How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

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How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By markmorgan10 Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:29 pm
I've heard that the Akai OS function of working out the tempo of a loop isnt that great so have downloaded the free JJOS.

Still, Im still a bit unsure how to work out the tempo of a loop - could someone let me know how I can go about doing this.

thanks

Mark
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Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By quietizkept Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:41 pm
Sometimes (very seldom) that tap tempo is wack though, so there's the old way:

(this is better applied to the source material, since you may not have a 15 second sample)

Get your stopwatch ready and play the song. Count the beats (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...google "counting" :lol: ) for 15 seconds and multiply that X 4 = Beats Per Minute. If you can't count beats, sell your sampler to me immediately and get back in school.

There is also an app called MixMeister BPM that will determine your tempo for you, even on small clips. Again, If you need such crutches, sell your sampler to Big Pound and he'll put it to better use. :wink:

Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By kazakore Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:57 pm
Create a sequence of however many beats your sample is, loop it, play the sample on the first beat, adjust tempo until it plays smoothly over the retrigger.

Or you could calculate it from the size of the sample (or it's accurate length) and how many beats it is if you don't trust yourself to get it accurate with the above method.
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Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By poundaproblem Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:58 pm
quietizkept wrote:Sometimes (very seldom) that tap tempo is wack though, so there's the old way:

(this is better applied to the source material, since you may not have a 15 second sample)

Get your stopwatch ready and play the song. Count the beats (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9...google "counting" :lol: ) for 15 seconds and multiply that X 4 = Beats Per Minute. If you can't count beats, sell your sampler to me immediately and get back in school.

There is also an app called MixMeister BPM that will determine your tempo for you, even on small clips. Again, If you need such crutches, sell your sampler to Big Pound and he'll put it to better use. :wink:



explained Very well :lol:
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Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By quietizkept Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:00 pm
Or you could calculate it from the size of the sample (or it's accurate length) and how many beats it is

Oh, word? Could you break this down to me? That sounds like the best way!

Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By kazakore Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:54 pm
quietizkept wrote:
Or you could calculate it from the size of the sample (or it's accurate length) and how many beats it is

Oh, word? Could you break this down to me? That sounds like the best way!


Easier, less accurate way is to multiple 60 (amount of seconds in a minute) by the amount of beats in your loop and divide by time in seconds.

E.G. 60*8/4 = 120BPM (chosen as nice round number.)

Only accurate to about 2.5% assuming one decimal place though and a 2 bar loop. The longer the loop and more accurately you measure the time the more accurate.

60*8/3.9 = 123.1bpm.
60*8/4.1 = 117.1bpm

Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By markmorgan10 Tue May 26, 2009 9:40 am
kazakore wrote:Create a sequence of however many beats your sample is, loop it, play the sample on the first beat, adjust tempo until it plays smoothly over the retrigger.

Or you could calculate it from the size of the sample (or it's accurate length) and how many beats it is if you don't trust yourself to get it accurate with the above method.


Thanks all of you for your help. Quite a few methods here - and I've had some success with tap tempo but I'll see if I can develop the method above.

M
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Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By Lampdog Tue May 26, 2009 11:26 am
kazakore wrote:Create a sequence of however many beats your sample is, loop it, play the sample on the first beat, adjust tempo until it plays smoothly over the retrigger.


That is the easiest way I've ever taught it to anyone also.

beach_break wrote:http://mp3.deepsound.net/eng/samples_calculs.php


Yup, that too.

Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By onlyoldboy Tue May 26, 2009 4:16 pm
Lampdog wrote:
kazakore wrote:Create a sequence of however many beats your sample is, loop it, play the sample on the first beat, adjust tempo until it plays smoothly over the retrigger.


That is the easiest way I've ever taught it to anyone also.


Seconded, this and tap tempo always manage to work for me!
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Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By sonseelye Tue May 26, 2009 4:49 pm
unreal wrote:
Lampdog wrote:
kazakore wrote:Create a sequence of however many beats your sample is, loop it, play the sample on the first beat, adjust tempo until it plays smoothly over the retrigger.


That is the easiest way I've ever taught it to anyone also.


Seconded, this and tap tempo always manage to work for me!

+3
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Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By stan steez Wed May 27, 2009 9:36 am
kazakore wrote:Create a sequence of however many beats your sample is, loop it, play the sample on the first beat, adjust tempo until it plays smoothly over the retrigger.


That's how I roll, too. Use this method along with an AUDIO Track and check, if the waveform is sitting right in Place in the Audio Grid to be sure one hunnid, mayn... ;)

When you use this method of looping you need to have a 1 in there (mostly it's a Kick). If you cut the sample after the first hit, let's say at the 1st hat after the kick, you need to create a "1" by just entering the event twice (in the right measurement, of course) and the try loopin it.

Re: How to accurately work out the tempo of a sample

By al p Sat Jan 09, 2010 11:01 pm
so i take it the 1000 (i have JJOS 4.99) doesnt have an equivalent to the old TRIM > PARAMS > Sample tempo on the 2kxl (p.121 of the manual) you can use to get the tempo of a loop (assuming you plug in how many beats long it is). this seems like a pretty major ommision
paceae
al
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