I think I used to know how to do this, but it’s been a long time, and now I can’t remember
I have a free form MIDI piano that I’ve mapped the uneven tempo out/created a tempo track using Time Warp. The tempo is variable enough that it’s hard to sing to after the fact, and harder still to do overdubs on time.
So I was going to flatten out the tempo temporarily, sing and do overdubs to that, and then “unflatten” the tempo to its original and have the vocals stretch to match the original tempo track.
It’s that last part I’m having problems with. I think in the past I used “Set Definition from Tempo”, but today I can’t quite make all this work the way I was hoping.
Does it work to enable the “musical mode” on the audio event before you draw in the new tempo map? This way time stretching will be used on the audio when tempo changes occur.
I actually am already able to “stretch” audio by modifying a tempo track stored in an older track version (Musical Mode on the audio as you suggested, Johnny; also “Set Definition from Tempo” on the audio; duplicate the tempo track track version; rename it to “New Tempo Track”; and then use the Draw (pencil) Tool to adjust “New Tempo Track” - the audio does get stretched perfectly to reflect the new tempo track).
I think the task I’m trying to do is a bit different, however, in that I’m not actively Drawing a new Tempo track to stretch audio - I want to “marry” an existing (i.e., already created) Tempo track to the audio. That Tempo track might be imported, or reside in an earlier track version as in my case, but the key point, as I understand it, is: there is no modification of a Tempo track in the project, there is simply swapping one Tempo Track for another.
Here’s what I tried that didn’t work:
Put the audio into Musical Mode
Apply “Set Definition from Tempo” to the audio.
Swap Tempo tracks by going to an earlier Track Version.
Result: Nothing happens.
Not sure what to try next!
(Maybe you guys already knew all that, sorry to duplicate if so ).
Well, yes indeed this is the way to do it - to adjust tempo track so that the audio timing follows the changes in MIDI timing that result when the Tempo Track is edited. Thanks @Johnny_Moneto and @steve !
“Duplicate” the Track Versions (not the actual track itself) of the audio, MIDI, and tempo tracks, and make sure all the subsequent steps are done in the newly Duplicated Track Versions. It helps to keep things straight if, when Duplicating these Track Versions, you also rename them clearly to easily distinguish at a glance which Track Version you are working with - the original Track Version or the Duplicated one.
Apply “Set Definition from Tempo” to the Duplicated audio Track Version (under the “Audio > Advanced” menu up at the top; don’t forget to select the audio first)
This step is for informational purposes only, doesn’t need to be read to get the job done.
Note in the top right-hand corner of the audio clip (if someone wants to correct me here for the right word in Cubase terminology then I’ll edit/replace the word “clip”) a musical note symbol, and a squiggly line.
The musical note symbol means “Set Definition from Tempo” has put the audio in Musical Mode, and the squiggly line means that it’s been stretched (again, if this isn’t quite right, I’ll edit it if someone wants to correct me).
After making sure that each of the tracks is displaying the newly duplicated Track Version created in step 1 above: Vary the Tempo Track (e.g., with the Draw Tool, looks like a pencil at the top of the screen), then play back and listen to how the audio has changed tempo, along with all MIDI backing track(s) in the project, to reflect the changes you made in the Tempo Track - hooray !
Note: This final step is optional, but highly recommended:
).
!