Optimal Fixed Grid Based on BPM?

[mjxnjx]

Hi All,

 

I've been using a fixed 1/10th of a second grid for designing most of my songs, but i've always wondered if there was a better, more optimal way to do this, like utilizing divisions of time per beat instead of divisions of time per second. 

 

For example, i've been working on Marilyn Manson's "This is Halloween", and found that the BPM (beats per minute) is 84. Could I somehow take that BPM number and utilize it to get 1/8ths of a time slice per beat in the fixed grid, rather than slices per second?

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

 

[bob]

You might want to try the Beat Wizard.  It will (attempt to) detect the BPM, and you can use it to automatically insert timings based on the beats that it detects.  You can also use it to automatically do things like your example of slicing each beat into eighths (i.e. have it insert eight more-or-less equally spaced timings per beat).

 

One big thing to keep in mind: It works by far the best on songs, or sections of songs, with constant beats.  So if you've got a song that changes beat at some point, don't use the Beat Wizard on the whole song; instead, use it on individual parts of the songs that each have a constant beat.

 

Here's a video on the basic use of the Beat Wizard:

 

http://www.lightorama.com/bobpublic/BeatWizard.swf

[Brian Mitchell]

Check this thread.

 

http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/25472-how-i-sequence/

[MazdaFan]

Or if all else fails, use the tapper wizard to tap out the beat of the song yourself.  That way it doesn't matter if the beat changes.