Subject:AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Posted by: Soniclight

Date:11/25/2007 1:23:27 PM

Hello,

I usually post in the Vegas forum and am not new to music editing (I've had Steinberg Cubase SX3 for a few years) and so don't need to get Acid Pro. However I am considering getting Acid Music Studio.

Main purpose:

--- To create drum and rhythm files. I used to create my drum tracks almost one note at a time in MIDI, but that's totally ridiculous these days :)

SX is great but not a sampler app. and I know I can save some serious time compared to my old MIDI ways even just using AMS. And I simply can't afford the fancy sampling applications, Sony or otherwise.

Example:

--- I have some 8Pack project and I'd like to use and modify some of the drum parts and it's at 98.5 BPM. But there is...

The "minium BPM" issue:

--- I compose/create "Pink Floyd" or ambient type music using mainly my older model Korg workstation. This means that I work in mostly slow tempos (sometimes as low as 40 BPM).

I have the freebie AMS 5/XPress which only allows one to go down to 70 BPM. I did have a trial version of AMS 7, but due to other life priorities, I didn't have the time to use it much at all before it expired.. Re-installing is impossible.

As we all know, time-stretching files causes file degradation (i.e. taking a .wav created in AMS that is 70, then time-stretching it to 40 or 40 BPM in another app.).

So I would need to be able to create the drum tracks .wav files in the same tempo in AMS to match the tempo of the projects where I do the bulk arrangement and production (in my case, SX)..

What I need to know is:

--- Do versions 6 and 7 allow one to set project and/or track tempo below 70 BPM, and if so, how low can one go using the tempo slider or other modality?

I can get 6 for quite a bit cheaper, so if both can do what I need, I'll go for 6.

Thanks.

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:11/25/2007 3:18:46 PM

Best i can do for you is to try it in ACID Pro 6. Can't set the tempo below 70.

However, couldn't you set the tempo for 80 and use every other beat?

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Soniclight

Date:11/25/2007 9:31:35 PM

Best i can do for you is to try it in ACID Pro 6. Can't set the tempo below 70.

I thought of that way to look (download Pro trial) but the two programs are so far apart in price range that I figured it wouldn't help much (AMS would be far more stripped down). But since you say even Pro won't let one slow a project down beyond 70, no point doing that.

However, couldn't you set the tempo for 80 and use every other beat?

Yup, there's always that workaround. I just was looking for a more click-and-go way :)

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:11/26/2007 5:01:04 AM

Ahha! Now that i'm awake and thinking, more or less ...

Options / Preferences / Editing. You can enter the allowable tempo range here. This lets you set it as low as 40, but not below that.

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: pwppch

Date:11/26/2007 11:33:47 AM

You can set the lowest tempo to 40 BPM in the Preferences | Editing settings. The max is 300. The default range is 70 - 200.

Peter

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Soniclight

Date:11/26/2007 11:46:22 AM

Thanks. I called Sony pre-sales and they told me the same thing. In the free Xpress/5.0 version it's under Preferences/Options/Audio -- and no-lower-than-40 too.

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Kennymusicman

Date:11/26/2007 1:44:53 PM

FWIW - Cubase SX3 and onwards has the "music-mode" feature which will allow you to work with acidized loops directly, and it will take account of the tempo (look in the audio pool and check "music mode").

Works beautifully.

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Soniclight

Date:11/26/2007 8:04:12 PM

Thanks, Kennymusician.

I's been a while since I fired up my SX3 and what you say rings a faint bell of "Hmmm, yeah, I remember something mentioned about acid-ized feature... " when I was considering upgrading from the original SX (1) -- which I had gotten within months of its release way back...

... in the days of the whole Emagic Logic dumping all PC users hoopla several years ago, so I got a really great crossover deal. And definitely liked getting Cubase -- way better than Logic was = I won out big time :)

So I'll definitely look into what you mentioned and may just be able to bypass buying AMS but still use Xpress for basic stuff if/when needed to frisbee stuff over to SX3.

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Kennymusicman

Date:11/27/2007 7:59:32 AM

Give me a shout if you still need help on Cubase..

- not taking anything away from AMS though. I have that too. Depends on what I'm working on..

Subject:RE: AMS 6 or 7 -- New User Q: Minimum BPM

Reply by: Soniclight

Date:11/28/2007 8:50:45 AM

Thanks for offer, will keep in mind. Got other life priorities going on at this juncture so it won't be editing, etc. for some time.

NRN