Yummy Toys » Beat Sync

ZOMG Beat Sync: The Thing That Keeps Your Music from Sounding Like a Hot Mess

Everything in music demands a synchronized beat... the metronome click, a drum groove, a delay slap, tremolo pulse, an arpeggio, etc. OnSong accounts for this through a shared beat clock that is constantly in-the-know about tempo, time signature, & when each measure starts. Beat Sync is what starts & synchronizes multiple components in OnSong so you're always in the pocket instead of, y'know, a dumpster fire.

One Tempo, One Clock (Thank Goodness)

There's a single clock for the whole app. It knows three things: the tempo, the time signature, & where you are in the bar — which beat, & which subdivision of that beat. The tempo of the beat clock is usually set by the underlying song being played, but it can be driven by other internal & external factors. These include:

• Song Tempo is the most common way the tempo & time signature is set when you're not actively blinkin' up other stuff.
• Ableton Link lets you connect OnSong to other apps or equipment so OnSong can stay in beat & phase with Ableton, a metronome app, or a wrist worn watch. ZOMG, it's like they all talk to each other. Wild.
• MIDI Clock can now hear the difference between each beat & downbeat & use that to update the tempo. Srsly, it has ears now.
• Backing Tracks are processed when played through the AuxDock to determine their beat grid, changin' tempo as needed throughout the track. It's like magic, except it's math.

Following The Beat (Or Else)

Everything in the OnSong^® app now subscribes to the beat clock. The first component to use the beat clock can set the down beat. For instance, if you start the metronome, the downbeat is heard right away & everything else synchronizes with the metronome like obedient little robots. If you are actively received beat & phase information through something like Ableton Link or MIDI Clock, the metronome will start on the next beat, but align downbeats to the beat clock. First in wins & everything else falls in line.

Metronome

This is the most obvious integration of the beat clock includin' the count-in. Tick. Tick. Tick. Your nightmare or your best friend, dependin' on the day.

AuxDock Atmosphere

This plays a canvas of sound that can be started, stopped & changed with those changes synchronized to the current beat. It's like a soundscape that actually listens to you. Shocking.

AuxDock Pedalboard

What if your guitar effects could stay in sync with every aspect of the song instead of soundin' like they're from a completely different dimension? The AuxDock features timed pedals that can have time parameters set to a musical subdivision. Quarter, dotted eighth, & so on, followin' tempo changes as they happen on: - Delay - Tremolo - Phaser - Wah

AuxDock Chordboard

This lets anyone play chords in the song. It uses an arpeggiator & strum system. Beat sync ensures each chord change & note is played at the right time instead of whenever your clumsy fingers decide to tap.

AuxDock Drum Rack

Is a full drum machine that ensures the groove, fills, & ending land where you'd expect rather than where you tapped. Finally, your sense of rhythm doesn't matter!

AuxDock Virtual Instrument

This is a guitar that can strum or pick to the chords in your song. Beat sync lets it all play in time rather than whenever you touch it like a toddler with a keyboard.

The clock only runs when something is listenin'. Nothin' is bein' kept in time, nothin' is tickin'. It's basically asleep when nobody's watchin'. Relatable.

Dynamic Tempo & Meter (Plot Twist: Your Song Can Change Its Mind)

A song doesn't have to hold one tempo anymore. Each sections can carry its own directives & the beat clock is updated when each section is selected:

• {tempo: 72} changes the tempo to the new BPM value. Revolutionary, we know.
• {time: 6/8} changes the time signature meter to 6/8. The new meter starts on a clean downbeat rather than part-way through a bar because we're not animals.
• {ramp: 4} glides from the current tempo to new tempo over a number of measures, beats, or seconds rather than immediately jarchin' everything to a halt. Typing just a number specifies the number beats. Using a syntax like 1,2 would change it over a measure & two beats. Appendin' an "s" to the end like 2s would define the number of seconds independent of the tempo. Math is fun!

These are live changes, not edits! They move the tempo of everything without rewritin' the song's own tempo. It's like a magic trick but for nerds.

Enabling Beat Sync (Flip the Switch, Already)

Beat Sync appears wherever it's relevant, as a small pulsin' LED with the current BPM beside it. The LED blinks on the beat, so you can see at a glance both that sync is on & what tempo it's on. It's like a tiny disco ball for your brain.

Tappin' it toggles that surface's sync. When you do, a chip floats briefly in the dock — armed, it offers Ableton Link… as the way of sharin' the tempo with other devices or that it's been disarmed, confirmin' that beat sync is off. Technology!

Where It Counts (Literally)

When the metronome counts you in, beat-synced instruments stay silent through the count & start on the first real downbeat. They don't play along with the count & they don't come in late — the first beat is scheduled ahead of time so it lands exactly. It's like they have ADHD but also perfect attendance.

Why It Doesn't Drift (Science! Kinda.)

Two details do most of the work, & they're worth knowin' because they explain why beat-synced audio in the OnSong^® app stays tight where other approaches wander off into the weeds.

The clock's grid is anchored to the device's monotonic hardware clock, not to a repeatin' timer. A timer accumulates a little error on every tick; an anchored grid computes when each beat should happen, so beat ten thousand is as accurate as beat one. It's like the difference between a drunk friend & GPS.

Beat-synced audio is scheduled ahead of time rather than played when the tick arrives. The clock can say precisely when an upcoming beat will occur, so a drum hit is handed to the audio engine in advance with that timestamp attached. If the app is busy for a moment, the audio has already been scheduled & still lands on the beat. Your stuff is so prepared, it's embarrassin'.

If somethin' sounds like it's driftin', check whether its Sync is actually on — an effect with Sync off is runnin' on its own rate knob, which is a legitimate settin' & looks identical from across the stage. Don't blame us; blame your finger.