Will we ever get proper beat-mapping?

Cubase
1

Will we ever see tempo-detection which can analyze free-form recording and use non-chopped process to;

  1. align to grid

  2. align grid to it

???

Current tempo definition implies that defined audio is a paradigm of metronome perfection. This can work fine for working with technically perfect sample loops, but other than than imported audio (or recorded audio) is subject to drift unless manually chopped and aligned.

/p

2

Hit-Point detection and AudioWarp is great but for chopping well defined peaks, it can even quantize hitpoints to various increments, but there is still no ‘mode’ for musical, rhythmic detection.

Importing audio that may have drift will be a blind process which involve aligning the first beat with a beat later on and then slowly adjusting the tempo to try to find the best happy medium…

thx

3

From where hit-point mapping is currently, it should be easy to incorporate tempo detection through that system.

You could define start of first beat (snap to), but then you could also define further beat points to encompase the entirety of the audio file. The objective being here is not to have to chop up continuous audio to achieve this.

Hit-Point detection is awesome so why not use it to define tempo’s too?

Unless this feature is already inn the program I don’t know about?

4

Up Until now … I never figured out how to properly beatmap an imported song from itunes or any mp3 song in Cubase … I still use Acid Pro or Pro Tools for that and then import it to Cubase when I know the real Tempo … Cheers :frowning:

5

Is there any other solution that doesn’t involve a 2nd program? Like in VSTi format perhaps??

Can Melodyne do meat-mapping?

6

If there was a VSTi that could import mp3 or other audio to beat-map, I’d be happy to just do that then bounce into the project when I’m satisfied.

7

Merge tempo from tapping will do but it does require the user to do some minimal tapping. It’s best that the user has the best possible control as that way he knows what’s going on if anything is slightly out.
Whenever you leave the machine in control then you are at it’s mercy.

8

Maybe, but it’s still sad that eDJ’s have better technology to make remixes than a flagship DAW like Cubase… Maybe Reaper?

9

Although it’s still manual, I take it you’ve used the Time Warp tool to set the tempo to the audio you’ve imported? It’s manual but it doesn’t take too long to do.

10

I think that the second half of this tutorial will do the trick for you.

All the best,

Greg

11

If you want to do eDJ things then buy eDJ tools. Easy!
When eDJs get it wrong it’s only wrong once on the live stage whereas recording engineers have to put more deliberation into getting things right for a longer duration.

Good drummer’ll tell you what the beat-map is. Beats will be out of date in a couple of years. :wink:

Oh, Doh! It’s out of date NOW?! :mrgreen:

12

That is a great example but it fails to do somethings, namely bringing in a new audio piece into a existing project. So no Tempo Detect to change the project timeline is not a option in my case.

Second, at 6:06 he appears to perform a large edit, he appears to stretch about 5-6 tracks simultaneously by using the tempo info from the vocal track. This is pretty much not a realistic situation - perhaps it is for some… Something like this works in this example but I don’t think it does in most real situations. Mainly there is no control over the Tempo Detection results…

I’m still playing with this investigatin.

13

The new audio file will follow the tempo when it is in musical mode. Go to the audio pool and make sure that musical mode is enabled and it will follow the generated tempo track.

The audio needs to just have tempo information. If the tempo is fluctuating then you need to use the set tempo from definition function. The video part that you mention is that the files have to be selected in order for the changing tempo metadata to be applied to them all. This allows every beat of these tracks to be defined for the real time stretching.

Give it a try.

All the best,

Greg

14

Well I’ve been trying this for a while now with a grunge track, and I feel really frustrated. Sometimes I get the best result after creating a unique project just to do the editing in. The result there is usually pretty good, the metronome sounds good on most parts, but still needs correction in some parts.

I start running into problems trying to edit the Tempo definition, here’s my main issues;

  • Can’t define the first beat well (it should be the same as the ‘snap to’ point for that file)
    Can’t define main bars and measures!! needs a better way to ‘label’ bars in relation to your situation
    Audio Warp tabs while in Tempo Detect mode won’t snap to hitpoints
    Can’t Lock Audio Warp points in Tempo Detect mode (this is a nightmare when doing touch editing)
    Can’t edit within certain boundaries only in order to preserve other areas (it would be nice to be able to select a section and do spot edit only)
    Changing Audio Warp points in a certain areas effect unrelated parts of the audio
    Tempo information isn’t track specific!
    Performance still is mostly related to hitpoint detection and peaks (not musical)

I am going to try and find some more tutorial on this or see what other people are using. I am also hoping this subject can get more interest and hopefully Steinberg can make appropriate improvements.

edit: I’m still not sure if I’m using the right approach here, I am now playing around with Definition and AudioWarp together.

15

I have tried this approach in real world even on a drum track which should be as easy a pie to do. It is terrible! It is on at times, but off a ton. Really heavily disappointing.