Process Tempo

Process Tempo allows you to define a specific length or end time for a set range, and the Tempo track will automatically set a tempo that will fit the range in the specified time.

It works as follows:

1.Open the Tempo Track Editor and specify a region or range that you wish to process by setting the left and right locators.

2.Click on the Process Tempo button on the Tempo Track toolbar.

The Process Tempo dialog appears.

3. In the Process Range fields, the specified range is shown, in Bars and Beats (PPQ) and in a time format, which can be selected from the Time Display Format pop-up.

The range defined in step 1 will already be set, but you can edit the range by adjusting the values in the Process Range fields if you wish.

Now you can either specify a new range length or a new range end time. What to choose depends on whether the range should have a specific length or whether it should end at a specific time position.

4.Enter the desired End or Length in the corresponding fields of the New Range section.

You can select a time format for the new range in the Time Display Format pop-up.

5.Click Process.

Now the tempo track is automatically adjusted, and the range will have the specified duration.

The Process Bars dialog

The Process Bars dialog, which can be opened from the Tempo Track Editor, uses the global “Insert Silence” and “Delete Time” functions from the Edit menu – Range submenu, but uses a musical “bars+beats-based” environment for calculating the necessary ranges (or parameters). It also ensures that the time signatures stay “in sync” after these operations. This allows for a much more intuitive approach when inserting, deleting or replacing “time” while working with a project set to the Bars+Beats time type.

The Process Bars dialog is opened by clicking on the respective button on the Tempo Track toolbar (next to the Process Tempo button).

Click this button…

… to open the Process Bars dialog.

The dialog contains the following elements:

Option Description

Action – Delete When you select this action, clicking the Process button Bars will delete the specified number of bars beginning at the

set start position.

Options and settings

Snap

You activate or deactivate Snap by clicking the Snap icon on the toolbar. The behavior of the function depends on the display format selected for the ruler:

•If “Bars+Beats” is selected, tempo curve points will snap to the set resolution on the Snap pop-up.

If this is set to 1/1, curve points will snap to the start of bars.

•If any other display format is selected, tempo curve points will snap to the vertical grid lines in the tempo curve display.

The spacing of the grid lines depends on the horizontal magnification.

•Time signature events can only be positioned at the start of bars, regardless of whether Snap is activated or not.

Autoscroll

When this option is activated, the tempo curve display will scroll during playback, keeping the project cursor visible.

The Beat Calculator

The Beat Calculator is a tool for calculating the tempo of freely recorded audio or MIDI material. It also allows you to set the tempo by tapping.

Calculating the tempo of a recording

1.In the Project window, make a selection that covers an exact number of beats of the recording.

2.Select “Beat Calculator…” from the Project menu.

The Beat Calculator window appears.

3.Enter the number of beats that the selection encompasses in the Beats field.

The corresponding tempo is calculated and displayed in the BPM field.

• If you need to adjust the selection, you can go back to the Project window, leaving the Beat Calculator open.

To re-calculate the tempo after adjusting the selection, click Refresh.

4. If you like, you can insert the calculated tempo into the Tempo track by clicking one of the buttons in the lower left corner of the Beat Calculator window.

Clicking “At Tempo Track Start” will adjust the first tempo curve point, while “At Selection Start” will add a new tempo curve point at the selection’s start position, using the “Jump” curve type (see “Adding tempo curve points” on page 417).

If Fixed tempo mode is selected when you insert the calculated tempo, the Fixed tempo will be adjusted, regardless of which button you click.

Using Tap Tempo

The Tap Tempo function allows you to specify a tempo by tapping:

1.Open the Beat Calculator.

2.If you want to tap the tempo to some recorded material, activate playback.

3.Click the Tap Tempo button.

The Tap Tempo window appears.

4.Select “Merge Tempo From Tapping” from the Functions submenu on the MIDI menu.

A dialog opens.

5.In the dialog, specify what type of note (1/2, 1/4 etc.) you tapped during the recording.

If you activate the “Begin at Bar Start” option, the first note will automatically start at the beginning of a bar when calculating the new tempo curve.

6.Click OK.

The project’s tempo is adjusted to the tapped notes.

4.Tap the tempo on the computer keyboard’s space bar or with the mouse button.

The tempo display will update the calculated tempo between each tap.

5.When you stop tapping, the program calculates the average timing of the taps and displays it.

6.Click OK to close the Tap Tempo dialog.

The tapped tempo is now shown in the Beat Calculator’s BPM display. If you like, you can insert it into the Tempo track as described above.

Merge Tempo From Tapping

This function allows you to create a complete tempo track based on your tapping. Typically, you would use this if you have an audio file with no tempo mapping and want to be able to add sequenced material afterwards, etc.

1.Create an empty time-based MIDI track and, while playing back your audio material, tap the new tempo on your MIDI keyboard and record the created notes onto the new MIDI track.

Note that you must create note events – pedal events cannot be used for this function.

2.Play back the audio and check that the timing of the MIDI notes corresponds to that of the audio.

If necessary, edit the MIDI notes in an editor.

3.Select the part (or the individual notes in an editor) that you want to use for the calculation.

7. Open the Project menu and select “Tempo Track” to check that the new tempo information is reflected in the tempo curve.

Ö Another way of creating a tempo map for freely recorded audio would be to use the Time Warp tool, see below.

The Time Warp tool

The Time Warp tool lets you adjust the Tempo track so that “musical time-based” material (positions related to the tempo) matches “linear time-based” material (positions in time). Some typical applications:

•When you have recorded music (audio or MIDI) without tempo reference or metronome click, the Time Warp tool can be used for creating a tempo map that fits the recording (allowing you to rearrange or add sequenced material).

•When you are creating music for a movie and want to match certain positions in the video with certain positions in the music.

The Time Warp tool makes use of the fact that tracks can be based on time positions (linear time base) or positions related to tempo (musical time base), see “Switching between musical and linear time base” on page 40 for a description of these modes.

Basic procedure

You use the Time Warp tool to drag a musical position (a position in bars+beats format) to a certain position in time. This can be done in the Project window or in editor windows, as described below. Here is the general procedure:

1.Make sure Tempo track mode is selected.

You cannot use the Time Warp tool in Fixed tempo mode.

2.Select the Time Warp tool.

Bars+Beats format is automatically selected for the ruler in the active window, and the ruler is shown in brown.

3. Click in the window at a musical position and drag it so that it matches a position in the material you are editing

– e.g. the start of an event, a certain “hit” within an audio event, a frame in a video clip, etc.

When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the grid in the window.

Dragging the start of bar 3 to the start of the audio event.

While you are dragging, the track(s) you are editing are temporarily switched to linear time base. This means that the contents of the tracks remain at the same time positions regardless of the tempo (there is an exception to this in the Project window, see below).

4. When you release the mouse button, the musical position you clicked on matches the time position you dragged it to.

This is because the Time Warp tool changed the last tempo event on the Tempo track (and/or added new ones, depending on window and usage), thereby scaling the tempo track to fit.

Rules

•When you use the Time Warp tool, the tempo value of the last tempo event (before the click position) is adjusted.

•If later tempo events exist, a new tempo event will be created at the click position. This way, the later tempo event(s) will not be moved.

•If you press [Shift] and use the Time Warp tool, a new tempo event is created at the click position.

[Shift] is the default modifier for this – you can adjust this in the Preferences (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).

•If you use the Time Warp tool in an editor, a tempo event will be created at the start of the edited part or event. Only the currently edited track will be affected – but note that events to the right of the edited events or parts (on the edited track) will be affected as well.

•If you have made a selection range (in the Project window, Audio Part Editor or Sample Editor) and use the Time Warp tool within that range, the tempo changes will be confined to that range.

This means tempo events will be inserted at the start and end of the selection range, if needed – useful if you need to adjust the tempo within a certain area but want all material outside that range to stay in place.

•When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the tempo grid in the window.

•When you drag the tempo grid to a new position, it can be magnetic to events in the window.

In the Project window, this requires that Snap is activated and “Events” is selected on the Snap pop-up menu – the grid will then snap to the start and end of events or parts, and to markers. In the Sample Editor, this requires that Snap to Zero Crossings is activated – the grid will then snap to hitpoints (if any). In the MIDI editors, this requires that Snap is activated – the grid will then snap to the start and end of notes.

•The function will create tempo values up to 300 bpm.

Viewing and adjusting tempo events

When you select the Time Warp tool, the ruler of the active window is shown in brown. Existing tempo events are shown in the ruler as “flags” with the tempo values displayed.

This helps you see what’s going on, but you can also use this for editing the tempo track:

•If you press the create/erase modifier key (by default [Shift]) and click on a tempo event in the ruler, it is deleted.

•You can click on a tempo event in the ruler and drag to move it.

This automatically edits the tempo value in the event so that elements to the right keep their positions.

•If you press [Alt]/[Option] and move (or delete) a tempo event in the ruler, the tempo value is not adjusted – this means elements to the right will be moved.

This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Preferences (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).

Using the Time Warp tool in the Project window

In the Project window, there are two modes for the Time Warp tool:

•In the default mode, all tracks are temporarily switched to linear time base when you use the tool. This means that all tracks will keep their absolute time positions when you adjust the tempo track.

•In the “musical events follow” mode, no tracks are switched to linear time base. This means that all tracks that are not set to linear time base will follow the changes you make to the tempo track.

You select the Time Warp mode by selecting the tool, clicking on the tool icon and selecting from the pop-up menu that appears.

Matching a musical score to video

Here’s an example of how to use the Time Warp tool in “musical events follow” mode. Let’s say you are creating the music for a film. You have a video track, an audio track with a commentary and some audio and/or MIDI tracks with your music. Now you want to match the position of a musical cue to a position in a video film. The musical cue is located in bar 33. There are no tempo changes in the project (yet).

1.Make sure tempo track mode is selected in the Transport panel.

2.Now you need to locate the position in the video. If you don’t need very high precision, you can simply locate it looking at the thumbnails on the video track – otherwise you can pinpoint the exact position and add a marker to the Marker track (that you can snap to later on).

You can also make a note of the exact position and add an extra ruler track set to show the time code.

3.Make sure the correct tracks are set to linear time base or musical time base, respectively.

In our example, we want the video track and the audio track with a commentary voice-over to be linear time-based (as well as the marker track, if you are using one). All other tracks should be set to musical time base. You change this by clicking the time base button in the Track list or Inspector.

Musical time base selected.

Linear time base selected.

4. Set up the Grid Type pop-up menu as desired.

When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the selected grid. In this case, you will find the musical cue at the start of bar 33, so we can set the grid to “Bar”.

• Note that this affects the snapping to the ruler (tempo grid) when you click! In addition, the tool can be “magnetic” to events in the Project window when you drag – for this, you need to activate Snap and select “Events” on the Snap pop-up menu.

In our example, this would be useful if you created a marker at the desired position in the video – when you drag the grid (see below), it will snap to the marker.

5.Select the Time Warp tool and select the “musical events follow” mode.

6.Click in the event display at the start of bar 33 and drag to the desired position in the video.

As mentioned above, this can mean dragging to a position indicated by the thumbnails on the video track, to a marker on the Marker track or to a time position on an additional ruler track.

When you drag, the ruler is scaled – and the music tracks will follow.

7. Release the mouse button.

If you look in the ruler at the beginning of the project, you will see that the first (and only) tempo event has been adjusted.

8. Try playing back.

The musical cue should now happen at the correct position in the video.

OK, let’s say you need to match another cue to another position later on in the video. If you simply repeat this procedure, you will find that the first cue gets out of sync – since you are still changing the first (and only) tempo event on the Tempo track!

You need to create a “lock point” – a tempo event at the first cue position:

9. Press [Shift] and click with the Time Warp tool in the event display at the cue position.

In our case this is bar 33.

As you can see, a tempo event (with the same value as the first one) is added at that position.

10. Now match the second musical cue to the correct video position by dragging the musical position to the desired time position as before.

The new tempo event is edited – the first tempo event is unaffected and the original cue is still matched.

• If you know you are going to match several cues this way, you should make it a habit to press [Shift] each time you use the Time Warp tool to match positions.

This adds a new tempo event – that way, you don’t have to add tempo events afterwards as in step 9 above.

About snapping

If Snap is activated in the Project window and “Events” is selected on the Snap pop-up menu, the Time Warp tool will be magnetic to events when you drag the tempo grid. This makes it easier to snap a tempo position to a marker, the start or end of an audio event, etc.

Using the Time Warp tool in an audio editor

Using the Time Warp tool in the Sample Editor or Audio Part Editor is different from using it in the Project window, in the following ways:

•When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is automatically inserted at the beginning of the edited event or part – this tempo event will be adjusted when you warp the tempo grid with the tool. This means that material before the edited events won’t be affected.

•Only the default mode for the Time Warp tool is available. So when you use the tool, the edited track is temporarily switched to linear time base.

Making a tempo map for a “free” recording

The following example shows how to use the Time Warp tool in the Sample Editor to create a tempo map matching freely recorded music. Let’s say you have recorded a drummer, playing without a metronome – this typically means the tempo varies ever so slightly. To be able to add sequenced material and easily rearrange the recorded audio, you want the tempo in Nuendo to match the recorded drum track:

1.If necessary, move the recorded event to its desired start position.

Move it so that the first downbeat (“one”) happens on the start of the desired bar – zoom in if needed.

2.Open the drum recording in the Sample Editor and make sure Hitpoint mode isn’t selected.

The Time Warp tool cannot be used in Hitpoint mode. However, if you have calculated hitpoints already, these will be visible when the Time Warp tool is selected (see below).

3.Set the zoom so that you can see the individual drum hits clearly.

To achieve this type of “visual” beat matching, it’s important to have a fairly clean recording, such as the drum track in this example.

5.Press [Shift] and click in the event at the position of the first downbeat (the start of the bar).

When you press [Shift], the pointer turns into a pencil. Clicking adds a tempo event at the first downbeat – when you later adjust the tempo with the Time Warp tool, the first downbeat will stay in place. Note: if the event started exactly on the first downbeat (no audio before the “one”), you wouldn’t need to do this. This is because a tempo event is automatically added at the start of the edited event.

6.Now, locate the start of the next bar in the ruler.

7.Click at that position in the event display and drag the position to the downbeat of the second bar in the recording.

When you click, the pointer will snap to the ruler grid.

You do not have to match the downbeats (“ones”) – in this figure, beat “2” in the second bar is matched to the “two” in the recording’s second bar (simply because the snare drum hits on the upbeats are easier to spot in the waveform image).

4. Select the Time Warp tool.

You have already matched the first downbeat with the start of a bar. However, if the recording starts before the first downbeat (with a fill, some silence, etc.), you want to “lock” the first downbeat so that it stays in position:

When you dragged the grid you changed the tempo value in the tempo event at the first downbeat. If the drummer held a fairly consistent tempo, the following bars should now match pretty well too.

8. Check the following bars and locate the first position where the audio drifts from the tempo.

Now, if you simply adjusted that beat in the tempo grid to match the beat in the recording, the tempo event at the first downbeat would be changed – this would ruin the match in the previous bars! We need to lock these by inserting a new tempo event.

9. Locate the last beat that is in sync.

This would be the beat just before the position where the audio and tempo drift apart.

10.Press [Shift] and click at that position to insert a tempo event there.

This locks this matched position. The material to the left will not be affected when you make adjustments further along.

11.Now match the tempo grid to the next (unmatched) beat by clicking and dragging with the Time Warp tool.

The tempo event you inserted in step 10 will be adjusted.

12.Work your way through the recording this way – when you find that the recording drifts from the tempo, repeat steps 9 to 11 above.

Now the Tempo track follows the recording and you can add sequenced material, rearrange the recording etc.

Matching to hitpoints

If you have calculated hitpoints for the audio event you are editing, these will be shown when the Time Warp tool is selected.

•The number of hitpoints shown depends on the Hitpoint Sensitivity slider setting you’ve made in Hitpoint mode.

•If you activate the Snap to Zero Crossing button on the toolbar, the Time Warp tool will snap to hitpoints when you drag the tempo grid.

•You can use the Create Markers from Hitpoints function (on the Hitpoints submenu of the Audio menu) to create markers at the hitpoint positions. This can be useful when using the Time Warp tool in the Project window, as the tool will be magnetic to markers (if Snap to Events is activated on the toolbar).

Using the Time Warp tool in a MIDI editor

This is very similar to using the tool in an audio editor:

•When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is automatically inserted at the beginning of the edited part – this tempo event will be adjusted when you warp the tempo grid with the tool. Material before the edited part won’t be affected.

•Only the default mode for the Time Warp tool is available. So when you use the tool, the edited MIDI track is temporarily switched to linear time base.

•The rulers in the MIDI editors can be set to “Time Linear” or “Bars+Beats Linear” mode (see “The ruler” on page 367) – the Time Warp tool requires Time Linear mode. If necessary, the ruler mode will be switched when you select the Time Warp tool.

•If Snap is activated on the toolbar in the MIDI editor, the tool will snap to the start and end of MIDI notes when you drag the tempo grid.

Typically, you would use the Time Warp tool in a MIDI editor to match the Nuendo tempo to freely recorded MIDI material (much like the audio example above).