HOW TO DETERMINE THE TEMPO of an AUDIO CLIP
(works on audio clips up to a length of 32 measures).

Once the length and time signature of an audio clip are known the Integrated Sampling Sequencer (ISS) can calculate the exact number of BPM in any audio clip. You need to carefully set the START POINT and END POINT so that you have a precise (known) number of measures and beats and the sampler will calculate the tempo.

In the SAMPLE EDIT area of the XF, you will find that the END POINT is graphically connected to the TEMPO, METER and MEASURE parameters (shown):

• Highlight the END POINT parameter

Once you have “trimmed” the Start Point and the End Point and pressed [ENTER] to extract the useful data… creating a perfectly looping audio clip – you can input the exact number of measures next to the MEASURE parameter. If, for example, you determine you have exactly a two measure audio clip set the MEASURE = 002:00 (that is 002 Measures and no extra Beats). Set an approximate tempo – start at 120bpm (ideally you want to select a tempo somewhat FASTER than your audio clip). The METER (or time signature is set to 4/4; adjust only if your clip is some other meter). You will notice that the END POINT value will have changed in the screen. 

Highlight the TEMPO parameter and use the DATA WHEEL counterclockwise. As you change the TEMPO you will see the END POINT value increase… when it stops increasing reverse direction until you see it change and then dial it back until it just reaches the precise maximum value (and not one click more). This is the exact tempo of that audio clip within a tenth of a beat. Set your SONG or PATTERN tempo to this value.

In the screen shot, as I enter the exact length in measures and beats of the audio clip: Measure 002:00; the END Point will change. It jumps to a different value.

What this is telling you is that if 217,344 samples at current sampling rate = exactly 2 measures and tempo is 120BPM, here (green “E”) is the end point. As you can see in the screenshot, this shortened the sample (moved the END POINT) to 176,400 samples. We want all of the 217,344 samples to be included as part of our 2 measures – so the tempo will have to be slower.

Use the Data Wheel (counterclockwise) to reduce the tempo until the End Point again reads precisely 217,344. This occurs on this particular data – revealing the tempo is 97.3 BPM. Placing this sample in a Voice and using it in PATTERN you would set the note-on event with a duration equal to 2 measures @ a tempo of 97.3 BPM.

If you wish to use this loop audio clip at other tempos, you can use the SAMPLE JOB #11, called “SLICE”. Slice will sub-divide the sample in separate segments according to audio peaks – assigning each sliced segment to a different key (chromatically) on the keyboard. It will then create a note-on event, precisely placed so that you can make the audio elastic as to tempo. This type of segment slicing will not degrade the audio integrity as you adjust tempo!

 
Once you have calculated the precise tempo, you can use the MEASURE parameter to divide your audio clip into any measure and beat region you might desire. For example, say you only want to use the first Measure of this 2-Measure clip:

Set the Measure parameter = 001:00

You can even define a single beat, quickly and easily by setting the Measure parameter = 000:01

You can also work in the opposite direction. Take a very long audio clip… if you know that it was created with a click (so that its tempo is fairly steady) you can define a region, as small as one beat or one measure, and then use simply math to figure out how many samples are in whatever length you require. The relationship between the TEMPO, the TIME SIGNATURE and the MEASURE/BEAT allow the Integrated Sampling Sequencer to calculate the exact tempo using the fact that there are a set number of samples per second. Actually, there are 44,100 samples every second. So simple basic mathematics will allow you to define any specific region you require. 

The 4-Track Arpeggiator
User Arpeggios can be made from 4 SEQUENCER Tracks – this is often a misunderstood statement. We will shed some light on the nature of this and discuss how some of the arpeggios are made. We receive many questions on creating your own Arpeggio patterns. Basically, data from the sequencer can be converted into Arpeggio Phrases. You can convert data either from SONG or PATTERN mode using the TRACK JOB: Put Track to Arpeggio. In the previous articles on the Arpeggiators we established the basic rules of 16 unique notes can be used to create the data.

There are four Tracks that can be converted to create a single arpeggio phrase. Please do not misunderstand the role of these four Tracks. The four Tracks go to build a single Arpeggio Phrase that will, typically, be played by a single synthesizer instrument VOICE. In this article we will take a look at how the four Tracks of the “PUT TRACK TO ARPEGGIO” Job work to create a musical phrase with more than just average complexity. We will do so by analyzing how one of the Arpeggio Phrases that utilizes the four tracks was put together.

Each of the four tracks can provide a different rhythm (counter-rhythm) or it can be responsible for an entirely different musical line. The four Tracks can be used to trigger different behaviors in a Voice – you can precisely create NOTE-ON events that are either KEY RANGE limited to a specific region of the keyboard or they can be VELOCITY RANGE limited to cause just a specific Element to respond.

Let’s take a close look at an arp that clearly uses the four Tracks of the PUT TRACK TO ARPEGGIO Job;

Recall the VOICE: “Chill Comp 2” Pre 6:122(H10)

Trigger an Fminor7 chord in root position starting with the “F” below middle “C”. The resulting arpeggio phrase can be seen in the notation below broken down by the four ‘sequencer’ tracks that created it.

Press [F4] ARPEGGIO
Set the HOLD function to ON, this will latch the arpeggio phrase so that you do not have to continue to hold down the keys.

An alternate method would be to latch the arpeggio phrase with the Sustain pedal. The Sustain pedal takes the place of you holding down the keys… it does not sustain the sound (as on an acoustic piano), this is a synthesizer, remember. HOLD is technically, the keys being in KEY ON mode. The Sustain pedal keeps the KEY ON mode active. We mention this because it is a frequently asked question; as to why the sound does not sustain when an arpeggio is playing. It’s because it is the arpeggiator phrase that is “playing” the Voice, not you. You are providing the trigger notes, so when you step on the Sustain pedal it is you extending the trigger notes. If you want the sound of the arpeggiated VOICE to sustain you would need to place the Sustain pedal controller message (cc064) in the actual arpeggio data. Make sense?

There is some artful fun going on with quarter notes and the “Tempo Cross Delay” INSERTION EFFECT, but that will have to be the subject of another article. If you wish to hear just what was played and transferred from the SEQUENCER for this Arpeggio Phrase, you will want to turn OFF the [INSERTION EFFECT]. You can do so with a dedicated front panel button.

It is actually a one-measure Phrase. I printed out two measures just for ease of reading. This notation shown in this article was done with Cubase AI’s built-in SCORE function (by the way).

The KEY MODE of this VOICE is set to “sort” and the VELOCITY MODE = “original”.

Translation: What you are hearing is triggered by the arpeggiator phrase data, and the velocity is determined by that phrase data. So it matters not how strongly you trigger the notes, it is the arpeggiator that is “playing” the Voice. It is important to know when you are directly triggering the sound of the Voice and when you are triggering the arpeggiator, which in turn is triggering the Voice

The Element that sounds is pre-determined by the arpeggio phrase.
Press [EDIT]
Press [COMMON EDIT] to view Common overall parameters
Press [F2] ARP MAIN (shown)

Press [1] to view Element Edit parameters
You can see that [9], [10], [11] and [12] indicate that this is a four Element Voice.
Use the [MUTE] function to turn off Elements and isolate each one in turn.

Element 1 
Element 1 is an electric piano Waveform that plays the chord on the 2nd beat. This is the actual chord voicing used to trigger this result. Fminor7 voiced in root position including middle “C”. You trigger the chord but Element 1 does not respond until the arpeggio phrase triggers this Element on the second quarter note (according to the current TEMPO setting).
EL1: is responding to velocities: 1-70

Element 2 
Element 2 is a P5 (Prophet V) Waveform that plays a muted, plucky analog staccato phrase. The 32nd notes make this line stand out. 
EL2: is responding to velocities: 71-90

Element 3 
Element 3 is a second (different) electric piano Waveform playing a counter line. This is the only note that plays on the first downbeat. Even though you may press four notes, only one note responds initially – that one note is generated by Element 3 because the arpeggio phrase’s note velocity is in the range 91-110.

Element 4 
Element 4 is a synth bass Waveform acting as the bass line. Velocity 111-127

Shown is the 4 Element View of the Oscillator screen. You can see the VEL LIMIT LOW and VEL LIMIT HIGH settings for each of the first four Elements this is how this Voice is Zoned for Velocity response from notes-on events sent in by the assigned arpeggiator.

Put Track To Arp:
To understand how this ARP was made you must imagine the four phrases recorded to the first four tracks of the Motif XF sequencer.

Record the above four lines each to a separate Track of the XF sequencer – each assigned to the “Chill Comp 2” Voice.

Record two measures of each line as shown above, to tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the PATTERN mode sequencer.

Set the “Put Track To Arp” Job as shown.
Section A
Measure 001–003 is the equivalent of two complete measures (top of measure 1 to the top of measure 3 is two complete measures).

The “Original Notes” Convert Type with the “Original Note Root” = F2 was selected to create a chord intelligent arpeggio phrase, that will sound properly when F2 is the lowest note. This will create the ARP PHRASE you hear for ARP TYPE #7589