<p>Tempo and meter belong together. without both, there is no way to know where a beat lies in time.</p>
<p>Tempo provides a musical pulse, which is divided into beats and bars by a meter.
-When you change tempo or move an audio-locked meter, all objects on the timeline that are glued to bars and beats (locations, regions) will move in sympathy.</p>
+ When you change tempo or move an audio-locked meter, all objects on the timeline that are glued to bars and beats (locations, regions) will move in sympathy.
+</p>
+<p class="note">When performing meter or tempo operations, it is advised that you show the BBT ruler (available by right-clicking an existing marker or ruler name),
+ and ensure that the constraint modifier is set (in Preferences->User Interaction) so that no other modifiers share its key combination.<br>
+ The constraint modifier is the "Constrain drags using : " setting under the "When Beginning a Drag" heading. One viable setting is control-shift.
+</p>
<h3>Tempo</h3>
<p>Tempo can be adjusted in several ways:
<br>
<p>A tempo may be remped or constant.
-<ul><li>A constant tempo will keep the sesion tempo constant until the next tempo section, at which time it will jump instantly to the next tempo.
-These are mostly useful abrupt changes, and is the way in which traditional DAWs deal with tempo changes (abrupt jumps in tempo).</li>
+ <ul>
+ <li>A constant tempo will keep the sesion tempo constant until the next tempo section, at which time it will jump instantly to the next tempo.
+ These are mostly useful abrupt changes, and is the way in which traditional DAWs deal with tempo changes (abrupt jumps in tempo).
+ <br>
+ </li>
-<li>A ramped tempo increases its tempo over time so that when the next tempo section has arrived, the sesion tempo is the same as the second one.
-This is useful for matching the session tempo to music which has been recorded without click tracks or electronic clocks.
+ <li>A ramped tempo increases its tempo over time so that when the next tempo section has arrived, the sesion tempo is the same as the second one.
+This is useful for matching the session tempo to music which has been recorded without a metronome.
Ramps may also be used as a compositional tool, but more on this later.
Note that a ramp requires two points - a start and an end tempo. The first tempo in a new session is ramped, but appears to be constant as it has no tempo to ramp to. It is only when you add a new tempo and adjust one of them that you will hear a ramp.
-The same applies to the last tempo in the session - it will always appear to be constant until a new last tempo is added and changed.
-</li>
-</ul>
+ The same applies to the last tempo in the session - it will always appear to be constant until a new last tempo is added and changed.
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+ <img src="/images/constant-tempo.png" alt="A constant tempo displaying the tempo at the playhead in the audio clock">
+ <br>
+ A series of constant tempo markers. The tempo at the playhead position is the same as the previous tempo.
+</p>
+<br>
+<p>
+ <img src="/images/ramped-tempo.png" alt="A ramped tempo displaying the tempo at the playhead in the audio clock">
+ <br>
+ A ramped tempo marker. The tempo at the playhead position is approaching the second tempo. Because the playhead is equidistant (in beats) between the
+ two markers, the tempo at the playhead is the average of the two.
</p>
<br>
<p>To add a new tempo, use the primary modifier and click on the tempo line at the desired position.
<p>To copy a tempo, hold down the primary modifier and drag the tempo you wish to copy.</p>
<h3>Meter</h3>
-<br>
<p>Meter positions beats using the musical pulse of a tempo, and groups them into bars using its number of divisions per bar.
</p>
<p>The first meter in a new session may be moved freely. It has an associated tempo which cannot be dragged by itself (although all others can).
<br>
<li>To copy a meter, hold down control and drag it.</li>
-<br>
<h3>Techniques </h3>
-<br>
<p>As a general approach, the best way to control tempo ramps is to use them in pairs.
</p>
<p>Lets imagine we want to match the click to a drum performance recorded in 'free time'.<br>
</p>
<p>If your ramp doesn't feel correct, you may add more points within it and keep adjusting beat positions in a similar manner.
</p>
-<br>
<h3>General</h3>
<p>Audio locked meters can be useful when composing, as they allow a continuous piece of music to be worked on in
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