Community Forums Archive

Go Back

Subject:Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Posted by: minipod
Date:3/4/2003 1:03:23 PM

Perhaps a stupid question. But is 120 BPM in Acid Pro 4.0 excatly 120 BPM in e.g. Cubase SX? When I move a rendered 120 BPM file over in Cubase am I then sure it isn't 120,34 BPM in Cubase. I mean: Do the two calculate the excact beat from the same source in my PC or do they calculate it in two different ways?

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: DKeenum
Date:3/4/2003 1:26:57 PM

As strange as it sounds, I'm not surprised. I'm use to this with hardware sequencers and I've noticed it on audio sample CDs (they are many times not exactly the same tempo. I don't really know the answer.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:3/4/2003 1:52:20 PM

It should be.

For example, my project is 123.562 BPM in ACID Pro. (You can enter an exact tempo just by double-clicking the Project Tempo number, rather than dealing with whole number tempos.)

I render this project to, say, WAV. I then check it out in Sound Forge, where it also tells me that the BPM is 123.562 BPM (via the Edit Tempo tool).

HTH,
Iacobus

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: groovewerx
Date:3/4/2003 11:06:53 PM

i've also noticed tempo variations when using the same wave in different mfg apps eg:

steinberg to/from sofo, cakewalk to/from logic etc.

it really is like hardware (roland to/from korg etc)

a software version of dr. click would come in handy.

on second thought, there already is. its called rewire.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: DKeenum
Date:3/5/2003 7:47:53 AM

Oh no. Here we go.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: spesimen
Date:3/5/2003 10:45:10 AM

with most apps it is close, but i've definitely seen differences between hardware sequencers and software ones.

certain bpms don't require rounding so those are always the same. 120bpm for instance is exactly 2.0 seconds long, so it's very well defined how many samples that is. with 120.15 bpm, you might have one app round it one way and another round it down though.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: spectre1
Date:3/5/2003 3:29:31 PM

I suspect speismen's theory is probably right. I've noticed this going back and forth from Acid and Sonar.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: AciDru
Date:3/5/2003 3:38:05 PM

Sorry, this sounds similar to the question i just posted in "help with importing files..." i didnt even see this thread here, so i apologize for "overlapping"

Only with my problem, im not only getting tempo differences, in one instance the file totally distorted. and you check the tempo with both sound forge and acid music, and they both say "120 bpm" but there is still a VERY significant audible difference

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: minipod
Date:3/6/2003 1:20:36 AM

To me it seems stange that the DAW industry don't have a de facto standard for BPM so importing tracks made in a competitor's application is hasslefree.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: dkistner
Date:3/6/2003 5:48:39 AM

Does it have anything to do with ticks per quarter note settings? I see that in several of my apps, but I have no idea what to do with it. But maybe matching the settings from one app to another would help.

Subject:RE: Is 120 BPM 120 BPM?
Reply by: braulio
Date:3/6/2003 8:06:56 AM

Diane,
ticks per quarter note (or parts per quarter) generally refers to midi note resolution. I don't think this effects tempo at all, it's just the software's way of telling the midi clock how far to subdivide each quarter note. If your sequence is hard-quantized to standard note values, then a low ticks/qtr is fine (96-120). For recording midi played live or non-quantized midi, use a higher resolution.

Here is a nice free tool I use sometimes to calculate sample length and determine tempos. Freequency


Go Back