Check the grid, fix it, and handle tempo changes

ClickSmith detects the tempo, tempo changes and beat 1 for you. This page is about checking that result and fixing what is off — without listening through the whole song.

Check the grid

Under Tempo, Check the grid measures every beat of the grid against the song's own hits:

• the readout says how many beats sit within 10 ms, and names the worst bar;
• the strip under the waveform colours every bar: green within 10 ms, amber within 25 ms, red further off, grey where there is nothing to measure (a break, a quiet intro);
• Go to worst bar zooms in on that bar and puts the cursor on it.

Zoomed in, the small ticks along the bottom of the waveform are the song's hits; the grid lines should sit on them.

Fix it

The grid tools are in the Tempo tab. Every one of them can be undone (↶ Undo), and Lock grid freezes the tempo and the offset once it is right.

• Beat 1 at cursor — click the waveform on the real beat 1 and press it: the nearest bar line moves there (onto the hit, not beside it). While the song plays, press it on the downbeat you hear.
• Snap grid to the music — moves the whole grid (up to half a beat) to where it sits best on the hits. Use it after typing a tempo by hand.
• ÷2 / ×2 — halve or double the tempo (a fast song read at half time, or a ballad read double).
• Click offset −10 / −1 / +1 / +10 ms — nudge the whole grid by hand; tempo changes move with it.
• Tap tempo while the song plays — four taps or more set the tempo and place the grid on your taps, then snap it onto the music.

Whole song / From cursor decides where tap tempo, ×2 and ÷2 apply: the whole song, or from the bar line nearest the cursor on (as a tempo change).

Tempo changes

Detection finds sections that move for good (a faster chorus, a key change that pushes). The Tempo map in Rhythm lists them by bar:

1. Click the waveform near the bar where the tempo changes.
2. Press + Tempo change at cursor — it lands on the nearest bar line.
3. Type the new BPM. To move a change, type another bar number.

Each entry has a Remove tempo change control.

Gradual changes and meter changes

• glide — tick it on a tempo change and the tempo moves smoothly from the previous change (or the song start) into this one: a ritardando or an accelerando in one entry. The change stays on a bar line.
• Meter — a tempo change can also switch the meter from its bar (a 2/4 bar in a 4/4 song, a 3/4 bridge). Pick it in the change's meter list; same meter keeps the song's. The accents, bar numbers and the MIDI tempo map follow.
• 6/8 — the BPM counts eighth notes. The Rhythm tab shows the dotted- quarter value too, because some players list these songs by it.