Beat grid and tempo

What this does: gives each track a beat grid. Bars and beats then drive Snap, Duplicate…, the Beat Builder, the measure tool, the bar counter, the click, count-ins and MIDI Clock out.

Everything here is on the Build page. Most of it sits in Tools → Beat grid in the transport bar.

How the grid is built

A grid has up to five parts. Only the BPM is required.

Part	Says	Set it with
BPM (opening tempo)	The tempo from the start, until the first tempo change	Detect, Tap, or type it
Meter	How many beats to a bar: 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 …	Tools → Beat grid → Meter, and on any tempo change
Beat 1	Where bar 1, beat 1 sits. Beats before it are a pickup with no bar number.	Set at playhead, Find, right-click → Set beat 1 here
Tempo changes	”From here the tempo is X”, and if you want “from here the bars are 3/4”	The Tempo lane, Tempo change here…, Tools → Tempo → Add at playhead…
Bar markers	”This bar starts exactly here”	Pin bar here, Detect from audio, Make this beat 1

Tempo changes set the speed. Bar markers set where bars start.
Bars follow the meter. A track is 4/4 until you set another meter. See Meter.
Each track has its own grid.

Set the BPM

A track with audio and no BPM gets one detected for you when its waveform first loads.

To set it yourself:

Click Tools in the transport bar.
Find the Beat grid section, BPM row.
Do one of these:
- Type a BPM, 20 to 400. Press Enter.
- Click Tap in time with the music. It saves when you stop. Pause 2 s to start again.
- Click Detect. It finds the tempo and the first downbeat.

Detect shows Detected 128.00 · 87% confidence · beat 1 on the first real downbeat. × dismisses the line; the grid keeps its values.
Detect also turns Grid lock on, so the bar lines appear.
Typing or tapping makes the tempo constant. It clears every bar marker, beat 1s included. Tempo changes stay.
A tempo that moves shows beside the field: 124.3 now · 120.0–130.0.
To change only the opening tempo and keep the bars, click the first flag on the Tempo lane.

Build → Detect BPM runs the same detect.

Beat 1

Beat 1 is where bar 1 starts. Everything before it is a pickup.

Do	Where	Result
Set at playhead	Tools → Beat grid → Beat 1 row. Or Build → Beat 1 at Playhead.	Bar 1 starts at the nearest hit to the playhead
Set beat 1 here	Right-click the waveform or the ruler	Bar 1 starts at the nearest hit to the click
Find	Tools → Beat grid → Beat 1 row. Or Build → Find Beat 1.	Finds the first real downbeat for this BPM. Skips a beatless intro.

The nearest hit: Cues picks the hit closest to the spot, looking further back than forward. A press is usually late.
Find clears every bar marker and turns Grid lock on.
With a beat map (Detect from audio), Set beat 1 here makes the nearest bar bar 1 and renumbers the rest. The beats stay where the band played them.

Meter

The meter is how many beats make a bar. 4/4 is four, 3/4 is three, 6/8 is six.

Set the meter from the start

Click Tools in the transport bar.
Find the Beat grid section, Meter row, under BPM.
Pick a meter: 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 5/4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8 or 12/8.
For any other meter, pick Custom…, type it, for example 11/8, and press Enter.

Set the BPM first. The Meter row is greyed until the track has one.
The first flag on the Tempo lane sets it too: click it and pick a meter, or right-click it → Meter ▸.

Change the meter partway through

A meter sits on a tempo change. From there the bars change.

Where	Do
Tempo change dialog	Pick a Meter under the BPM. Keep 4/4 (the meter running there) leaves the bars as they are.
Tempo lane	Click a flag and pick a meter next to its BPM. It is set as soon as you pick it.
Tempo lane	Right-click a flag → Meter ▸ → a meter, No meter change or Custom…
Tools → Beat grid → Tempo	Pick the meter beside a tempo change’s BPM. — is no meter change.

A meter change starts a bar exactly on the tempo change. The bar before ends short, or stretches if the spot is within half a beat of a bar line. The same rules as Make this beat 1.
Bar numbers carry on through a change. 8 bars of 4/4 then 3/4 makes bar 9 the first 3/4 bar.
Only the meter changing? Leave the BPM as it is. The tempo stays; the bars change.
On beat 1, or before it, a meter change sets the meter from the start. Beat 1 does not move.
Flags show it: a flag that changes the meter reads 128.0 · 3/4. The first flag shows the meter when it is not 4/4.
Move or delete the tempo change and its meter change moves or goes with it.
One undo step per meter change.

What the BPM counts

The BPM counts the meter’s beat. The click plays it and the bar counter shows a dot for each.

Meter	One beat is	A bar is
4/4, 3/4, 5/4	A quarter note	4, 3 or 5 beats
6/8, 7/8, 12/8	An eighth note	6, 7 or 12 beats

In 6/8 at 180 BPM the click plays six eighths a bar, 180 a minute. That is a slow two-in-a-bar feel of 60.
4/4 into 6/8 with the quarter notes at the same speed: double the BPM on that tempo change. 120 BPM in 4/4 is 240 BPM in 6/8.

What follows the meter

Bar counter: one dot per beat of the bar, and the meter beside the BPM when it is not 4/4.
Bar lines and bar numbers on the strips.
The click: higher on beat 1 of every bar.
Snap to a bar, Pin bar here, the measure chip, Duplicate… in bars and count-ins.
Beat Builder: a bar is a bar of the meter where the run starts.
Find, Detect and Detect from audio count bars in the meter from the start. Set the meter first, then use them.
MIDI Clock out ticks every beat of the grid. It carries no meter: a receiving device counts its own bars.

Grid lock, bar lines and the click

Control	Where	Does
Grid lock	Tools → Beat grid. Build → Grid Lock.	Draws the bar lines on the strips. Lets Snap: Beat, the ⇧-measure and the ⌘-arrow clip nudge use the grid.
Click track	Tools → Beat grid. Build → Click Track.	A blip on every beat while Build plays, higher on beat 1 of each bar. Saved for you.
Bar counter	Transport bar	BPM at the playhead, a dot per beat of the bar, `BAR n/total`. The meter shows beside the BPM when it is not 4/4. Shows whenever the track has a BPM.

Bar lines label every 4th bar, or every bar when there is room. Beat lines hide when you zoom out.
Without Grid lock, Snap: Beat falls back to frames.

Tempo changes and beat 1

A tempo change says “from here the tempo is X”. Make this beat 1 says “a bar starts exactly here”.

Put the playhead on the spot. Or right-click the waveform, the ruler or the Tempo lane at it.
Pick one:
- Tools → Beat grid → Tempo → Add at playhead…
- Right-click → Tempo change here…
- Double-click the empty Tempo lane.
The Tempo change at <timecode> dialog opens. Its second line says where the spot sits now: bar 12.3 · 128.0 BPM there now.
Pick what to change. Type the BPM.
If the bars change here, pick a Meter. Leave Keep … to keep the bars running.
Press Enter, or click the button.

Choice	Button	Does
Tempo change only	Set tempo	From here the tempo is the BPM you type. The bars run on through it.
Tempo change + make this beat 1	Set tempo + beat 1	The tempo change, and a bar starts exactly here
Make this beat 1	Make beat 1	A bar starts exactly here. The tempo carries on. The BPM and Meter fields are off.

With a meter picked the button reads Set tempo + meter. From here the bars have that meter, and a bar starts exactly here.
It lands on the nearest hit, like beat 1.
The dialog offers your last choice first. Saved for you, not the show.
Keys: Enter OK · Esc cancel · ↑ ↓ BPM ±0.1, ⇧ ±1. A BPM outside 20–400 shows A BPM between 20 and 400.
One undo step per change. Tempo, meter and beat 1 undo together.

How Make this beat 1 fits the bars:

The bars before it stay put. The bar it falls in ends short, for example a 4/4 bar cut to 2 beats. The next bar starts on the spot.
Within half a beat of a bar line, that bar line moves to the spot instead. Only the bar before it stretches or squeezes. Use it where the grid has drifted.
A pinned bar further on still lands. The bars between spread to fit.
It never moves bar 1. Set beat 1 here does that.

Tempo lane

A thin row over the waveform, in the Sheet and the Timeline, both looks. It shows when the track has a BPM.

What it shows:

A flag per tempo change, with its BPM, and its meter when it changes one: 128.0 · 3/4. The first flag is the opening tempo.
A 1 on a flag: a beat 1 sits on that tempo change.
A short tick: a bar marker.
A tall tick: a beat 1 with no tempo change.
A faint line through the waveform at each tempo change.

Do	Does
Click a flag	Type its BPM. Enter sets it. Esc cancels. ↑ ↓ ±0.1, ⇧↑ ⇧↓ ±1. Clicking away sets it. The meter beside the BPM is set as soon as you pick one.
Drag a flag	Moves the tempo change. It lands on Snap. A beat 1 on it moves with it. The first flag does not drag.
Right-click a flag	Edit BPM… · Meter ▸ · Make beat 1 here or Remove beat 1 here · Delete tempo change. The first flag: Edit BPM… and Meter ▸.
Double-click the empty lane	The Tempo change dialog at that spot
Right-click the empty lane	Tempo change here… · Make beat 1 here · Fold the Tempo lane
Right-click a tall tick	Offers Remove beat 1 here
▾ on the lane, or Tools → View → Tempo lane	Fold it to a hairline, or open it. Saved for you.

Every edit here is one undo step.

Tools → Beat grid → Tempo lists the same changes. Type a BPM in a row and press Enter, pick its meter, or × to delete one. Clear removes them all; it shows with two or more.

Bar markers and beat maps

For a band that drifts, pin bars to the audio.

Do	Where	Result
Pin bar here	Tools → Beat grid → Bars row (at the playhead). Right-click the waveform → Pin bar n here.	The nearest bar line starts exactly at the nearest hit. The beats before it stretch to land. The rate after carries on.
Detect from audio	Tools → Beat grid → Bars row	Listens to the track and pins every bar: a beat map. Shows `Detected n bars · min–max BPM · median n`. Turns Grid lock on.
Detect again	Same button, once a map exists	A fresh map
Clear	Tools → Beat grid → Bars row	Removes every bar marker, beat 1s included. The rate runs straight from beat 1. Tempo changes stay.

The Bars row counts them: none, or n pinned.
Pin bar here in Tools is greyed before beat 1 and for 1 s after it.
Correct one section of a map by pinning a bar by hand.

Snap

One setting for seeks, markers, measure ends, Tempo lane drags and clips.

Mode	Lands on
Off	Anywhere
Frame	Whole frames at the show’s frame rate
Beat	The beat step of the locked grid. Frames until Grid lock is on.

Cycle it:

Tools → Edit → Snap: …
The Snap button on the Timeline tool strip
⌥S in the Timeline, or with Media lanes open
Build → Cycle Snap (Off · Frame · Beat)

The beat step: Tools → Beat grid → Snap row: Beat, ½ beat (the &) or ¼ beat (e & a). It applies to Snap: Beat, to Snap to beat in Move selection to…, and to a ⇧-measure.

Clips also snap to a nearby cue, clip edge, the Master’s ends or the playhead. Hold ⇧ while dragging a clip to ignore snap.

Measure in bars

⌥-drag on the waveform. Or turn on Tools → Edit → Measure (⇧R) and drag.
Hold ⇧ while you drag to land both ends on the beat step.
Read the chip: Δ 00:07.12 — 3 bars 2 beats @ 128.0 BPM, then A … → B …. Bars are counted in the meter they are in.

A marker close by takes the end first.
Right-click the strip or a cue → Measure from here / Measure to here for two points far apart.
Click the chip to copy the line. Esc clears it.
No BPM: the chip reads no BPM.

Beat Builder

Builds a run of cues from a pattern of steps you paint. A panel that stays open while you play, seek, scroll and zoom. Every run becomes a beat group you can select and change later.

Open it:

Beat Builder in the transport bar, next to Tools.
Tools → Cues → Beat Builder.
Build → Beat Builder.

Build a run

Move the playhead to where the run should start.
Set the pattern’s length with − and +: 1 to 16 bars.
Pick the Count, the row of big buttons under Pattern: 1 2 3 4 (a step per beat), 1 & 2 & or 1 e & a.
Paint the grid: click a cell, or drag across cells. Or click a preset.
Set Runs: for some bars and beats, until a time, until the next cue in a stack, or to the end of the track.
Pick the Stack, or New stack… with a Name and Sector.
Pick Desk cues and Name.
Read the footer: Creates n cues 8 bars at 128.0 BPM.
Click Build. ⌘↩ with the cursor in the panel does the same.

The pattern grid

One row per bar, one cell per step. Beat numbers run along the top. The first cell of each beat is shaded; beat 1 has a darker edge.
Click a cell to turn it on or off. Drag across cells to paint: the first cell decides on or off.
Keys: Tab into the grid. The arrows move, Space or Enter turns a cell on or off.
The pattern repeats from the start until the run ends. Bar 1 of the pattern is the bar the run starts in. Cells of that bar before the start are skipped.
More bars copy the ones before. Nothing changes until you paint the new bar. Fewer bars drop the last ones.
A new count keeps each cell where it can. 1 & 2 & → 1 2 3 4 drops the &s.

Preset	Turns on, in every bar
4 on the floor	Every beat
1 & 3	Beats 1 and 3
2 & 4	Beats 2 and 4: the snare
Offbeats	The & after each beat. On 1 2 3 4 it switches to 1 & 2 & first.
Bar	Beat 1
Every step	Every cell (on 1 & 2 & and 1 e & a)
Clear	Nothing

Every N from step M, Fill: turns on every Nth step from step M. The pattern takes the bars it needs to repeat evenly: every 3 beats in 4/4 is 3 bars. Past 16 bars the hint says it does not repeat evenly.

Meter in the Beat Builder

The grid is as wide as the bar the run starts in: 3 beats in 3/4, 6 in 6/8. In x/8 the BPM counts eighths, so 6/8 is six steps a bar on Beats. The hint reads 3/4 at the start.
Each bar of the run keeps its own meter. A shorter bar plays the steps it has room for. The extra beats of a longer bar get nothing.
Runs → For n bars counts bars as they are: 2 bars from a 3/4 bar is six beats.

Settings

Section	Options
Start	The timecode and `bar n · beat n`. Follow playhead (on by default); off holds the start, Use playhead moves it. Start on the nearest hit: the run starts on the cell of pattern bar 1 nearest the playhead; that bar becomes pattern bar 1.
Runs	For bars and beats · Until a timecode or bar.beat (Playhead fills it in) · Until the next cue in a stack (Structure stacks first) · To the end of the track. The run stops before the end it names.
Desk cues	Alternate 1 / 2 · All 1 · Cycle 1 / 2 / 3 · Increment from n (starts after the stack’s highest desk cue) · Pattern (`1, 2, 2, 1`)
Name	A prefix, default `Cue`. Tick bar\|beat suffix to add where it lands: `Cue 5\|3`. Off by default.
Command	The stack’s default command, shown for reference

One undo step per Build. Into a new stack, undo removes the stack too.
A cell where the stack already has a cue is left to that cue. The footer counts them: · 2 steps already have a cue.
The stack becomes active. A new stack is picked for the next run.
It stays open. Close it with ×, the Beat Builder button, or Esc with the cursor in it.
Keys stay Build’s. Space, M and the arrows work while it is open. Only a field you are typing in, or the grid with the cursor in it, keeps them. Enter in a field hands them back.
Across a beat 1 the run skips the beats the short bar lost.
Limits: 4000 cues per run. Beats past the end of the track are dropped. A locked stack refuses the run.
No BPM: the panel says so and offers Detect BPM.

Beat groups

Every Build makes a beat group. It remembers its stack, start, pattern, how far it runs, count, desk cues and names.

On the Timeline: a bracket over its stack’s lane, from its first cue to its last.
In the panel: a row under Beat groups on this track, with its stack, where it starts, how far it runs and its cue count.

To	Do
Select its cues	Click the bracket, or its row in the panel. Or right-click one of its cues → Beat group → Select its cues.
Change it	Double-click the bracket, click Edit on its row, or right-click → Edit in Beat Builder…
Follow tempo on or off	The checkbox on its row, or right-click the bracket
Ungroup	Ungroup on its row, or right-click → Ungroup. The cues stay as plain cues.

Change a group:

Click Edit on its row. The panel says Editing a beat group in <stack>.
Change the pattern, start, Runs, count, desk cues or name. A moment after each change the group’s cues are laid again in place. The Timeline follows as you go.
Click Done, or ⌘↩ with the cursor in the panel.

Each change is one undo step.
Move the start with Use playhead or −bar −beat +beat +bar. On 1 & 2 & and 1 e & a the beat buttons move one step.
Cues that stay keep what you gave them: fade, delay, colour, notes, desk cue. New cues copy the fade, colour and the rest from the group’s first cue.
Desk cues: a cue that stays keeps its desk cue. With Increment, new cues take the numbers after the group’s highest. Changing Desk cues itself numbers every cue again.
The stack stays. A group never moves to another stack.
A locked stack refuses the change: Unlock <stack> to edit.

Follow tempo (on by default):

The group moves with the grid. Change the BPM, tap, detect, add a tempo change or a beat 1: its cues are laid again on the same bars and beats. Undo the tempo change and they move back.
A BPM typed or tapped, or Detect, has no undo, so neither does the group’s move.
Off: the cues stay where they are. On again: they are laid on the grid as it is now (one undo step).
A locked stack’s groups do not move.

Edited by hand:

Moving or renaming one of its cues takes that cue out of the group. So does moving it to another stack. A message says so. The group no longer changes that cue.
Other edits keep it in: fade, delay, colour, notes, command, desk cue.
To move a whole group, change its start in the Beat Builder. Dragging all its cues takes them all out.
Delete all of a group’s cues and the group goes.

What reaches the desk:

Only the cues. A group is Cues only; the desk gets plain cues, as before. A joined desk gets their new times once you stop; their names and desk numbers go with Import on the desk.
Older Cues builds (0.2.12 and earlier) open the show with plain cues. If one of them saves it, the groups are gone.

What else follows the grid

Feature	Uses
⌘← ⌘→ on cues	One beat at that cue’s tempo. See Build.
⌘← ⌘→ on clips	One beat, with Grid lock on
Duplicate…	Bars, Beats and bar.beat starts. Spacing is kept in beats across tempo changes; bars follow the meter. See Build.
Move selection to… → Snap to beat	The beat step
Count-in	Live’s Time · Beats · Both readout. See below.
MIDI Clock out	Follows the grid, tempo changes and beat 1s included. See Timecode.

Count-in readouts

The in … readout on every NEXT card can count time, beats or both. Set it on Live with Time · Beats · Both.

Mode	Reads
Time	`00:28.12`: minutes, seconds, frames to the cue
Beats	`2\|3 / 4`: bar 2, beat 3 of a 4-bar count to the cue. In 3/4 the beat counts to 3.
Both	`00:28.12 · 2\|3 / 4`

The count starts at 1|1 on the previous cue, not on the track’s bar lines.
The total is the bars between the two cues, rounded. At least 1.
The bars are the meter’s where the count starts: the previous cue.
No BPM: Beats reads —.
Cue lists and palette rows always show time.
Monitors follow the same setting. See Live.

Undo

Has one undo step	No undo
Tempo change, tempo + beat 1, make beat 1, remove beat 1	BPM typed or tapped in Tools
A flag’s BPM, the opening tempo on the lane	Detect, Find, Detect from audio
A meter: the opening one, or on a tempo change
Move or delete a tempo change, Clear tempo changes	Set at playhead, Set beat 1 here
A Beat Builder run, each change to a beat group, Ungroup, Follow tempo	Pin bar here, Clear bars, Grid lock

Before a no-undo edit on a finished grid, note the values. Or restore from a backup: Backups and show packages.

There is no Tempo lane. The track has no BPM. Set one in Tools. Folded to a hairline: click its ▾, or Tools → View → Tempo lane.
No bar lines on the waveform. Grid lock is off. Tools → Beat grid → Grid lock.
Snap: Beat lands on frames. Grid lock is off. Turn it on.
The bars drift away from the music late in the track. One tempo does not fit a live band. Use Detect from audio, or pin bars by hand.
Typing a BPM wiped my beat 1s and pins. A typed BPM makes the tempo constant. Click the first flag on the Tempo lane to change the opening tempo and keep the bars.
The bar before a beat 1 is short. That is what Make this beat 1 does. To stretch the bar instead, put it within half a beat of the bar line, or use Pin bar here.
Beat 1 moved the whole grid. That was Set beat 1 here or Set at playhead: they move bar 1 and have no undo. Set it back, then use Tempo change here… → Make this beat 1.
Find or Detect cleared my bar markers. Both start a clean grid. Pin the bars again, or restore a backup.
The tempo change landed a little off my click. It moved to the nearest hit. Drag the flag with Snap off to place it exactly.
Space typed into the Beat Builder. The cursor is in one of its fields. Press Enter, or click the waveform.
Beat Builder says … is locked. The stack is locked. Pick another, or unlock it.
A cue stopped changing with its beat group. It was moved or renamed by hand: it left the group. Put it back, or delete it and edit the group so the step comes back.
A beat group’s bracket is gone. All its cues were deleted, or moved or renamed by hand. Undo brings it back.
The group did not follow a tempo change. Its Follow tempo is off, or its stack is locked.
Build says Creates 0 cues. Every cell already has a cue in that stack. Pick another stack, or move the start.
Count-in reads —. The track has no BPM.
The click is twice too fast or too slow in 6/8. In x/8 the BPM counts eighths. Set the BPM to the speed of the eighths: a feel of 60 in 6/8 is 180 BPM.
Bar numbers jumped after a meter change. The change starts a new bar on its tempo change, so the bar it cut short counts as a bar. Move the tempo change onto the bar line.
Detect from audio got the bars wrong after a meter change. It counts every bar in the meter from the start. Pin the bars after the change by hand.
The Meter row is greyed. The track has no BPM yet. Set one first.