Timing
What is timing?What is timing used for in Radium?
How is timing controlled?
Timing modes
Default Timing values
What is timing?
Timing is tempo and rhythm.What is timing used for in Radium?
- External plugins
(For instance to a make a VST plugin play echo sounds in sync with the music.)
- The metronome (Enabled by the "Click" button in the bottom bar)
- Modulators
- The sequencer grid
- Jack Transport
If the "Radium is the Jack Time Master" option is enabled under Edit -> Preferences -> Sequencer -> Jack Transport, Radium will send timing information to Jack Transport, meaning that other Jack Transport clients may use Radium's timing.
Note that Radium always uses it's own timing. Radium never asks Jack Transport for timing.
How is timing controlled?
Timing is controlled by tempo events and signature events:- Tempos (BPM) specify the duration of a quarter note. Note that BPM stands for Beats Per Minute, which is a misleading name unless your signature is 4/4. QPM (Quarter notes Per Minute) would be more correct.
- Signatures specify rhythm. It does so by specifying number of beats (in a bar) above beat type.
For instance, a 4/4 signature means that there are 4 beats in the bar, and that each beat is a quarter.
Here are some other common names for the term "signature": time signature, meter signature, meter, metre, measure, and measure signature.
Example 1: If tempo is set to 64 BPM, and the signature is set to 8/8, a new bar will be played every 16 seconds (64/4 * 8/8), and a new beat will be played every 2 seconds (64/4 * 1/8). Example 2: If the signature is set to 2/4, a new bar will be played every 8 seconds (64/4 * 2/4), and a new beat will be played every 4 seconds (64/4 * 1/4).
Timing modes
There are two timing modes to select from. Only one of them can be enabled at the same time:- Editor timing
Editor timing is the default mode. In editor timing mode, tempos and signaturs are provided by the editor blocks placed in the first seqtrack.
Tempos are edited in the tempo tracks in the editor ("BPM"), and signatures are edited in the signature tracks in the editor ("Sign."):
In this mode, the tempo and signature lanes in the sequencer are just used for visualization, and editing in any of these two lanes is disabled.
- Sequencer timing
In sequencer timing mode, tempos and signatures are provided by the tempo and signature lanes in the sequencer. This mode can be set explicitly in the popup menu of the sequencer, but it will also be used automatically if the first seqtrack is for audio and not for editor blocks
If you are using Radium mainly for recording and playing back audio files, this mode is both simpler, and probably easier to use, than editor timing.
Note that accelerando and ritardando are not supported yet in this mode. In addition, signatures must align with bars, and tempos must align with beats. Editor timing mode does not have these limitations.
Default Timing values
If "BPM track" and "Signature track" are visible you can change the default timing values in the upper left part of the editor:
If "BPM track" and "Signature track" are not visible you can change the default timing values in the bottom bar instead:
You change whether "BPM track" and "Signature track" are visible by right clicking.