mapping the tempo (MIDI) grid to audio files in Cockos Reaper

[@insubbeckley3326]

Thanks for this! Much faster than the method I've been using. I think this is better than Kenny's method as well.

[@deltavistastudio124]

I've learned many ways of doing this in REAPER, but this has got to by my fav. I love that the other stretch markers don't move when you adjust one of them...a B-I-G time-saver with this method. Thanks!!!

[@SonicAxiom]

Thanks for your comment, DVS. I'm happy that it can speed up your work!

[@andreimacarov6522]

Very helpfull tutorial. Thank you! By the way, you can increase waveform visibility by duplicating the track, putting a transient shaper or compressor on it to emphasize attacks and render it. Then mute it and use as a guide track.

[@insubbeckley3326]

Great tip, Andrei! Thanks!

[@deltavistastudio124]

Additionally, to see the wave form transients more clearly, simply hit "[Shift] Up arrow" a few times. This is very handy. ("[Shift] Down arrow" a few times will return the wave form(s) to their original height.)

[@donpedroelbuey8151]

Can you tell me the name of the extensions you are using at 2:28....it is too blurry for me to read it. Thank you.

[@SonicAxiom]

At 2:28 I'm opening the Action nenu and start searching for the action "Create measure from time selection (detect tempo, detect number of measures)". You should be getting a very sharp video by clicking on the video's cogwheel icon and setting the video's resolution to 720 or 1080 (1080 being the video's original resolution).

[@jazzbeats8168]

great tutorial, are there any new ways of doing this in reaper 6? also what is that little window on the top of your arrange window. thanks!!

[@SonicAxiom]

Thank you, Jazz Beats! There are actually a few different methods that accomplish this. You can find numerous threads searching the Reaper forum for something like "time warping" or "grid warping". I've not yet found a better way of doing it (even in Reaper 6) and thus I'm sticking to this method. In the meantime I've become much quicker in doing it. The little window is the downsized "Navigator" window which can be opened from the view menu or via keyboard shortcut.

[@SonicAxiom]

PS: CTRL+ left-clicking into the Navigator window allows jumping to the desired location in the project on the fly!

[@jazzbeats8168]

Many thanks !:-)

[@tonymckeown1314]

@SonicAxiom, I notice that if you change the Timebase for Items and for Tempo to 'Time' from Beats, under Project Settings, in order to create a rough tempo to an audio item, that the audio plays at the same speed, but if you had created midi items in time with that audio, they get screwed up (ie. either become faster or slower depending on the new tempo.) I wonder if there's any way around that (other than printing them to audio in their original project tempo)? I recorded an audio piano track freestyle, then I put some midi strings to that without syncing them to the correct tempo of the piece - now I've decided that I want to add a rhythm track, so need to tempo-map the project to the audio, but if I do that it screws up the playback timing of the midi tracks. I haven't quite finished the midi tracks, so I guess I need to finish them, turn them into audio, then tempo-map, if there's no other way around that.

[@SonicAxiom]

Thanks for your comment, Tony! While Reaper normally applies the time base specified in the project settings to everything, you can override this setting and set each MIDI and audio item to a differing time base separately in the items respective item properties. Additionally, time base can be set per track in every track's context menu (affecting all items on that track). Using those options, you should be able to avoid messing up the tempo of MIDI items.

[@tonymckeown1314]

@@SonicAxiom Thanks for your reply. I have the Project Timebase settings set to 'Time', the Track Timebase set to 'Time', and the Items' Timebase set to 'Time', and still if I change the Project tempo, it changes the tempo playback of the Midi items. I'm stumped.

[@SonicAxiom]

What happens if you set the MIDI track's time base to a beats-related setting before tempo-mapping? I'm not sure if I even grasped your issue and your environmental ciscumstances but I just tested tempo-mapping a project with existing MIDI and audio and it worked as expected. In this test, I had the project time base for items, envelopes and markers set to "Beats (position, length, rate)" and time base for tempo/time signature envelope also set to "Beats". However, before starting to tempo-map, I had set the audio track's time base to "time" to have it remain unaffected by any tempo changes introduced by newly added tempo signature markers. Depending on your situation, it may also help to quantize the MIDI proir to starting tempo-mapping.

[@tonymckeown1314]

@@SonicAxiom Thanks for your reply. No matter which setting I have the midi item's timebase set to, if I change the project tempo, the audio track remains unaffected but the midi tracks all speed up (or slow down), regardless of what setting they are set to. What I'm trying to do is tempo-map to the audio track, but I want the existing midi tracks to have the same speed (ie. place in time) in relation to the audio track, but they always seem tied to the tempo, while the audio track isn't. I recorded a piano track without recording to a click, then I put it into Reaper, where my Default project has a 120 bpm setting (which I ignored.) I then wrote some string tracks to go with that, but I then thought I'd like to include a rhythm track to the tempo of the piano, hence the desire to tempo-map - but if I was to quantise the midi tracks before tempo-mapping, a) they're not on the beat, as the string parts play ahead of or behind the beat intentionally for emotive effect, b) they're not at 120bpm, and c) if I change the project tempo & then quantise them, they had already shifted from where they should be, once I changed the project tempo, so quantising isnt going to correct that, if you see what I mean. If midi items are always tied to the beat and hence the project tempo (even when their timebase says Time), then I dont see any way forward other than turning the midi into audio tracks before tempo-mapping. (Unless there is some existing setting that I dont realise which is causing what I'm describing.)

[@SonicAxiom]

OK, I think I got it now :-) Do the following: Make sure both MIDI and audio track are set to a timebase of "time". Then, open MIDI item properties (I think shortcut is F2), click on the "Properties" button towards the bottom of the Properties window and check "ignore project tempo" in the additional properties window. Keep the associated value of 120 bpm unchanged. Hit "Apply" and close all properties windows. Now, go ahead and tempo-map :-) Once the entire song is tempo-mapped, you may quantize the MIDI if you wish.

[@tonymckeown1314]

What are the description names of the 2 actions from the SWS extensions that you have assigned to the comma and the dot keys between 5-6 minutes into the video? - I can't see from the video, even at 1080p, as I have a small monitor (!) and obviously I haven't assigned those shortcuts to those keys yet. Thanks.

[@SonicAxiom]

The action to insert a new tempo marker is called "SWS/BR: Move closest grid line to mouse cursor (perform until shortcut released)" and the other one which allows to reposition an existing tempo marker is called "SWS/BR: Move closest tempo marker to mouse cursor (perform until shortcut released)".

[@tonymckeown1314]

@@SonicAxiom That's great. I found your other video really useful (doing something similar but with midi, rather than audio material), so this is going to be really helpful for me, as well.

[@SonicAxiom]

Just curious: Which video are you referring to? Glad if you find useful information in my video(s)!

[@tonymckeown1314]

@@SonicAxiom This one kzbin.info/www/bejne/eonKe52JiNl1jtU

[@SonicAxiom]

Ah, I see, thanks. Have fun tempo-mapping!

[@MaurieCampos]

is there an up to date version of this video, with the new SWS tools; the action item name you indicate here are no longer valid ...

[@SonicAxiom]

Hi John. Everything still works here using the latest Reaper 6.29 and SWS extensions 2.12.1.3. Are these the versions you are using?

[@MaurieCampos]

I realized the newer version has a ton more... found it but fuddling with getting it to work... thanks!

[@SonicAxiom]

@@MaurieCampos Great you found it. Since I did this video a few actions have been added to Reaper and also SWS that help with tempo-mapping but the method in the video is still a good way of doing it.

[@MaurieCampos]

Yes, I will doing a lot of non-clicked midi recording and need to be able to easily sync to midi bars n beats (no success yet) ... I did catch the 07 notes on the forum 🤣

[@SonicAxiom]

@@MaurieCampos Not sure if they cover what you are trying to do specifically but did you have a look at my other tempo-mapping videos that cover slightly different mapping scenarios?

[@BD-me4nk]

Amazing tutorial. Thank you so much for making this

[@SonicAxiom]

Thanks, happy that you found it useful!

[@VoxJ]

Excellent!!

[@oknomonter]

SonicAxiom - good tutorial ! What is the Command ID for Track- Zaitbasis (Zait) ?

[@SonicAxiom]

Thanks! Command ID is 40433. You can see all command IDs in the column right next to the commands in the action list and you can simply copy a command ID by right-clicking the action and choosing the corresponding context menu entry. Btw. the German word for "time" is "Zeit" not "Zait" ;-)

[@oknomonter]

@@SonicAxiom Of course ZEIT !!! Sorry for this mistake :)

[@SonicAxiom]

@@oknomonter no big deal, happens to a lot of German folks also :-)

[@jazzbeats8168]

Hi with this method does this mean the tempo will be drifting through out the song ? Meaning the tempo is following the actual playing . Thanks !

[@SonicAxiom]

yes, the project tempo will be drifting, following the tempo variations of the original performance. Reaper's grid will follow those tempo variations so that the click will now match the performance, making MIDI editing much easier (among other benefits).

[@jazzbeats8168]

SonicAxiom thanks again

[@EqualEVH]

Great video. Somehow when using this command it also creates a stretch marker on all the tracks. anybody know how to fix/avoid this?

[@SonicAxiom]

Thanks, EqualEVN. You have to make sure that your audio tracks are set to the time-base "time" instead of "beats" prior to starting the mapping process. You can do this globally in project properties, in the track control panel (right-clicking a track) and also in the item properties. In my case, I've added a toolbar button to switch the time-base of currently selected tracks to "time".

[@EqualEVH]

got it. Thanks!

[@TheKiriru]

Super! Thank you!

[@SonicAxiom]

Thanks for your comment! Happy you found it useful!

[@sachetsofrelish]

Thanks!

[@citadelo5ricks]

Yeah, I started doing it this way, much better.