I’m having trouble getting bpm and time stretching under control. I’m recording/making clips in pro tools at a specific bpm and bringing them into a new project. Also have some full drum backing tracks at the same bpm. Lets say they’re all at 90 bpm. I also have another clip of something at 105 bpm. I bring them into the new OT project and its at default 120 bpm. The majority of the samples are at 90 so 90bpm shld be the project bpm. Looking for a simple way to handle this.
One more question here. I’m not used to thinking about music as a 16/32 step loop. I’d like to import samples of parts of songs so just the verse, chorus or solo section and mess with them in the sequencer. I’ve spent my life thinking in bars. So let’s say I want to bring in a 2 bar clip and play with it in a flex machine. Matching up the bars and timing to steps is tough. I know how to do the math with eighth/ quarter notes and 16 steps on each page of the max 64 steps etc but any help in clarifying this process would be greatly appreciated. The time/length of the sample I’m bringing in seems to cause big problems when triggered in a sequence. Preparing the clip to perfectly loop after say 32 steps seems to be my problem. Insight on how to tweak the sequencer to handle longer samples wld be great as well. A lot…of basic stuff here but any info is appreciated.
-Bill
from the manual…
The tempo guessing algorithm analyzes the sample filename for tempo figures,
checking if the initial guess is off by a factor 0.5 or 2.0. The ”normal” BPM range
the Octatrack uses to make its initial BPM guess is 85 BPM-170 BPM. If you have
loops with tempos outside this range, it might be a good idea to put the BPM value
in the filename. Typically, a 70 BPM loop is initially loaded as 140 BPM loop, but if
the number 70 is found anywhere in the filename, the octatrack will use 70 BPM
instead. Similarly, if 280 is found in the filename, the BPM of the sample will be
280.
also from the manual…
CAL BPM FROM SELECTION will calculate the BPM of the selection by assuming it contains
a musical length like 0.5 bars, 1 bar, 2 bars etc. The calculated BPM will be applied to
the ORIGINAL TEMPO setting found in the ATTRIBUTES menu. Useful when calculation
the BPM of a complete track. Select for example 1 bar and perform this command.
so as long as the BPM in the file matches the BPM of the pattern, 16 steps = 1 bar… if you are timestretching and so forth, it changes everything, of course - and then you will just have to figure out the best way to handle that - which is usually setting up a SLICE grid, which can cut the file into slices of equal length… so as long as the correct BPM is setup in the Audio Attributes for the sample, when you cut a 4 bar loop into 4 slices, each slice = 1 bar, and so forth, you can do the math on this yourself to figure out the rest
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