Set the tempo
Press⌘K, run Change Tempo, type the BPM and press Return. Or click the project title in the toolbar and drag the BPM field up or down, or click it to type.
Set the key and scale
Halve or double the tempo
Point at the BPM field and click ÷2 or ×2 beside it, for a half-time or double-time feel at the same groove.Good to know
- The line under the project title shows both, for example
172 BPM · E Minor. - Clips keep their place in bars and beats. A tempo change moves the music, not the arrangement; samples that follow the project tempo are re-stretched (Time Stretching).
- A key change moves what is linked to it. Samples whose pitch follows the project key shift by the smallest interval, and chord track clips are rewritten; the whole change is one undo step.
- The key decides what the letter keys play in the Scale and Follow layouts (Play with the Keyboard), which piano-roll rows are lit, and where Pitch Snap snaps to.
- Every project is in 4/4. There is no control to change the time signature; a project imported from an Ableton Live Set keeps the set’s.
Details
Details
- The same Key & Scale and Grid sections are on the Inspector’s Project tab (
⌘2). Grid also holds the project groove and its amount. - Tempo runs from 20 to 999 BPM. New projects start at 174 BPM unless your default project says otherwise.
- In the BPM field, hold
⌥while dragging for fine steps and⇧for coarse ones. A running loop picks up the new tempo when you let go. - Root notes are spelled with sharps (
C#,F#). Scales: Major, Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Pentatonic Maj, Pentatonic Min and Blues. - A project that has never had a key set plays in the key last in use, F Minor after a fresh launch, and records it the first time you pick one.
- The metronome and the count-in count bars in the project’s time signature (Metronome).
- The project’s sample rate is in the Project tab’s Audio section: 44.1, 48, 96 or 192 kHz. Command Palette → Change Sample Rate sets it too.