Getting started
Start listening, let Auto lock, pick the right range, and read the number, the layers and the delay table.
On this page
TempoSense needs one thing from you: a microphone or an audio input with music on it. Everything else is automatic.
Quick start
- Open TempoSense from the dashboard and press ▶ Start listening. Allow the microphone when the browser asks.
- Let the music play. On a clear beat Auto locks in about 3–4 seconds: the number turns bright and the tag next to it changes from
searchingtolive. - Read the big number. The ÷ 2 / ÷ 4 / ÷ 8 row and the Delay times table follow it automatically.
- If the number is double or half what you hear, tap ½× or 2× (or the or 174? hint when it appears), or pick a different Range under ⚙.
- Press Hold to freeze the number. The live reading stays visible underneath; press Hold again to release.
Press ■ Stop when you are done. TempoSense releases the microphone when you switch to another tab — unless a MIDI output is on, then it keeps listening — and keeps the screen awake while it runs.
The screen
- The number with its tag:
searching,live,held,no steady beat,idleordrifting. It is bright only while locked (or held); otherwise it shows the last locked tempo, dimmed. A dot flashes on every beat; four small dots under it show the position in the bar, the bigger one is beat 1 (dim while TempoSense is unsure). - ÷ 2 / ÷ 4 / ÷ 8 — the tempo halved, quartered and divided by eight. At 140 BPM: 70, 35 and 17.5.
- ½× · Hold · 2× · Set 1 · Tap · 8 bars → Hold right under the number.
- A thin level meter under the buttons that warns on clipping, a very quiet input or a browser that processes the audio.
- ⚙ (top right) — Mode, Range, Release and Beat offset.
- Send to BPM Forge under the delay table.
- Delay times — one row per note value from whole note to triplet quarter, a Base column in milliseconds, and ÷ 4 / ÷ 8 columns for pre-delays and slap-backs.
- Input ⚙, Output ⚙, Display ⛶, Set log and the ? guide (English, German and Spanish).
Modes
Auto runs all four detectors at once and follows the one with the clearest beat; the tag next to BPM shows which. Pick a mode by hand when you know the material:
| Mode | Use it for | Lock |
|---|---|---|
| Transient | Drums, percussion, a click or a count-in | Fastest, about two bars |
| Groove | The full mix — PA feed, line-in from the desk, streamed music | A few seconds |
| Low-end | Kick and bass only (40–150 Hz): when the kick is clear and the rest is busy | A few seconds |
| Harmonic | No drums — piano, strings, choir, theatre; reads chord changes | Slow, 8–10 s |
Range and octave errors
A click every 345 ms is 174 or 87 BPM — no detector can tell them apart. The Range (under ⚙) decides: 60–120 for hip-hop and ballads, 80–160 (default) for most pop, rock, house and techno, 100–200 for punk and drum & bass, 40–240 when you do not know — there the octave is a guess. When a reading of 75–100 fits its double just as well, a small or 174? appears under the number; tap it. Or tap ½× / 2×.
When to trust the number
Speech, crowd noise and a sustained pad are not a beat: TempoSense then
shows no steady beat and neither locks nor logs anything. When the beat
is lost — a breakdown, the MC — the number dims to the last locked tempo,
and the dot, the beat notes and the MIDI clock carry on at that tempo
until a new beat locks.
Tap and 8 bars → Hold
Tap along on the beat. While locked, three taps pick the octave (½× · 1× · 2×) nearest to your taps. With no beat found, your taps set a held tempo that the dot and the outputs follow. 8 bars → Hold waits for a lock, listens for eight bars, then holds that tempo — grab the intro, freeze it, send the delay once.
Beat offset
Sound needs 2.9 ms per metre: a phone 30 m from the PA hears the kick 87 ms late. Under ⚙ → Beat offset, enter the distance to the PA (or an offset in ms, negative = earlier). The dot, the MIDI beat notes and the MIDI clock all move.
Release
Under ⚙ → Follow a new tempo after: how long a different tempo must persist before the number follows: Fast · 1 s, Medium · 2 s (default) or Slow · 5 s. Slow keeps a DJ set from jumping on a breakdown.
Bar and beat 1
TempoSense assumes 4/4 and guesses beat 1 from where the kick and the chord changes land. A heavy backbeat can lock it half a bar off — press Set 1 on the beat before the real one and the next beat becomes 1. The guess then stays quiet for eight bars.
Send to BPM Forge
Send to BPM Forge opens BPM Forge with the tempo already in its BPM field — metronome, delay calculator and setlist in one click.
Next
- Send the tempo to Ableton or LiveProfessor — controllers for Ableton or LiveProfessor.
- Send beat pulses to a lighting desk — beat pulses as notes into a lighting desk.
- Record a set log and use the display — the CSV set log and the fullscreen display.
Thanks for the feedback.