Generating Beat Triggers

For more information, see the following topics:

Once you have accurately defined the selection range, Beat Detective can generate beat triggers based on detected MIDI notes or audio peak transients. The range and type of transients found can be adjusted with the Detection settings, allowing you to zero in on the bars, beats, and sub-beats in the material, while avoiding the non-rhythmic content.

To generate beat triggers from an audio selection:

1 In the Edit window, make an audio selection.

2 Select Audio from the Operation pop-up menu.

3 In the Beat Detective window, select one of the following modes:

Bar|Beat Marker Generation

Groove Template Extraction

Clip Separation (audio only)

4 Define or capture the selection as described in Defining a Beat Detective Selection.

5 From the Analysis pop-up menu, choose a detection algorithm.

6 Click Analyze.

7 Depending on the rhythmic content of the selection, set the Resolution to Bars, Beats, or Sub-Beats.

8 Adjust the Sensitivity until beat triggers appear on the beats and sub-beats in the selection.

Bar triggers are indicated with thick lines, beat triggers with medium lines, and sub-beat triggers with thin lines.

9 You can zoom to the sample level and click the Scroll Next button to scroll to the next trigger within the selection. To scroll to the previous trigger, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac) the Scroll Next button (see Navigating Consecutive Beat Triggers). This is useful to confirm that the beat triggers are appearing in the appropriate locations. If false triggers appear between the beats or sub-beats (representing non-rhythmic material), delete them (see Deleting Beat Triggers), or reduce the Sensitivity value.

10 To display the metric locations for the triggers, select the Show Trigger Time option.

11 If you cannot get the beat triggers to appear at the right locations, repeat steps 5–10, trying one of the other Analysis algorithms (High or Low Emphasis).

To generate beat triggers from a MIDI selection:

1 In the Edit window, set the MIDI track you want to use to Notes view.

2 In the Edit window, or in a MIDI Editor window, make a selection across a range of MIDI notes. Make certain that the selection start and end points are at musically relevant locations, such as barlines.

3 Choose Event > Beat Detective.

4 Select MIDI from the Operation pop-up menu.

5 In the Beat Detective window, select one of the following modes:

Bar|Beat Marker Generation

Groove Template Extraction

6 Define the selection range. If the tempo and meter of the audio selection do not match the session’s default tempo and meter, enter the Time Signature, and Start Bar|Beat and End Bar|Beat locations. For example, for a four-bar selection that starts on beat 1, enter 1|1 and 5|1.

7 If your MIDI track contains chords, choose one of the following MIDI chord recognition algorithms from the Analysis pop-up menu:

8 Click Analyze.