Set midi clip tempo independent of project tempo?

[Mo Jonez]

Hi Sonar (Bandlab) friends.  Here's an interesting one for you...

I want to use some midi drum samples that are set at a different tempo than a song I am working on.  The project tempo is 120 and the midi clip is at 70 - 80, so when I import it the clip speeds up too match the project tempo and is much to fast and doesn't give me the rhythm I'm looking for.  I realize I should be using midi clips set at 120, but I can't find anything I like at that tempo.  I know in other DAWs there is a way to adjust the midi clip tempo independently of the project tempo so it can be maunally matched up.  Is there any way to do this in Sonar (x2) ?

[Gnarls]

MIDI clips tend to adjust to the project tempo because they do not contain audio data, only instructions for the (drum) synth. Perhaps you are using something other than an actual MIDI clip? 

[scook]

16 minutes ago, Squonk said:

Is there any way to do this in Sonar (x2) ?

 

no, there is one tempo "track" for a project and all MIDI data in the project follows this track's tempo.

[Chaps]

22 minutes ago, Squonk said:

Hi Sonar (Bandlab) friends.  Here's an interesting one for you...

I want to use some midi drum samples that are set at a different tempo than a song I am working on.  The project tempo is 120 and the midi clip is at 70 - 80, so when I import it the clip speeds up too match the project tempo and is much to fast and doesn't give me the rhythm I'm looking for.  I realize I should be using midi clips set at 120, but I can't find anything I like at that tempo.  I know in other DAWs there is a way to adjust the midi clip tempo independently of the project tempo so it can be maunally matched up.  Is there any way to do this in Sonar (x2) ?

I am unsure of what you are referring to by "midi drum samples".  Is it a MIDI track or Audio Samples? As has been pointed out, MIDI tracks follow the project's tempo but audio samples on audio tracks don't.

[Mo Jonez]

It's a midi track, not an audio track.  I understand now that in Sonar midi tracks will automatically follow the projects tempo, so no option to adjust the tempo independent of the project.  Thanks for the insights!

[slartabartfast]

If you do not need to edit the MIDI data simultaneously with the rest of the project, a simple kludge would be to open a new project in Cakewalk at the native tempo of the MIDI clip, sort out your drum voicing and then render that drum only project to audio. If you import the rendered audio drums into your existing project,  it should play at the tempo as it was saved to MIDI. 

Tempo maps might be useful.

Or a MIDI editor (or hex editor if you know how to use it) can be used to change the tempo on the original MIDI file to match the project prior to import. Try https://www.midieditor.org/index.php?category=intro

[David Baay]

You can't apply a different tempo to an individual MIDI clip, but there are various ways to stretch/compress a MIDI clip to effectively play slower or faster within the context of the project tempo. There aren't  too many different ratios that are likely to work. If a 70-80 bpm clip sounds like it should work with your 120bpm track, then it's likely you need to double its length after importing it to be effectively 60PBM.  You can do this by Process > Length. But without hearing what you're working with that's a wild guess.

[Mo Jonez]

Thanks for the further insights.  Thought about rendering the midi clip to an audio clip David Bay and then adjusting the tempo of the audio clip, but still at early stages of writing the tune and working out the drum track which is much better done in midi than in audio.  I ended up editing the midi track by manually removing some of the notes which brings it down to the tempo I need.  Bit of a hassle, but not too bad and I need to play with/write the drum part anyway. 

[Skyline_UK]

Did you ever find a way to do this?  I've got a MIDI clip at 80bpm and need it to be 160bpm, similar to the project I want to put it in.  It seems odd there isn't a way of doing this short of manually re-inputting all the beats.

[John Vere]

If you insist on using a midi clip that was obviously composed for a different style then it will only sound correct if you set your project at that tempo. Or something close. Otherwise it will play double speed. 
Of course it would need to be the first track in the project. To me it make little difference if a project was 80 or 160 other than the metronome. But playing with the time signature might fix that. 8/4? 

Other super easy method would be to copy the clip note for note into PVR. 
There’s probably lots of ways to deal with this but there’s the first 2 I would try. 

Edited April 1, 2022 by John Vere

[Tez]

What I do to set a section of a midi to a different tempo from the rest of the project is to use the Tempo track mark the midi section start and end set the the temp at the start and set the project tempo at the end. After that, go to the now time and position to the end marker copy the time (I use H.M.S.F format), then delete the tempo changes in the tempo track. After that, select the marked section of the MIDI track then select "Process>Fit to Time..."  from the control bar menu select Event time option, paste the copied time in the "New Thru" box & press OK... Voila, the clip is set to the desired tempo differing from the project tempo...

Hope this helps...

[David Baay]

On 4/1/2022 at 4:38 AM, Skyline_UK said:

Did you ever find a way to do this?

The way I posted is still valid. Process > Length > 50%. Or drag-stretch to 50%.