How can I get the smart tempo function to work in Logic Pro
May 20, 2021 6:20 AM   Subscribe

Does anyone other there use Logic Pro's smart tempo? I can't seem to get it to work properly.

Logic Pro's smart tempo function is super promising. I would love to load a song that I'd like to transcribe that isn't synched to a click track, and be able to sync my midi transcription to it without letting go of the grid completely.

Is there anyone out there who now uses smart tempo, but had problems getting it to work initially? Whenever I load an audio file, and click on smart tempo, the results just don't work. Is there a way to work with imperfect results and clean them up somehow? It is a settings thing?
posted by umbú to Media & Arts (4 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I feel you--I have never, ever been able to get Smart Tempo to work correctly (although to be fair, I haven't tried too hard). You might want to ask over at LogicProHelp.

For pre-recorded material you might want to use beat mapping or auto beat mapping instead of Smart Tempo, though. It can be tedious as hell, but it does work, if your source material has strong enough transients.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:39 AM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I do this for retiming and adding small instrumental bits to karaoke tracks to make square dance music. My process is:
  • Create a new project with an audio track
  • In the middle of the top (where the tempo is), set the project to "ADAPT"
  • On the track info, set "Flex & Follow" to "On + Align Bars and Beats"
  • Import my track.
  • Say "yes, show the beat editor" when it asks.
  • Adjust the downbeat because invariably it starts on the 2 or the 3 rather than the 1
Usually then I normalized the track tempo (select all, right click, "Replace By Average") and set it to what I want (for my purposes everything is 126BPM), but at this point you can add MIDI tracks and their beats will be aligned to that audio track.

There is a way to analyze and align an already imported track (like if you want to align two audio tracks), but I've only gotten the stars aligned to do that once, and I don't do that operation often enough to actually remember what that process was.
posted by straw at 9:10 PM on May 20, 2021 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Straw, this is amazing! Thank you. I can’t wait to try it out this weekend.
posted by umbú at 4:35 AM on May 21, 2021


Best answer: Oh, and don't forget to set your project back to "KEEP" before you do more stuff.
posted by straw at 5:00 PM on May 21, 2021


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