Getting started

ClickSmith works on one song at a time, entirely in the browser. It is built for a laptop or tablet; the waveform and the panels also fit a phone.

Quick start

1. Open ClickSmith from the dashboard and drop a file onto the page, or press Choose file. MP3, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, OGG or M4A, up to 200 MB and 30 minutes.
2. Detection finds the tempo, any tempo changes, beat 1 and the meter, and the view opens on the first bar line. The readout says how sure it is — and No steady beat when a song has none (speech, pads, rubato); then tap the tempo in or type it.
3. Check the grid: under Tempo, Check the grid reads how many beats sit within 10 ms of the music, and the strip under the waveform colours every bar. All green? Done. See Check the grid, fix it, and handle tempo changes for fixing the rest.
4. In Rhythm, pick the subdivision and tap the beats of the accent pattern (the time signature is detected for 4/4 and 3/4).
5. In Click, choose a sound. Then press Export WAV (click left, song right) — Export settings next to it holds the other layouts, the format and the count-in. See Export the click track.

Everything you change while playing is audible straight away: BPM, offset, metre, subdivision, accents and the tempo map all update the click you are hearing without a restart.

Everything you set is saved with the song: open the same file again (on this or another signed-in device) and your tempo map, cues, loop and count-in come back instead of a fresh detection. ↻ Re-detect starts over; ↶ Undo re-detect brings your version back.

The screen

• Waveform — the song in colour with the beat grid, the cursor (white line), cues, tempo changes and the loop; the strip along the bottom is the grid check, and when zoomed in the small ticks are the song's own hits. Click to set the cursor; double-click resets the zoom. See Following the song below.
• Transport — ⏮ To start, ▶ Play / Pause, ⏹ Stop, and the time readout. Pause holds your spot (Paused at 1:23 — press play to resume); Stop and seeking go back to the start. While a loop is set, a Clear loop ✕ button sits here too.
• Five panels: Tempo, Rhythm, Click, Markers, Mix.

Following the song

With ⊙ Follow on (the default), the playhead stands still a third of the way in from the left and the song scrolls smoothly underneath it — waveform, beat grid, cues and loop together — so you always see more of what is coming than of what has passed. At the very start and end of the song the view stops at the edge and the playhead walks instead.

• Whole song in view? Press Play and ClickSmith zooms in to about 12 seconds, so bars stay readable. ⏹ Stop (or the song ending) gives you the whole song back; Pause keeps the close view so you can pick up where you were. Short songs and a zoom you set yourself stay as they are.
• A loop that fits on screen holds still while it plays; only the playhead moves round it.
• Look around while it plays: scroll, drag, use the wheel, pinch, draw a loop or jump with the minimap, and following pauses — the ⊙ Follow button turns to an outline. It picks up again by itself when the playhead reaches its spot, or straight away when you press ⊙ Follow or ▶ Play.
• Follow off: the view stays put and turns a page when the playhead reaches the right edge.

Tempo

• Detected shows the tempo, meter and confidence; ↻ Re-detect runs it again. When a fast song was read at half time, an or 174? button offers the double.
• Tempo field (0.01 BPM steps) with − / + for one-BPM nudges.
• Tap tempo — four taps or more. Tap while the song plays and your taps place the beat too.
• Click offset — shifts the whole grid in 1 ms and 10 ms steps.
• Check the grid and the grid tools — see Check the grid, fix it, and handle tempo changes.

Rhythm

• Time signature — 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 5/4, 7/8.
• Subdivision — 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 or Triplet.
• Accent pattern — tap a beat to cycle ghost → normal → accent.

Click

Six built-in sounds — Sine, High/Low, Clap, Wood, Rim, Cowbell — or ↥ Own sample. Fine-tune synth sets Pitch, Length, Tone and Decay. Under Per beat, tap the Beat 1, Beats 2–4 or Subdivision card to give that slot its own sound (default = main sound).

BPM Forge sounds are the same clicks BPM Forge plays — Beep, Woodblock, Rim, Cowbell, Tick. ⇄ Same as BPM Forge takes the one BPM Forge uses on this device, so the in-ear file sounds like rehearsal.

Mix

Song, Click and Master levels. Set the balance you want in your ears; the Song and Click levels are baked into the export.

Keyboard on the waveform

With the waveform focused: Space plays and pauses, ← / → seek one beat (Shift = one bar), I / O set loop in and out at the cursor, L clears the loop, + / − zoom. Mouse wheel zooms, Shift+wheel scrolls, double-click resets.

Next

• Check the grid, fix it, and handle tempo changes — check the grid, fix it, and songs that change tempo.
• Add named cues, audio markers and a rehearsal loop — named cues, audio markers and the rehearsal loop.
• Export the click track — layouts, formats, count-in and the MIDI tempo map.