Hey there folks,

I have a few things I was hoping to get some clarity on.

1. If every track now has a half-time, triple-time, and double time option, does that mean you can literally use any RT with any style by changing those parameters?

2. If the above is true, why is there a "tempo-swapping" indicator in the style picker? Is it a throwback to previous versions where, IIRC, most tracks did not have the timebase dropdown option?

3. What's the deal with the [double-time] tagged tracks given the above?

Thanks in advance!

Talking about double-, triple- and half-time....

From a Realtrack perspective, doubletime means that the Realtrack will play in double the amount of time. (This means that the tempo value in bpm must be halved.)

For example... a bar of 4/4 at 120 bpm takes 2 seconds to play (i.e. each beat is 0.5 sec).

By comparison, a bar of 4/4 at 60 bpm will take 4 seconds to play since each beat is 1.0 sec. In other words, 1 bar of 4/4 at 60 bpm takes 'double the time to play' when compared to 1 bar of 4/4 at 120 bpm.

Thus, a Realtrack that is designed to be played at normal speed at 120 bpm can also be comfortably used in a song whose tempo is 60 bpm provided the 'doubletime' timebase setting is active.

Halftime, on the other hand (from a RT perspective), means that the RT will play in 'half the time'.... this means that the tempo, in bpm, must have doubled.

Thus a Realtrack that is designed to be used at normal speed at 85 bpm can also be satisfactorily used at a tempo of 170 bpm provided the 'halftime' setting is engaged.

I'll leave you with 'Tripletime' to ponder

I must be a little brain-dead tonight because I'm not quite sure what you mean by "tempo swapping". Could you please elaborate a little more on this?

The '[double-time]' that is affixed to some RTs names means that it is preset to be used at a tempo that is half the bpm of the original tempo that the track was designed for.

So... a RT recorded for use at 150 bpm could also be a RT used at a tempo of 75 bpm if 'doubletime' is activated. PG Music has done this with some of the highly popular RTs to make it easier for users.

Hope this helps,
Noel

• my latest song: So Beautiful

Thanks Noel, what I mean by Tempo Swapping is the TS column in the Style Picker (see p. 252 in the manual).

Ahh... I see what you mean... I think you are looking at Realtrack Picker and not Style Picker.

Tempo swapping is an auto-substitute feature. The setting is engaged globally by the setting shown as #3 on the top image below.

In addition to the global setting, it also needs to be set on a song-by-song basis in Song Settings as shown on the lower image.

When these settings are set, if you use a Realtrack that's too far outside its recommended tempo range, and if there is a similar Realtrack at a better tempo available, then the similar Realtrack that's more appropriate for the tempo will be substituted.

When you look at RTs in the mixer, you'll see that some have ~ leading the name. This means that there is a tempo-based substitution available but it's not been substituted. If you see ~~ leading the name, then the RT that is present has been automatically substituted and is not part of the original style.

Hope this helps,
Noel

I wonder if “the better RealTrack” could be the same RealTrack at a different time base when the tempo change becomes extreme. I’ll do some experiments.

Thanks so much for the input (and offer to experiment)!

Honestly, I sometimes wonder how many "vestigial" features lurk within the nooks and crannies of this vast and wonderfully complex program...

That's why I enjoy playing around with the program so much!

We may never know.