Realtime tempo adjustment?

Let me start by saying that I suspect this isn’t possible. But there are a bunch of clever folks here who might come up with a way to do this.

I’d like to be able to use a continuous controller to vary values on the Tempo Track. Say you’ve got some midi tracks that were recorded at a fixed tempo. It would be nice to subtly speed it up or slow it down over the course of the piece. I know I can do this by editing the Tempo Track. But that is fairly abstract. I’d like to have something more organic, kind of like a tempo fader that would be similar to mixing with a control surface instead of drawing in data.

Of course the initial showstopper is that there is no record enable on the Tempo Track. Anyone got some ideas.

it could be possible. if. steiny rewrites some things.
(incorperating how live etc. does it, basically) - (this would also fix the small audio dropouts when adding things, improve midi interplay with others (allowing cubase to be a slave) and ultimately opening the program fot things like link at some point, being able to map live tempo automation to knobs etc.
This would be a huge rewrite tho, and it would be nice to see steiny invest in the future so to speak…
why such a big rewrite? because there would also have to be a change in how the outdated handling of audio events is implemented…(or you couldnt change tempo smoothly and seamlessly on the fly… -requested)
I have been wanting cubase to be more useable in a live setting many times in various feature requests… (the latest request which would help is the *lanes feature in a possible mediabay update allowing for cubase to have a live looper so to speak…)
(a stable sytem container of playback and tempo management , in which one adds and removes things uninterruptedly and with smoothing - one main continuous stable stream in with all other events slave to) music in software form basically… It wouldnt take much to exchange deskwork, clickfest and dropouts into a smoother and freeing experience if that would be wanted… there is enough opensource code out there to implement it all for free if the company can envision it… (dont get me wrong… i like my cubase … it would just be nice to press the live button sometimes… to use it as an instrument and not as a record keeper- where one can instantly speak ideas into a dictaphone and not have to chissel words into stone so to speak - let it flow (if you catch my drift)

anywho ,

-love cubase ? yes
-could it do with some rewrites? yes
to answer your question →

  • smooth tempo adjusts on the fly? yes - with the rewrites

Anything is possible with spirit, vitality, willpower, love, insight, intellilgence and wisdom to name a few.

Hi all, Cubase does have a Realtime Tempo Edit function. However, it does not seem to function via MIDI CC or any other controller. Looking thru the Generic Remote List, it seems this function is not avail. The good news or a least a saving grace is the mouse wheel.

  1. Highlight the Tempo Track
  2. Look to the left (Inspector Tab) - there is a “e”
  3. Click on the “e” to open up the Tempo Track Editor window
  4. There will be a “Tempo Rec” slider on the tool bar of that window
  5. During playback, place the mouse over this “Tempo Rec” Slider and scroll the mouse-wheel. (This slider only works in play mode)
  6. Once the wheel has been moved, the RED Track highlight will be on automatically on the Tempo Track and any changes to tempo will be reflected in the Tempo Track Editor. Upon stop the new tempo line will be reflected in Cubase Main work area.

Hope this helps…

I had high hopes for this but it really isn’t useful in practice.

First the scroll wheel is hard to control subtly - kind of like using a butter knife when you want a scalpel. I do have a Steinberg CMC AI controller, which in theory can be used on any Cubase control you hover over. Not here though, sigh.

But more significantly you can’t hear the adjustments as you make them (which is the whole point of what I want). If you have a click playing at 120 bpm and ramp the tempo slider up to 180, the click is still at 120. Only after you stop and replay can you hear the tempo changes. So if I wanted to push the tempo a bit on the chorus there is no way to distinguish between “not enough” and “too much” - if I’m going to adjust the tempo without any immediate feedback on how it sounds then drawing in the tempo track is easier than moving a slider.

This looked like it could be a really cool feature. Too bad the implementation doesn’t really cut it.

Thanks for the info though.

I’ve wanted this for years. I’ll tell you what I’ve done. You won’t like it, but it works IF you have any kind of DJ software like Traktor or Live and some gizmo with a jog wheel.

  1. Load Exported Audio from yer CPR into this DJ software.

  2. Hit ‘Play’ and use the jog wheel and record the tempo changes. Then Export that ‘DJ Audio File performance’ as an audio file.

  3. Now import yer DJ Audio File performance file back into Cubase

  4. Analyze that new track for a tempo map and have Cubase follow that.

Hope that makes sense. I realise it’s a total Rube Goldberg, but it does work.

Hi all…

Yeah… totally gotta agree with you on this. My mouse wheel moves like 2.4 BPM on every move. Dont think there is a way for finer movements.

Hmmm… i didnt try this with the Metronome on. Only after you mentioned it i did and was just knocked cold!!!

The initial experiment with some simple MIDI Notes recorded at 120 BPM worked fine - Click Track and all. After recording, i did a playback while scrolling the wheel and the MIDI notes do play according to the tempo changes; unfortunately the Click Track was a totally different story… :frowning:

Also in the main window, the Tempo Track (tempo line), Grid Spacing and Audio Waveform; all are not graphically updated until Stop is hit.

I guess the workaround for this is to create a simple MIDI metronome and use it as the Click Track. sigh though…

Doesnt seem to be able to map to anything including the CC121. There is nothing for Tempo Change function in the Generic Remote Area… another sigh

Will try out this method though…

cheers!!! :slight_smile:

The new FREE update of launchpad Would look good on cubase…:stuck_out_tongue: