Introduction
Playback's support of tempo changes unlocks the ability to add tempo changes to Cloud Songs on MultiTracks.com. Tempo changes ensure that song sections, MIDI Cues, and the built-in click track stay perfectly in sync with a song's varying BPM.
Playback supports gradual tempo changes as well as instant tempo changes. Here's how to program either in your Cloud Song shell on MultiTracks.com.
Note: For the sake of this article, Ableton Live will be the software used to show tempo changes in a DAW. However, tempo change mapping and timecode can be found in most DAWs and utilized in Playback.
Cloud songs with tempo changes must have this tempo change metadata to operate correctly in Playback. Without the changes, the cloud song will have inconsistencies and limitations such as: Not being able to properly loop or re-order song sections, guide behavior issues, and click timing inconsistencies.
How to get Tempo Change Data
Three options for getting the cloud song with tempo changes up and running in Playback:
Getting Tempo Change Data from the Project Files
In order to input tempo changes in a cloud song for Playback, you will need timecode data for all of the tempo changes. This data can be easily extracted from the DAW session used to create and export the cloud song tracks by using the software's Tempo Data List, or Tempo Track.Tempo Mapping a song in a DAW
If your cloud song was not created in a DAW and/or you don't have access to this tempo information, you will need to import one or more of the tracks into a DAW, and work on tempo mapping the track(s) to the grid in the software, and then can extract the tempo information to put into the cloud song's metadata. We recommend searching for online guides for the software you have access to. Or there is a free software "audacity" that can be used to add tempo markers to figure out the correct tempo change locations.
(last resort) No Tempo change data
If this is also not an option or not possible, the cloud song can still be used in Playback with your uploaded click track without tempo mapping, but will have limited functionality and could have unexpected behavior in certain scenarios.
For more information on this last resort workaround, see: 📖Cloud Song Click TrackTempo Changes Workaround
Gradual Tempo Changes
What is a gradual tempo change? Gradual tempo change is when the BPM slowly and consistently changes from one BPM to another over a period of time. This type of tempo change might look like this in your DAW:
In the master track of the above Ableton Live session, you can see that there is one BPM point at measure 5, one point at measure 11, creating a gradual slope. Here's how to draw this slope into Playback:
How to add Gradual Tempo Changes
How to add Gradual Tempo Changes
Set the starting song BPM. For this particular song, it starts at 75 BPM.
Find the Timecode of each BPM point
The song is in 75 BPM up until measure 5, where the final point of 75 is added. Place your cursor on each BPM point and take note of the time code (00 minutes, 00 seconds, 000 milliseconds) where it is located.
The 75 BPM ending point is 0:12:800 (12 seconds, 800ms).
Over the course of measures 5 and 11, the tempo of the song gradually increases from 75 to 80 BPM. The point where it officially hits 80 is 0:31:393 (31 seconds, 393ms)
Add tempo markers to Cloud Song on MultiTracks.com
Once the tracks have been exported and uploaded to a new Cloud Song (learn how to export and upload tracks here) open the Tempo Changes tab in your Cloud Song.
Click "Add Tempo" to add each tempo marker that you see in your song's DAW session. Make sure the starting tempo is included in this list.
Save Tempo Change Markers. Once saved, your song can be opened up in Playback and the tempo, waveform grid, and built-in click track will follow the tempo changes!
Instant Tempo Changes
When songs have a sudden BPM change, the tempo change markers need to be drawn differently, so that Playback successfully changes from one tempo to another in the same millisecond. Here's what an instant tempo change looks like on a DAW timeline:
^ On measure bar 5, the tempo instantly changes from 75 to 80 BPM. Here's how to implement this via tempo change markers for Playback:
How to add Instant Tempo Changes
How to add Instant Tempo Changes
Add the song's starting tempo. Like gradual tempo changes, the song's initial tempo still needs to be established in the tempo change markers.
2. Find the timecode of the singular tempo change marker.
^ The tempo change happens at bar 5, which is at 0:12:800 (18 seconds, 800ms)
Add the tempo markers to cloud song on MultiTracks.com
Once the tracks have been exported and uploaded to a new Cloud Song (learn how to export and upload tracks here) open the Tempo Changes tab in your Cloud Song.
Add the initial tempo to establish the song's starting tempo at the song's beginning, and another point at the place of tempo change (for this song, that second point would be 0:12:800).
Create the instant tempo change: Add another point for the changed BPM 1 millisecond later. For the above song, that would be 0:12:801.
Save Tempo Change Markers. Once saved, your song can be opened up in Playback and the tempo, waveform grid, and built-in click track will follow the tempo changes! At bar 5, the tempo BPM will instantly change from 75 to 80.
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