Software to analyze tempo over time of a record

Question

I am searching for a tool to analyze the tempo of a recording of my drum sessions. I found a lot of tools online that would tell me the BPM of the record (which is an average value for live records).

But i am looking for something that displays a chart with a curve that shows the tempo over time.

The Android app "Live BPM" basically does what i need, but as the name suggests i need to playback the whole track for the software to analyze it. What i like to have is a software to throw in a wav or mp3 file and get back a chart as described above.

Does anyone know about something like this?

Answer 1

I'm sure most DAWs are capable of doing this, at least Cubase is. The procedure to create a tempo track from an audio file is:

1. Import Audio Track, set tempo track start tempo to something near the start tempo of the audio/drum track, turn on click, listen to track with click - it will be out of sync
2. Open the Audio event editor by double clicking the audio event with the pointer tool
3. Adjust the grid with the warp tool so bars match the transients in your audio track
4. A tempo track will be created containing the tempo changes (curve you wanted) that happen in your audio file

You can then further use this tempo track.

Answer 2

Riffstation will do this. It's aimed at guitarists but is equally useful for anyone trying to learn by ear/transcribe. There's a free trial for it.

Answer 3

really, unless you record with a click or metronome, it is just too much hassle to mark out points and stretch or warp, or so on. such painstaking work.

if you use digital/electronic gear, this will not be an issue. just type in the beats per minute and the grid will be pretty much pefect. if you have to adjust it, you need only do it once for the whole recorded track.

on the other hand, if you are not using digital/electronic gear, but for example an electric or acoustic guitar you really need to have a click (this is really what is called a metronome) to keep you in time as you will save so much time by dong so for yourself, and everyone else involved.

a free piece of software which will count bpm for you very accurately if needed is called Mixmeister, and the free version allows highly acurate bpm count. though, again, unless you have a perfect ear for time and can play like an electronic device you will still need to mark out and warp each section of the piece. (HASSLE) likewise traktor 2 and other pro dj gear will count the bpm accurately for you. but you'll still have the same issue unless you use a form of metronome to keep you in perfect clock ticking beat. i know many musicians slag this "mechanical" timing off, but really, it makes a hell of a difference to your work and work time, makes life easier for you and workmates.