Changing the tempo and transposition of the audio

Selecting Stretch and Transpose Type

When you are stretching, transposing and/or changing the tempo of the audio it’s important that the Stretch and Transpose Type on the corresponding Audio Track is set according to the type of audio that’s on the track. Otherwise, the sonic result might not be what you’d expect. Stretch Type can be selected as follows:

Select the track in the Track List, then select the desired Stretch and Transpose Type from the Edit menu or context menu.

or:

Select stretch type by clicking the Stretch Type selector in the Track List when the clip is open for editing inline:

Selecting Stretch and Transpose Type for the Audio Track in the Track List.

•	For polyphonic material, select “Allround”.

The formants are transposed along with the audio.

•	For monophonic material select “Melody”.

The formants are transposed along with the audio.

•	For vocal select “Vocal”.

The formants are preserved and are not transposed along with the audio. This will keep the original character of the vocal and will only affect the pitch.

Tempo scaling Clips

Besides the automatic time stretching function applied when you change the Tempo in the main sequencer, there is a Scale Tempo function which can be applied to scale the tempo of one or several clips. The Scale Tempo function works in the same way for audio clips, note clips and parameter automation clips. However, it might be interesting to see what happens when you tempo scale an audio clip.

1.	Open an audio clip in the Comp Editor.

In this example we use a Comp clip with four Comp Rows and a number of Cuts. The tempo scaling works exactly the same way, regardless if the clip is a Single Take clip or Comp clip.

2.	With the Arrow Tool selected, hold down [Ctrl](Win) or [Option](Mac) and place the mouse cursor over one of the Clip Resize handles (in the Clip Overview).

When you reach any of the Clip Resize handles, the arrow symbol switches to a “scale tempo” arrow.

3.	Hold down [Ctrl](Win)/[Option](Mac) and click and drag the cursor sideways in either direction to scale the tempo of the clip.

In this example, we make the clip one bar longer by dragging the right clip handle one bar to the right.

Now, the audio clip has been tempo scaled and the audio recordings have been stretched to match the new clip length. Note that the distance between the Cuts, as well as the lengths of the recordings on all Comp Rows have been expanded proportionally.

When you use the Scale Tempo function on Single Take clips (in Arrange Mode), the Slice Markers will follow the detected transients proportionally.

The Scale Tempo function can also be applied to clips numerically in the Tool Window, see “Scale Tempo”.

When you tempo scale large clips, it could take a while before the high quality stretch is finished, see “Preview vs. High Quality Stretching”.

Transposing Audio Clips

Audio clips can be transposed. That is, all the audio recordings in a selected audio clip can be transposed up or down 12 semitones, in steps of 1 Cent, relative to their original pitch. The transposition can be applied to all types of audio - including polyphonic material.

The transposition is non-destructive, i.e. the original audio is always preserved and left unaffected.

To get the best sound quality when you are transposing audio it’s important that you have selected the correct Stretch and Transpose Type for the audio track, see “Selecting Stretch and Transpose Type”.

1.	Select one or several audio clips.

The Transpose display shows up to the right in the Inspector:

Three audio clips selected on the arrangement pane in the Song View.

2.	Click the up/down arrow button next to the Transpose display to change the transposition in Semitones and Cents.

The audio in the selected clips are now transposed relative to their original pitch.

You can also edit the transposition value by clicking and dragging the respective display segment up/down or entering numeric values according to standard procedures.

•	It’s also possible to transpose individual Comp Rows in a Comp clip - see “Transposing Comp Rows” below.

•	Audio Clips and MIDI notes in Note Clips can be transposed in whole semitone steps in the Transpose section in the Tool Window - see “Pitch (Transpose)”.

Transposing Comp Rows

Besides the Audio Clip Transpose function described above, individual Comp Rows in a Comp clip can be individually transposed:

1.	Open a comped audio clip in the Comp Editor and select a Comp Row to be transposed.

The selected Comp Row is shown in a darker color.

2.	Change the Transpose value in the Inspector as desired.

3.	Select another Comp Row and change its Transpose value in the Inspector as desired.

Now the Comp Rows will have individual transposition values.

•	If you decide to change the Transpose value for the entire audio clip - by selecting the clip in the Clip Overview - the relative transpositions of the Comp Rows will be preserved.