Dumb and Confused

[Dox]

I have recorded an improvised guitar audio track of 7 4 1 121 in the bars beats divisions and ticks display.

 

How do I get that to be 8 bars long and then get the drummer to follow the beat and tempo?

[David Nahmani]

Is the drummer actually playing 8 bars (musically)? Do you want to time-stretch it so it plays slower to fill 8 bars at the current tempo? Or do you want to detect its tempo?

[Dox]

Thanks for the quick answer David.

Yes I just want to add a default Drummer of 8 bars.

When I try time-stretch under edit the drummer never matches up.

The detected tempo is 125.5 BPM.

[David Nahmani]

Sorry what I meant is, did YOU, the guitarist, play exactly 8 bars? If you loop your guitar region the way it is (and mute your drum track for now), can you count 8 bars looping?

[Dox]

No. I the poor guitarist played 7 4 1 121.

[David Nahmani]

So then you can't stretch that into 8 bars? What do you want to do? Keep only that and fill in with silence at the end?

[Dox]

I just want to play an 8 bar sequence which I can loop and add the Drummer to.

[Dox]

Ok. I have recorded an 8 bar sequence at 120 BPM.

The drummer still doesn't follow it at all.

[des99]

Drummer doesn't follow you, it follows the tempo of the project.

 

Are you recording your sequence to a click at 120bpm, or are you just hitting record and playing in free time? If so, then what you play is completely independent of Logic's tempo.

[Dox]

Thanks des99 I was just playing in free time. I have tried to set the project tempo to adapt. Then set a constant tempo throughout. But then I need to get the length to 8 bars. Once all that is done isn't it possible to get Drummer to match the tempo I set?

[Dox]

Should I always play to a click at a set tempo?

[des99]

To begin with, it's easier, yes.

 

There are tools to analyse your playing and create tempo changes in Logic to match, but they are fairly advanced to use, and without knowing what your playing is like, and from your posts, I'd say you really should learn how to play to a fixed tempo, at least to begin with.

 

When you play to the tempo you set in Logic, then yes, anything that depends on tempo will automatically play in time.

[David Nahmani]

Should I always play to a click at a set tempo?

Not necessarily. There are many ways for Logic to detect your tempo. However you're not telling what you're working with, or what you want, so unless we try to guess, it's hard to help you. I'll try a random guess, that the guitarist played only the beginning of a loop and stopped short of finishing 8 bars, albeit at the right tempo in the project. If that's the case, then marquee select 8 bars over the shorter guitar region and Press Command-R to repeat. Does that work?

 

If that's not the case then you need to give us more information so that we can understand what you're working with? Screenshots can help: How to attach files to your post

[Dox]

Hi David

 

I have read articles like this:

 

https://www.musictech.net/tutorials/smart-tempo-in-logic-pro-x/

 

In which it states: "As with all automated ‘intelligent’ processes, there are limits to what Smart Tempo can interpret. The technology is based on establishing downbeats and then using the time between these two points to establish the tempo. Your playing style needs to be clear, therefore, and, within reason, ‘rhythmic’. If you’re trying to establish an initial ‘human’ tempo grid, pick a simple strumming guitar part, for example, rather than anything too complicated or syncopated."

 

The problem is that what I often play IS complicated and syncopated. I am attaching a file of the various things I tried to extend the section to 8 bars and then correct the timing. The example is purposefully progressively more off tempo and of an irregular odd number of bars to illustrate a worst case scenario while being very simple. Oh yes. The first 4 tracks are only to compare the same processes with MIDI as opposed to Audio. However I have also reread the section in your book regarding Groove Tracks. That seems to help somewhat too.

 

All I want to do is play some freetime guitar to which I can then attach Drummer and continue to build songs.

How to correct Timing.logicx.zip

Edited June 14, 2020 by Dox

[Dox]

The example I sent is purposefully progressively more off tempo and of an odd number of bars to illustrate a worst case scenario while being very simple.

[des99]

You might find it preferable, if your tempo changes are sufficiently complex that you're struggling to get Logic to recognise them with it's automatic tools, to manually record a click/metronome over your playing, and then use beat mapping to create tempo changes based on that click.

 

Basically, you're helping define when the beats are, and using that to inform tempo, rather than chucking some audio at Logic and going "you work it out!"

[David Nahmani]

The example you attached is missing all the guitar recordings.

[Dox]

? Here are the Audio files in a zip

[David Nahmani]

Still nothing.

[Dox]

Here it is again

How to correct Timing.zip

[Dox]

Thanks for the suggestions Des99.

Will try Beat Mapping next.

[Dox]

I played free time with Adapt Tempo set. Then took the average tempo and set that as the project tempo and Keep. Then I set my guitar playing as the Groove Track and the Drummer Match Groove Track. Both tracks now sync perfectly. Thanks again for the book!

[Eriksimon]

Well... I do not understand anything of that project... what is with all the off timings of just about anything? And the random piano notes? this is way over my head - or maybe under it? What are we supposed to look at?

[David Nahmani]

The problem is, we cannot guess what your intentions are, what music you have in your head, how the notes are supposed to fall on the beat (or not).

[Dox]

I apologise for not making it clear what the uploaded file is demonstrating. I thought the file name would make it obvious. This is not a project with all tracks to be played together. The file contains various ways to get Drummer to sync with a free time recording. First with a MIDI piano recording. Only listen to one MIDI piano track at a time against the Drummer track. The names of the tracks are the approaches taken. Then listen to the guitar tracks one at a time against the Drummer track. I hope this makes sense now. The MIDI piano and the guitar track are purposefully out if time with a regular beat and of an odd length. The point us to find ways of cirrecting free time recordings.

[Eriksimon]

Yeah, but where (on the guitar) is the 1? The 3? Or the 2? or the 4? It is very hard to guess how you want it to sound.

[des99]

If a number of *people* are finding it hard to locate the beat, then Logic certainly won't.

 

I'd suggest either learning to play to a click, or creating your own click and telling Logic to beat map from that.

[David Nahmani]

I thought the file name would make it obvious. This is not a project with all tracks to be played together.

That last part is obvious. On the other hand, how each note is supposed to fall on which beat (or between which beats, and on what position in between the beats) isn't. Only you know. Unless you tell us "see that note at 1 4 3 231? It's supposed to be beat 2 of bar 2" or something like that, we can't possibly guess what you intended to play.