> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gridshift.studio/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tempo, Key and Type

> Plays library rows in your project's tempo and key, and says whether a sample is a loop or a one-shot. Turn on Match Project in the library window's toolbar.

## Hear rows in your project's tempo and key

Turn on **Match Project** in the library window's toolbar, or run Command Palette → **Match Project On/Off**. Rows now play, and land, at the project tempo and in its key.

## Loop or one-shot

Choose **Loop**, **One-Shot** or **Automatic** under **Type** in the inspector. For many samples, select them and run Command Palette → **Set Type**.

## Set the tempo

Click **Tempo** in the inspector, under Type, and type a value, or drag up and down. Hover it for **÷2** and **×2**.

## Good to know

* **Match Project is Off (default) and stays on this Mac.** Nothing is written to the sample: it changes what you hear and what lands, not the library. Without it, rows play as recorded, which suits sorting, tagging and comparing.
* **Loop or one-shot decides Match Project's tempo.** A loop plays and lands at the project tempo. A one-shot keeps its own timing and starts on the next beat.
* **A loop takes the shorter way to the project tempo.** A 90 BPM loop in a 174 BPM song plays as 180 slowed to 174, not 90 doubled. Drum loops keep their hits intact (Punchy), everything else sounds as on a track (Smooth): [Time Stretching](/timing/time-stretching.md).
* **Keys move by the smallest step, and drums never move.** The tempo follows the `⌥S` picker's rules, patterns those of the `⌥P` picker, and the `⌥S` picker fits a sample the same way.
* **A typed tempo always counts**, also on a one-shot. It is the same correction the [Sample Editor](/samples/sample-editor.md) writes. Projects that already use the sample keep their own tempo. Where bar 1 starts stays in the Sample Editor.

> **Details**
>
> * **Gridshift reads loop or one-shot off the file.** It also counts a sample as a loop when its name states the detected tempo and it lasts at least a bar, like `Pads_140_G.wav`.
> * **Automatic names what Gridshift read.** **Loop** and **One-Shot** override it, and a rescan keeps your choice. Choose **Automatic** to go back.
> * **Type also ranks the `⌥S` picker** and decides whether transient markers get the loop rule. It follows the sample to your other Macs, and the [iPhone](/sync/iphone-library.md) places loop markers by it.
> * **The Type column shows your choice in full strength.** The **BPM** column dims the tempo of a one-shot, because nothing fits to it. Hover it for the reason.
> * **The arrow beside a set tempo, or a right-click, goes back to the detected one.** **Set Sample Tempo**, **Halve Sample Tempo**, **Double Sample Tempo** and **Reset Sample Tempo to Detected** do the same from the Command Palette.
> * **Tempo corrections follow the content hash.** A source BPM or downbeat set in the Sample Editor, or a tempo typed in the library, syncs and reaches the next project on any Mac unless it has its own value. Resetting both clears it, on your other devices too.
> * **Gridshift listens to every sample in the background.** It learns the waveform drawing, transient markers, tempo, key, loop or one-shot, and any melody it can transcribe. There is no switch: it costs some local CPU once, then keeps up with imports.
> * **A sample remembers how you play it.** **Plays As** in the inspector is **Slices** (one key per transient marker) or **Instrument** (played up and down the keyboard). That choice and the sampler tuning follow it into the next project and onto your other Macs.
> * **A single instrument note plays as Instrument.** Right after import, a sample with one attack and a clear pitch, however long it rings, plays at the note its name spells out and wears a tuning fork in the list. Older samples are recognized when you first select them, or by the background analysis.

> **Match Project**
>
> | Row | Off (default) | On |
> | - | - | - |
> | Sample whose tempo the library knows | Plays at its own speed | Plays at the project tempo, and loops in time while the song plays |
> | Sample with no known tempo, such as a one-shot | Plays as recorded | Plays at its own speed; while the song plays, it starts on the next beat |
> | Sample with a known key that is not drums | Plays in its own key | Plays in the project's key |
> | Pattern | Plays at its file's tempo, as written | Plays in the project's key at the project tempo, through the selected instrument track when it has an instrument loaded, otherwise through its collection's sound, or a piano (a drum kit for beats) |
> | Dragged onto the arrangement, or **Insert on New Track(s)** | Lands as recorded | A sample lands stretched to the project tempo and in the project's key, and follows later tempo and key changes. A pattern lands in the project's key |


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