Not sure if I am doing something wrong here, but when I use the tempo change function, it's fine if I have done zero edits to the individual tracks. When I change the tempo, though, it moves edited clips within the tracks a little, which is annoying. So when I slow the tempo down, say by 5%, I notice that it pulls my edited track clips apart a little, including the cross fades; and when I speed it up, it squishes the track clips together.
It's odd, because I am choosing Elastique (Pro) and everything else remains the same, including the pitch. It also seems to throw all the vocals I added to the project just a little out of whack in terms of the timeline.
I even tried CTRL-A before opening up the action menu to change the tempo. Is there a way to change tempo and preserve the edits I did before the tempo change? If not, I have to remember to only change tempo before any edits, I suppose.
Oh and I don't use the global tempo. Maybe that's messing me up? I never have any idea what the BPM or tempo is when I import or drag in the tracks.
It always says: BPM 120.00 4/4 CMaj. I have never been able to figure out how to use those settings. On ALL my projects, it always says that, and I disregard those global project settings. Maybe that's what's messing me up?
Problem With Tempo Change
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- KVRist
- 142 posts since 9 Apr, 2022
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- KVRist
- 76 posts since 14 Dec, 2021
If you open the Properties panel at the bottom of the screen (F11) when you click on the tempo/time signature/key signature it will allow you to change them as required. From memory, these values displayed on the right of the screen are the current values at the position of the cursor. The way I use them, which I think is how they should be used, is to set the 'global' tempo/key signature/time signature for the whole Edit (i.e. what it starts with) and then make changes as required during the Edit e.g. modulation to another key, using the tempo/key/time header track.
The other thing to watch out for is when importing clips/samples, there is a setting in properties that overrides the time/key global settings with whatever the sample is using. I usually turn this off so that my sample fits in with my Edit and not vice versa.
There is plenty of information in the User Guide and the videos online at Tracktion website so take a look there for a more detailed and accurate answer!
The other thing to watch out for is when importing clips/samples, there is a setting in properties that overrides the time/key global settings with whatever the sample is using. I usually turn this off so that my sample fits in with my Edit and not vice versa.
There is plenty of information in the User Guide and the videos online at Tracktion website so take a look there for a more detailed and accurate answer!
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 142 posts since 9 Apr, 2022
Dark Lane, as I said above, when I hit F11, or that little up/down arrow on the left side of the screen, to open that menu, it ALWAYS says "BPM 120.00 4/4 CMaj" in every one of my projects. I have created 50 or 60 projects and have literally ignored those numbers, as they never seem to have any bearing on my edits, exports, or final videos. I am sure they are very important, but I am not a human metronome. I couldn't even tell you what 120 BPM even sounds like, nor what editing those numbers would even mean.
I do use Elastique Pro whenever I change tempo, to make a piece faster or slower, but I am not the most nuanced user of Tracktion, so I am sure I am missing something here. It's just driving me crazy because I have decided on a few tunes to change the tempo. The problem is I made this decision AFTER in some cases dozens of edits to the tracks and the song. So whenever I change tempo of a song, it f*cks up all my edits by pulling all the clips in the track apart when I speed up the tempo, and squishing them together when I slow it down. I have tried CTRL-A before changing tempo, hoping that stops pulling clips apart and squashing them together, but that doesn't work.
One of my strengths has always been my creativity, and I have found a TON of creative ways to work around problems in software, this DAW included. The problem is that this often comes at a price. Because I manage to find ways of not doing it right but still getting stuff done, it stops me from learning how to do it right.
That said, I think I found a workaround without me having learn the right way to do it:
TL;DR - what if instead of trying to figure out how to do this right, I simply delete ALL the autio tracks, then take the rendered Wave I already made, and just import it back into Tracktion and start from there? I assume if its ALL ONE TRACK or even multiple tracks and just ONE clip for each track, then there would be nothing to squish together or pull apart, right?
So I guess my question now is, do I lose any audio quality doing this? Kind of along the same lines as copies of copies becoming lower quality and such?
I do use Elastique Pro whenever I change tempo, to make a piece faster or slower, but I am not the most nuanced user of Tracktion, so I am sure I am missing something here. It's just driving me crazy because I have decided on a few tunes to change the tempo. The problem is I made this decision AFTER in some cases dozens of edits to the tracks and the song. So whenever I change tempo of a song, it f*cks up all my edits by pulling all the clips in the track apart when I speed up the tempo, and squishing them together when I slow it down. I have tried CTRL-A before changing tempo, hoping that stops pulling clips apart and squashing them together, but that doesn't work.
One of my strengths has always been my creativity, and I have found a TON of creative ways to work around problems in software, this DAW included. The problem is that this often comes at a price. Because I manage to find ways of not doing it right but still getting stuff done, it stops me from learning how to do it right.
That said, I think I found a workaround without me having learn the right way to do it:
TL;DR - what if instead of trying to figure out how to do this right, I simply delete ALL the autio tracks, then take the rendered Wave I already made, and just import it back into Tracktion and start from there? I assume if its ALL ONE TRACK or even multiple tracks and just ONE clip for each track, then there would be nothing to squish together or pull apart, right?
So I guess my question now is, do I lose any audio quality doing this? Kind of along the same lines as copies of copies becoming lower quality and such?