shiny_new_toy

25th November 2003 12:33 UTC

Beat Detection Idea
Not uncommonly, the beat detection has a hard job getting a "lock" on the bpm of a track, both with standard and advanced detection.

I thought it would be nice if there was a way the user could "help" the beat detection, clicking the mouse or pressing a button in time to the beat. This would be especially good if you could do it without needing to open up the AVS editor screen. There's 102 keys on a standard keyboard these days (often more) - surely one can be spared :D

Even being able to fix the bpm for a track would be good, and giving it a single "hit" to start the bpm with.

I'm not sure how easy this would be to code, but I think it would be a nice option to have.

mikm

25th November 2003 21:29 UTC

Been asked for. The short answer is no.
Why?

The lag between when the user hears the beat to when he hits the key is too great. Also, would the user have to do this every time a new song came on? It would be too impractical to use.

Btw...Standard beat detection is for "normal" use, and doesn't use the bpm counter. Advanced uses the bpm couner and is only useful for songs with a steady beat.

dirkdeftly

26th November 2003 02:54 UTC

Not to mention that BPM is:
a) not always static. especially if you're listening to non-crap music where people actually play musical instruments
b) sometimes just not static at all...ever heard of a "ritard" or maybe a "meter change"?
and c) hardly ever an integer value. especially if you're listening to non-crap music where people actually play musical instruments.

Tuggummi

26th November 2003 08:09 UTC

Atero, that's a bit odd to hear coming from a man who's a member at sectionz.com :p

shiny_new_toy

26th November 2003 11:55 UTC

m2k, you seem to be the only person who's made a valid point - that there is a lag between the user hearing and them clicking. However it's not too difficult to imagine that the users clicking sets the tempo, and that the software matches it to the actual beat in the music.

It wouldn't need to be a compulsory thing to do for each song, just there to use when the beat detection is having problems


Atero, I'm perfectly well aware that many forms of music have irregular beats. However, most of the visualisations for AVS are designed for music which does have a steady beat.

While I'm for freedom of speech, I think your opinion of what constitutes "non-crap music" was rather unnecessary. If you don't want to use a feature, then don't use it, rather than slag off my taste in music and my creative thinking of a solution to a problem. If you're listening to music which has an irregular rhythm then you will have the "auto-keep" option turned off.

Deamon

27th November 2003 14:43 UTC

Originally posted by shiny_new_toy
Atero, I'm perfectly well aware that many forms of music have irregular beats. However, most of the visualisations for AVS are designed for music which does have a steady beat.

UnConeD

27th November 2003 15:48 UTC

The lag between the user clicking can easily be avoided... most buttons respond when you release the mouse button after pushing it, not when you push it. By changing this behavior, there is almost no lag.

Could be useful for VJ's, when they can override the default beat (e.g. similar to a moment when you'd use a stroboscope, you could hit the 'b' key a couple of times).

skupers

27th November 2003 16:10 UTC

You could code it yourself using the new getkbmouse() and gettime() command. I don't think it's that difficult, but it would have to be coded in the preset itself. If you want it in other people's preset, you would have to change their beat code with your own code using global registers.

Warrior of the Light

2nd December 2003 13:08 UTC

... but that would only apply for codable APE's.