Mixcraft6 : How to do a gradual tempo change?

[Mark Bliss]

Exactly.
It may be possible, if for example audio quantizing works extremely well, and audio stretching works extremely well.... Etc. It may work well with very high end software, but so far, not that well in any software I can afford. (Prove me wrong Acoustica! I'd love to see it!)
And no offense intended to those who use it, but I am not sure the effect of a gradual tempo change alone is worth all that. I am a fan of an occasional song with tempo changes when well executed and arranged into a song, such as a different tempo for a chorus section or something. In fact I think it is possibly underused. But most of the time the gradual change effect comes off a little hokie IMO.

[Acoustica Eric]

I've got to pop in and say that the time stretch works extremely well in Mixcraft, I use it all the time for fixing recordings of guitarists or singers who can't seem to grasp timing Also, I've been testing the audio quantizing in 7, on kick, snare and toms for entire songs and it works well.

[Mark Bliss]

I would agree Eric, and your response reminds me that as usual I have to be very careful in my wording so that my comments aren't misunderstood!
The time stretch as it exists works very well. In the scenario suggested it is very useful. But......
In the context of the question, its been my experience that it works better for some sounds than others, and in general it works better for smaller adjustments, while not so much for larger adjustments, like I would expect we are discussing in the context of a tempo sweep. Not knocking Mixcrafts capabilities, just stating what I feel is a reality for all but the high end audio software end of the scenario.

As far as the new capabilities of audio quantizing as far as what is incorporated into MC7, I am just beginning to experiment in the beta and don't by any means feel ready to judge it yet. I am going to have to simply say i am grateful that Acoustica is working on moving forward in this area. But obviously I would have different expectations for a kick, snare etc tracks than much other audio.....

My comments were based on what we have available at this time and what the industry as a whole offers relative to the question. I remain open minded as to where we might be going. IE: I never imagined being where we are, and am simply honestly evaluating what we have to work with. It wasn't intended as a negative shot or anything....... Just what i think are realistic comments about what we can really expect.

[GrizzKarizz]

I too find that time stretching works really well. I also use it to fix timing errors etc. Also being able to change pitches, song keys just by using the software is awesome. I use it to confirm with our singer what key she wants to sing particular songs in and being able to send a few mp3s in different keys without having to rerecord everything is great. Also it sounds perfect (well, to my ears, anyway). However, when I record, I try to emulate what the tempos would be when played live. I know my drummer doesn't keep a constant tempo playing live and nor do I want him too. Hence, I add tempo changes in my songs. In nearly every song. I've (for lack of a better word) 'complained' about the lack of being able to change tempos by simply drawing in an envelope.

Markers are not easy to work with. Also it makes life difficult for my drummer when recording. It's difficult to keep time with the metronome which in turn makes life hard for me, because I have to go through the song and fix timing changes. All this could be avoided by adding the feature suggested by mbliss.

[vadrif-draco]

First of all, I am so sorry to revive what is nearly a decade-old post! But I seem to have found some "solution" to this... I have been looking for one for years, and have always resorted to placing a bunch of markers by hand... and this is the only post that talked about this feature that I could find, so...

P.S. Also, sorry for not actually answering the question exactly since I do not know if my "solution" will apply to Mixcraft 6 or not, as I am actually using MIxcraft 9.

So, by mistake today, I placed a marker, then undid that. This marker that I placed was between two other markers, and, for some reason, the tempo between those two markers gradually changed to the tempo of the marker that I undid! And to my surprise, the UI actually reflects this by locking the tempo number and fading it out just a little... I am not sure what kind of workaround have I unlocked, but I restarted my Mixcraft to make sure it persisted, and it did!

Simple steps:

1. Place marker A with your starting tempo at the beginning of your gradual tempo change clip
2. Place marker B with your ending tempo at the end of your gradual tempo change clip
3. Place marker C in between markers A and B with the same value you set for B
4. Ctrl+Z to undo the placement of marker C

Congrats... by some dark magic, you now have a gradually changing tempo from marker A to marker B

[ppayne]

Am I missing something here? I think since Mixcraft 8 or 9 you can simply draw in any tempo sweep you want.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

That suggestion wouldn't help with Mixcraft 6. Mixcraft 9 and 10 have an option to add tempo automation on the master track. Change the master track from "Master Volume" to "Master Tempo" and you can have all the gradual tempo changes you want without having to mess around with markers.

What you found was a bug in Mixcraft 9 that leaves the tempo change behind in the master tempo automation after the marker is deleted. This bug was fixed in Mixcraft 10.

Greg