Tempo of Imported Samples

Roman Pizzacalla · Post by **Roman Pizzacalla** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:41 pm

Hi,

I'm new to this and appreciate the help.

When I import some of my samples into the SP-404, the tempo isn't what I've set it to on my computer in Reason.

For example, I set one vocal sample to 130 bpm and then on the 404 its saying it loads at 104 bpm (which its not). When I play it against some drum breaks which are 130 bpm, it's slightly out of sync.

Any help? Let me know if I need to clarify my situation.

Thank you,
Roman

Dj Frantic · Post by **Dj Frantic** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:03 pm

what do u mean you "set" one vocal sample to 130bpm ?

Roman Pizzacalla · Post by **Roman Pizzacalla** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:55 am

In reason I increased the tempo of my sample from something like 123 to 130, so it matched up with the drum break I'm setting it to.

I played with it again tonight and I managed to get it to sync somehow. Might have been that the other drum break I was working with wasn't cut properly or something.

Anyways, so the bpm of my sample, according to Reason, is 130, but when I import that into the 404 it's reading as 104, not 130 (even though it's not playing any slower or anything, still playing as 130).

Any ideas as to why this might be?

Thanks
Roman

drewzle · Post by **drewzle** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:31 am

hey man

you should record your sample in from Reason rather than importing it via card
because if you record it in, you can pre-set the BPM it will assign to the sample

go through the Record procedure then see p 25 of manual

then you are guaranteed that the 404 will read them as the same BPM, and thus loop them together appropriately

hope that helps

bishojo_command · Post by **bishojo_command** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:10 am

Yes I have had this happen routinely,

it's an absolute pain in the butt - and it shouldn't be happening when the system is set up to encourage use of importing from other programs - otherwise it wouldn't have come with import function.

But It doesn't only do it with imports that you craft in other programs - it will do it with stuff you record from drum machines - or anything else.

The error in bpms is not by a few bars - it's out by miles and by bizarre amounts - not divisions of half or quarters etc .

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:55 am

i think i read somewhere, here or in the manual that the 404 calculates the bpm by the length of the sample

bishojo_command · Post by **bishojo_command** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:46 am

yeah i think it's in the manual ...

but what exactly does that mean - does it convert everything via an algorithm based on the length to beats ratio and coming up with something like...

http://www.jimis.co.uk/resources/mrs4/tempochart.html

That's not really much help - would it come up with diff bpms for the same bpm sample but diff bar length?

more than likely - from results I encountered.

dman5000 · Post by **dman5000** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:44 am

bishojo_command wrote:
That's not really much help - would it come up with diff bpms for the same bpm sample but diff bar length?

more than likely - from results I encountered.

yeah thats exactly what i think it is too. i think it counts it by length assuming its a one measure loop of a 4/4 sound
thats not to say though that you have to base your whole thing off what bpm the machine says it is,,, if it fits in and stays on time than go with it.

Jim Y · Post by **Jim Y** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:16 pm

Thing is you can get different readings for tempo. Loop aware programs might work it out from the start time of the hits and the number of beats, but as said, the whole length is used by the 404. When you export the loop from a program, make sure its a full measure or whatever long - and not just from first to last hit. If you do this right, one check is if you make say 4x 2bar .wavs at the same tempo, they should all have the same file size, if not then you arn't making full measure loops and the 404 will get it wrong.

Jim