[Solved / Unconfused] Set Definition from Tempo Confusion

Cubase
#1

I’m trying to drop a reference song (at about 127 bpm) into my 125 bpm project.

I want the reference song to be tempo adjusted and locked to the 125 bpm project.

I followed Greg Ondo’s excellent tutorial on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c13UP4lrYkg

  1. Select the reference song track and choose Project -> Tempo Detection…
  2. Change time signature from its default set 1/4 to 4/4.
  3. Select the track and choose Audio -> Advanced -> Set Definition from Tempo…

Now Cubase changes its tempo to match the Tempo Track based on the variations in the reference song.

Great.

Now to have it do the opposite, warp the reference song to match a fixed tempo, I should only have to remove the data on the Tempo Track, or deactivate the Tempo Track. Right?

So I do that.

Either way, while the reference song now does indeed lock to the fixed tempo as it should, the rest of my tracks are somehow offbeat, not looping correctly, etc.

How is this possible?

This doesn’t make sense because the tempo, at this point, is fixed and is the same tempo as when they were playing back fine. VSTi’s (some frozen, some not) do not play like they originally did.

Again, same fixed tempo as before I started all this. So nothing, for them, should have changed, right?

Only that one reference song that I applied the Set Def. from Tempo on should be affected by all this, correct?

#2

Hi Jalcide - Not in front of DAW, and didn’t watch vid, but may be helpful to a) put all MIDI tracks in linear time base (the clock icon, rather than the yellow/orange quarter note icon), and to make sure all the OTHER audio tracks are not set to Musical Mode.

(PS Would consider working on a dummy renamed version of the project, sometimes it gets too crazy to get back to where you started if things don’t go right!)

#3

See sig.

#4

Hi, Alexis. That worked! Thanks so much for that.

The secret step is to, as you say, temporarily and manually switch all other tracks to Linear time base (right before the “Set Def. from Tempo” step). They can then be set back to Musical time base after that step.

I never would have thought of that and didn’t find a tutorial anywhere that eludes to it. Thanks again!

#5

Yup. I see it. Thanks, Gump.

#6

Here is the recipe, to clarify, so that it might help others:
To tempo adjust a, say, a 127 bpm (even when it drifts and varies slightly) audio file to a 125 bpm project:

  1. Import the audio file / drag to an empty track.
  2. Select it and choose Project -> Tempo Detection…
  3. Change that first time signature marker that gets created from its default 1/4 to 4/4 (if appropriate).
    4) Temporarily change every other track in the project from Musical time base to Linear time base.
  4. Select the audio file track and choose Audio -> Advanced -> Set Definition from Tempo…
  5. Deactivate that new Tempo Track and/or delete all the events on it and set it to the original (or desired) tempo.
  6. Change all the tracks back to Musical time base (as appropriate).

The imported audio file should now lock to the tempo (as well as all the other tracks).

Keywords: tempo detection tempo match tempo matching tempo editing tempo map tempo mapping beat detection beat matching detect tempo tempo lock analyze tempo audio warp time warp timewarp audiowarp audio warping sync out of sync timing off time base timebase tempo-varying fixed beat beat locking

#7

Glad that did it, Jalcide!

The only thing to be careful of is not to mix up the term “Musical Timebase” (which is the yellow/gold quarter note in the inspector/track area, and what is applicable to what you are describing) with “Musical Mode” (which is not related to the quarter note … it is for audio stretching/warping only), i.e., Steps 4 and 7. If nothing else, keeping the terms straight makes reading the manual a bit less confusing at times!

(There is no “Linear Mode” equivalent of “Musical Mode”, so that is less room for confusion, there is just a “Linear Timebase” [the clock icon]).

#8

Ah, thanks for that. I’ll edit my posts.

Also, it appears to be “time base” (with a space) not “timebase” – just to be accurate for future keyword searching.

#9

Good to remember about the spelling, thanks.

I should mention for anyone else wandering down this road in the future that Grandmaster vic_france has written extensively on this topic over time, a search of his posts on the Cubase forum ought to clarify any questions anyone could possibly have. My sig may have some links to some of them, iirc! :slight_smile: