How to synchronize the metronome with a pre-recorded song?

[BryanPirateOffspring]

Guys, I'm very new to Cakewalk and I've been researching and trying to do something basic for a few days, but it never works! How can I get the metronome to sync with a pre-recorded song? For example: I imported an audio track which is The Offspring - The Noose and I wanted the metronome to start before the song and be in time and synchronized with it.

What is the best way to do this? I've tried AudioSnap, but it starts well and then gets completely out of sync.

I would like to use Cakewalk with EzDrummer to record some drum covers and I would like to have the metronome accompanying me, but I don't know what to do.

Can someone help me?

[msmcleod]

Essentially, you need to create a tempo map for the pre-recorded audio.

There are three ways to do this:

1. Drag the audio track to the timeline, and let melodyne extract the tempo.  I can't remember if this is the case or not, but you may also need at least Melodyne Essentials for this to work if you're using v5.  v4 should be fine.

2. Use "Set Measure/Beat at Now".  For this, you move the now time to the start of each measure/beat in your audio file and call "Set Measure/Beat at Now" specifying the measure/beat in the dialog.  Start at the beginning and work your way through to the end.  You can try doing this for each measure only, and then drill down to the beats if you need more accuracy.

3. Create a new MIDI track, arm it and record a single note or drum hit for each beat while the audio is playing.  Select the MIDI clip, then from the main Process menu select "Fit Improvisation".   
 

[Jim Fogle]

On 7/29/2024 at 8:18 AM, msmcleod said:

Essentially, you need to create a tempo map for the pre-recorded audio.

There are three ways to do this:

1. Drag the audio track to the timeline, and let melodyne extract the tempo.  I can't remember if this is the case or not, but you may also need at least Melodyne Essentials for this to work if you're using v5.  v4 should be fine.

2. Use "Set Measure/Beat at Now".  For this, you move the now time to the start of each measure/beat in your audio file and call "Set Measure/Beat at Now" specifying the measure/beat in the dialog.  Start at the beginning and work your way through to the end.  You can try doing this for each measure only, and then drill down to the beats if you need more accuracy.

3. Create a new MIDI track, arm it and record a single note or drum hit for each beat while the audio is playing.  Select the MIDI clip, then from the main Process menu select "Fit Improvisation".   
 

@msmcleod This is such a great answer to a question I imagine many have thought to ask but didn't.  I hope @Jonathan Sasor will consider adding it to the final CbB documentation release.

[Jonathan Sasor]

You can also do it with AudioSnap by editing the Clip Map and using set project from clip.

[Herky Acuff]

And also if you're steady, there is the tap tempo function somewhere in there.

 

[Anders Madsen]

I imported an improvised "non-metronomed" guitar track once that had somewhat variable tempo.
..dragged it over the ruler, and Cakewalk just synced.
The MIDI drums I put on after synced nicely with the guitartrack.
Just like Magic.