How sensitive is tempo in playback?
Is there a chart of what tempos are available in playback?
I see that I can put very accurate tempo markings. I am experimenting with generating commensurate audio files to drag into my DAW. I am using 12.5 and 6.25 tempo markings, but are the generated audio files actually that precise in tempo?
Is there a chart of what tempos are available in playback?
Comments
You might want to think about the points Adam Neely discusses in these two videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUHEPmg0sPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afhSDK5DJqA
That said, you can find this yourself quite easily. Create a blank score and put a lot of measures of 4 quarter notes, or 8 eighth notes. Make the tempo be one of your desired markings. Give it some sort of count-in and some sort of "count-out". Output it to .MP3 or .WAV. Repeat this with the one or two nearest integer tempi.
Start the Stopwatch app on your phone and measure the length of the notes. Compare the times from the first note to the last.
My guess (!!!) is that it will vary slightly from one computer to the next.
Isn't there a page on this somewhere? I just want to know what the limits are. If I put 112.5 into the tempo does it actually play it 112.5 or is the playback it only sensitive to whole numbers? In which case, it would playback at 112. I want my scores to sound more like rubato, so this not meant to be an indication for a live performance.
In reply to Isn't there a page on this… by Rockhoven
It seems that it's whole numbers only. 112.5 is rounded up to 113.
In reply to Isn't there a page on this… by Rockhoven
As I said, I would assume that it will vary slightly from one computer to another ... and thus there's little point in making any kind of list. Test it and find out. Here's what I found on my computer:
120.0 - 120.08 ± 0.07
120.1 - 120.12 ± 0.04
120.4 - 120.46 ± 0.11
120.7 - 120.74 ± 0.07
120.9 - 121.00 ± 0.07
121.0 - 121.09 ± 0.05
I ran playback at the tempi above for 200 beats (100 seconds) and performed each test 5 times. Would have been better to have run the test considerably longer--e.g., for 1,000 seconds--to reduce the effect of my reaction time.
However, according to some studies I've seen reported, musicians tend to be better able to "entrain" a tempo, to beat accurately along with a stimulus. The usual estimate of human reaction time is 250 ms, so even my poorest set is almost three times (hmm, or is it almost six times?) that good, which accords with those results.
So, yes, it will recognize tenths of bpm. But I suspect that each different computer will react slightly differently. Differently enough to measure? *shrug*
In reply to As I said, I would assume… by TheHutch
MuseScore states what tempo it is running. You can enter 120.4, but it will say 120. You can enter 120.5 and it will say 121. I have to assume that it does not playback decimals. But rounds them up or down.
In reply to MuseScore states what tempo… by bobjp
It rounds them for display at least. I don't think it does for playback
Looking at the source code shows some inconsistencies:
but
and
So I'm not sure what's going on there
In reply to It rounds them for display… by Jojo-Schmitz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_time
https://superuser.com/questions/101183/what-is-a-cpu-tick
According to the second link:
> A tick is an arbitrary unit for measuring internal
> system time. There is usually an OS-internal counter
> for ticks; the current time and date used by various
> functions of the OS are derived from that counter.
>
> How many milliseconds a tick represents depends on
> the OS, and may even vary between installations. Use
> the OS's mechanisms to convert ticks into seconds.
A tick, if I recall correctly must be an integer or long integer type variable, so I'm guessing that the "int tick" is referring to that, but of course, "It Ain't Necessarily So".
In reply to https://en.wikipedia.org… by TheHutch
That
is the tempo at that tick