything else from him since 11/17/04:

> Hello,

> We ´ll check the Taptempo issue.

> Best,
> Ch: Kleine

So, It's obvious that they know this problem exists but noone is giving any explanation as to why it's there.

Jeez I hope this is fixed soon. I miss being able to jam live with my laptop. This has really bummed me out because I love this app.

rEalm · Post by **rEalm** » Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:40 pm

Yeah, I ran into this too a fwe days ago for the first time. I've successfully used used tap tempo in the latest Live version to match to turntables many times with no issues (quite easy once you get used to it). However a couple of days ago, this problem stared happening to me as well, renders tap tempo completely useless. Weird thing is I'm using the same Live template project I always do, nothing has changed on my laptop either, same hardware, same software. Now I get this every single time.

I actually started to reinstall XP and all my apps last night so I can hopefully get this sorted by the weekend for my gigs.

madlab · Post by **madlab** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 9:05 am

Same problem on mac when I try to tap tempo with the mouse. I can't seem to get tempi above 100 bpm and tempo oscillates between 70-300 when I tap something like 120. totally unusable. Please Ableton, what's your word about it ?

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 5:37 am

This is happening to me as well. Mine sounds like it's stuttering and the length of the clip changes in the arrangement view. Warping is completely off and I am using the keyboard.

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:21 pm

OK I get the dummy award. I just found out that this is normal in the arrangement view. If I drop the clip in session view then it does not stutter. Gee it seems so obvious now that I pulled the dung out of my ear.

Post by **Alex** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:20 pm

Hi folks,

within the last beta (live 4.0.5b4) we fixed a bug concerning Tap Tempo when using it during an arranger loop back-jump.
Would be nice if oyu could try if it solves the problem where the tempo goes to 300.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15635

regards,
Alex