# [REAPER users] How to "tap" a tempo/conductor map + CC editing question



## ghandizilla (Apr 22, 2018)

Hello everybody,

I will try to be as short as possible on this one. I find it unnatural to draw tempo envelopes on the master track, and would much prefer to "tap" the tempo so what I tap actually _draws _a matching envelop. Something just like "playing" the conductor part. I saw it exists in Cubase, but I didn't find this option in REAPER. Is it possible? (I have SWS and Reapack so I'm very open-minded if it's just a script to add in the Actions list.)

Subsidiary question: I usually use mouse modifiers to draw "linear ramp" in my CC lanes. Sometimes I use additional scripts to warp it, other times I just want my ramp to be completely linear. What I noticed is that... in the "100% linear scenario", it does same kind of aliasing, and in ppp-pp territories, I can hear bumps exactly where those kind of aliasing occur. Here's a screenshot:








How can I smooth things up?

Thanks for your help!


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## pmcrockett (Apr 22, 2018)

Recording a tapped tempo can be done with SWS. It's not intuitive, but it works.

Regarding CC data at low levels, the way levels scale across CC ranges is up to the instrument dev in most cases. You only get 128 total level possibilities unless you're using 14-bit CCs (which use two CC lanes per parameter rather than one), so sometimes there are audible level jumps. You might be able to mitigate it with careful level automation on the track or on CC7.


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## EvilDragon (Apr 22, 2018)

ghandizilla said:


> in the "100% linear scenario", it does same kind of aliasing, and in ppp-pp territories, I can hear bumps exactly where those kind of aliasing occur.



You can't really do anything here. CCs have 128 values tops, if your slope is very long and very low angle, there's nothing you can do about this really...


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## ghandizilla (Apr 22, 2018)

I was afraid of the 0-127 values thing. So I'll try to mitigate things with CC11. Thanks anyway for the clarification 

I'll look into the SWS workaround for the tempo map, hoping it will not be that sloppy to use


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## aaronventure (Apr 23, 2018)

I have a very simple, but not 100% perfect method for this. Create a custom action and call it whatever you want. Mine is called "Conductor". This custom action consists of two actions:

Move edit cursor forward one beat
Tap tempo
Assign it to a key shortcut. Create a tempo marking at the start of your track and set "Gradually transition to the next tempo marker", because now that option will be on by default for all the tempo markers created after that one. Now just set the edit cursor at the start of your track and keep hitting that shortcut as if you're dictating tempo. 

Unless your tapping is _really_ tight, there will be small changes to the tempo. Slowing down/speeding up won't respond immediately - you can try and counter it by starting to slow down/speed up sooner than necessary. That's the stuff you'll have to adjust manually. This happens because the "Tap" function measures the last couple of taps. If there was an option that would let it only measure from the one last tap, this would almost flawlessly (you would only have to adjust the first beat of a fast tempo transition as it would still count from the last). But even the way it is right now, I can get decent results in real-time.


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## ghandizilla (Apr 23, 2018)

It's a great workaround @aaronventure ! It may work smoother than creating markers and converting them with a SWS script, but it's more believable it will work just the same, so it would be more a matter of taste and having SWS or not. I'll compare both approach this week-end just to be sure 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!


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## Ivan Duch (Apr 27, 2020)

Thanks for the great info guys! @ghandizilla did you find an effective way of doing this in Reaper? I'm testing @aaronventure's approach but is it me or you can't listen to the music while tapping as in Digital Performer? Is there a way to be able to do this while playing the music?


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## ghandizilla (Apr 27, 2020)

Another way to do it is to render tracks and then playing back, hitting shift + w on each beat while playing back to create stretch markers, and then fiddling around with those stretch markers. I did a lot of that stuff on hip hop tracks for tighting samples, and found out it could be used the other way around (which is: for untighting the beat).


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## Ivan Duch (Apr 27, 2020)

I'll test that approach in a bit. Thanks!

I guess an alternative would be to use an approach similar to what you just mentioned but by mapping the tempo from a midi performance.

My goal is to keep the more human feeling of a live performance + adjusting to the tempo grid for easier edition and composing.


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## pmcrockett (Apr 27, 2020)

I have a tempo tap script. Run the script (the .lua file, not the .jsfx file), make sure the script window is focused, tap any key with the tempo you want, then hit escape or close the window to end the automation writing. There's also a JSFX plugin that you can put on a track that reads MIDI input that will send MIDI to the script if you want to use a MIDI keyboard for the tempo tap.

Generally you'll want all audio muted when you tap tempo because the script moves the playhead around and will cause audio stutters. However, if it's a small project and there's no lag when repositioning the playhead, you can listen to the audio as you tap. It doesn't timescale the audio, though.


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## Ivan Duch (Apr 27, 2020)

I just tested it @pmcrockett, it's great, feels quite natural. I already added it to my toolbar. Thanks a lot! I guess I'll be using your script plus tempo mapping actual midi performances for some specific situations. 

Thanks a lot guys!


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