CREATE WARPED CLIP CREATE TEMPO MAP

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JUST PLAY

Workflow

1 ANALYZE — detect the tempo of the MIDI clip in Live's Detail view. The chart shows the detected BPM curve; nothing is written.

2 ADJUST — RUBATO sets how much of the take's timing feel to keep (100% = as played, 0% = straightened, 200% = exaggerated). SMOOTH irons out hit-to-hit jitter in the tempo curve. Detection is raw — fix the map yourself in BEATS and shape it with SMOOTH.

3 CREATE — two outputs from the same analysis. CREATE WARPED CLIP moves your notes onto a steady grid and writes an .alc clip into the User Library (Just Play Output), pedal/CC preserved — it plays at one tempo. Pair it with SET TEMPO, which matches Live's project tempo to the detected BPM. CREATE TEMPO MAP does the inverse — it leaves your notes exactly where you played them and writes a .mid; drop it on an Arrangement-view track and confirm Live's tempo-import prompt, and Live's grid bends to follow your take. A tempo map carries its own tempo, so SET TEMPO isn't needed for it.

If you edit the clip's notes after analyzing, CREATE asks first — your analysis and BEATS edits are built on the old notes. RE-ANALYZE to re-detect from what's there now, or create anyway with the existing map.

Hearing it

Play the clip with the device on. In PLAY you hear the warped result; turn RUBATO/SMOOTH while it loops to hear them work. Bypass the device to hear the raw take. In BEATS the raw clip plays and CLICK ticks at each beat — check the ticks land with the music (a wrong map drifts off it).

Chart

Gray = detected curve. Orange = your RUBATO/SMOOTH adjustment. ÷2 / ×2 fix half/double-tempo detection. If the curve looks off, audit by ear with CLICK and fix the map in BEATS.

BEATS — fix the detected beat map

Beat lines over a faded piano roll — every line looks the same. A bar number sits above each downbeat, and an anchored beat carries a red dot (it never moves again). Every fix re-flows its neighborhood.

Drag a line move just that beat (it anchors); it detents onto the nearby note onsets / chord hits (the orange ticks) — hold Alt to drag freely  ·  Shift-drag also re-flow the neighbours  ·  double-click insert a beat  ·  drag off the strip delete  ·  right-click a dot un-anchor  ·  z undo  ·  c clear anchors.

Anchor a few correct beats, then RE-FIT (its own button here in BEATS, enabled once 2+ beats are anchored) — the whole clip re-grids from your anchors onto the notes: beats between anchors re-flow (your count there is kept — a deleted beat stays gone), and the rest of the clip re-grids at your tempo all the way to the last note, adding or dropping beats so the grid fills the clip. Wrong downbeat or wrong density? Drag the first beat and the next one onto the notes, RE-FIT, and the rest snaps into place — no dragging every line; anchor more beats to hold a rubato shape. z undoes a RE-FIT; edits apply at CREATE. RESET re-detects from scratch instead; after any draft edit, its first click shows exactly what will be discarded and the second confirms. RE-FIT remains one-click.

Navigate: two-finger swipe (wheel) pans, shift+swipe zooms around the cursor — same as the other Rubato Audio plugins. Also: drag the roll background to pan, +/− zoom, 0 fit, and the minimap strip below (drag window = pan, edge grips = zoom, double-click = fit).

Keys

Space play/stop Live   ? this help   z undo beat edit   +/−/0 zoom   Esc close

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SETTINGS

● Steady Assume little rubato — small slips don’t throw off the beat, so the detected tempo holds a narrow range. ● Balanced Assume moderate rubato, producing a medium tempo range. ● Expressive Assume significant rubato — track every push and pull, producing a wide tempo range. ✓ Trim leading silence Drops the dead air so the take starts on the grid. A pedal-down just before the first note is kept. ● User Library Places → User Library → Just Play Output ● Project folder Places → Current Project ● Custom folder… A folder you choose. ✓ Space auditions the clip Plays the analyzed or recorded clip from its start so you hear the result, instead of resuming the Arrangement. Off = Space is normal play/stop. ● Follow the note The playhead speeds up and slows down according to your RUBATO/SMOOTH adjustments while the curve’s timescale stays the same. ● Warp the curve The playhead moves steadily, while the curve’s timescale warps according to your RUBATO/SMOOTH adjustments. ✓ Click on by default Opens the BEATS tab with the metronome already running. ✓ Show hover tooltips Pop up a short hint when you hover a control. Turn off for a quieter UI once you know your way around.

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CLIP CHANGED

You've edited this clip's notes since you analyzed it. Creating now uses the earlier tempo analysis and any beat-map edits — they may not line up with the notes in the clip now.

RE-ANALYZE re-detects from the current notes (your beat-map edits are cleared). CREATE ANYWAY writes the clip using the existing analysis.