Ableton warp modes and Syncing song BPMs/Tempos.

[Chew_Bear]

While trying to sync songs in Ableton. I have noticed the following…

When Increasing the Project Tempo/BPM with Warp Mode Off…
1. Clip in arrangement gets bigger/longer.
2. Time markers get smaller/shrink.
3. Song sounds “OK” and pitch is good.

When Decreasing the Project Tempo/BPM with Warp Mode Off…
1. Clip in arrangement gets smaller/shorter.
2. Time markers get bigger/higher.
3. Song sounds “OK” and pitch is good.

When Increasing the Segment Tempo/BPM with Warp Mode On…
1. Clip/Song slows down.
2. Pitch sounds “OK”.
3. Waveform inside clip lengthens.

When Decreasing the Segment Tempo/BPM with Warp Mode On…
1. Clip/Song speeds up.
2. Pitch sounds “OK”.
3. Waveform inside clip shrinks.

Questions:

1. With Warp mode turned off…Why does the song sound OK even when I increase or decrease the project tempo…??? Shouldn’t the song start to sound sped up or slowed down when changing the project bpm…???

2. In warp mode…Why does the song speed up when decreasing the clip/segment bpm…??? Shouldn’t the song slow down if you decrease the bpm…???

3. In warp mode…Why does the song slow down when increasing the clip/segment bpm…??? Shouldn’t the song speed up if you increase the bpm…???

4. What is the purpose of a DAW’s warping/editing algorithm/technique…??? Do they all do the same thing…but just in a different fashion/method…???

5. How are you supposed to use the warping/editing feature of a DAW (Ableton in my case) correctly and to its full potential…in order to achieve whatever it is you are after…???

I originally come from a DJ background and have no music production experience at all. Because I have a DJ background…I had a specific way/theory on song tempos/bpms and how to sync two songs together. Therefore…why I believe something should sound sped up when you increase the bpm…OR… slow down when decreasing the bpm.

Ableton has me all confused because of the above things I noticed and am now thinking of why DAW’s edit/sync samples or songs the way they do and how they do it.

Maybe I am just wrong in my thinking and should just trust the DAW and what it’s doing as long as the song sounds good regardless of DJing.

Hopefully an In-House Ableton expert can shed some light for me.

 

[krushing]

1. With Warp mode turned off…Why does the song sound OK even when I increase or decrease the project tempo…??? Shouldn’t the song start to sound sped up or slowed down when changing the project bpm…???

No, because that would mean some kind of warping. With warp off, the audio is simply left untreated and affected by tempo. If you want a turntable-type behaviour, use the Repitch warp mode.

2. In warp mode…Why does the song speed up when decreasing the clip/segment bpm…??? Shouldn’t the song slow down if you decrease the bpm…???

3. In warp mode…Why does the song slow down when increasing the clip/segment bpm…??? Shouldn’t the song speed up if you increase the bpm…???

Because the "segment BPM" is Live's guess about the original BPM used for warping - you can adjust this if Live's guess is off (usually it's either double or half speed), or because you want to. But that's why it works exactly in reverse to what you think it'd do...if it were the actual BPM.

4. What is the purpose of a DAW’s warping/editing algorithm/technique…??? Do they all do the same thing…but just in a different fashion/method…???

These are all explained in detail in the manual, so there's no point rephrasing it here. But in general they're meant for different types of materials (but can of course be creatively abused at will).

5. How are you supposed to use the warping/editing feature of a DAW (Ableton in my case) correctly and to its full potential…in order to achieve whatever it is you are after…???

I agree that it is tricky to get your head around at first, but reading the manual, practicing & watching tutorials will eventually help.

I originally come from a DJ background and have no music production experience at all. Because I have a DJ background…I had a specific way/theory on song tempos/bpms and how to sync two songs together. Therefore…why I believe something should sound sped up when you increase the bpm…OR… slow down when decreasing the bpm.

Ableton has me all confused because of the above things I noticed and am now thinking of why DAW’s edit/sync samples or songs the way they do and how they do it.

Maybe I am just wrong in my thinking and should just trust the DAW and what it’s doing as long as the song sounds good regardless of DJing.

You're not wrong in your thinking, you're just adjusting in the wrong place, kind of. You don't have to "trust the DAW", you just have to figure out how to make it do what you want it to do.