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Set the sample’s tempo

Press ⌥X, then ⌘2 for Tempo mode. Drag the Original BPM field until the beat grid lands on the hits, or click it to type a value.

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Fix a tempo detected at half or double speed

In the inspector’s Sample section, hover Original BPM and click ÷2 or ×2. A drum & bass loop read as 87 becomes 174.

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Line the beat grid up with the audio

In Tempo mode, click any beat line and drag the grid onto the first downbeat. The offset chip in the bottom-right corner shows how far it moved.

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Move the clips onto the grid

Press Align Clips on the offset chip. Every clip that plays the sample slides its audio onto the corrected grid.

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Good to know

  • Original BPM is detected at import, or is the project tempo when detection isn’t possible. It names the tempo at the level the music is counted in, so a drum & bass loop reads 174 rather than its half or two-thirds.
  • Original BPM and Target BPM set the stretch together. Original BPM says what the sample is, Target BPM what it should play at: Time Stretching.
  • Moving the grid does not change the BPM, unless you ⌘-drag a beat line to stretch it.
  • Align Clips slides the audio inside each clip, so clip positions, lengths and neighbors stay exactly as they are. It works on every clip using this sample, across all tracks, and counts them in its label (Align 3 Clips).
  • Your corrections travel with the audio. The tempo and the grid offset are saved with the sample and stored in the Sample Library against the audio itself, so the next project that loads the same file starts from them.
  • Original BPM also sits in the inspector’s Sample section, with the same drag, click and right-click. A tempo typed in the library itself is covered on Tempo, Key and Type.
  • Right-click an edited Original BPM for Reset to Detected, or Reset to Project Tempo when nothing was detected.
  • Detection measures across the whole file instead of rounding a rough number.
  • In Tempo mode, Space plays the whole sample with a click on the grid’s beats, whatever is selected in Slices mode. Clicking the waveform plays from that point with the same click; clicking again while it runs jumps without stopping.
  • Imported samples arrive with the grid already anchored. Gridshift finds the beat the audio lands on and, where a track changes gear (the drop), reads which beat starts the bar. It counts bar one from where the arrangement starts rather than where the file does.
  • Material it cannot place confidently is left at zero rather than anchored on a guess. A correction stored in the Sample Library, or one you make here, always wins over the automatic value.
  • Moving the grid says how far the clips are off; it does not move them. Align Clips is disabled when there is nothing to correct.
  • Align Clips to Downbeat in the Command Palette does the same for the selected track’s clips, in one undo step. It needs one track selected.
  • Re-scan on the offset chip discards the detected tempo and grid start and reads the audio again; Reset puts the grid back at the start of the sample.
  • Palette commands, in the Audio Tools group: Set Sample Tempo, Reset Sample Tempo to Detected, Set Sample Downbeat (in ms from the start), Reset Sample Downbeat, Re-scan Sample Tempo and Grid and Align Clips to Downbeat.
Last modified on October 22, 2026