Tap tempo

Shadow Rack tells every plugin a tempo, like a DAW does. Set a delay to follow the host's tempo - a quarter note, a dotted eighth - and it repeats in time with the song. You set the tempo by tapping it.

Tapping#

Press T on the beat, a few times. Or use View > Tap tempo - the menu item shows the tempo right now, for example Tap tempo (124.0 BPM).

• The tempo is the average of your last taps (up to five), so one tap a little late doesn't throw it far.
• A pause of more than 2 seconds starts counting again: the first tap after a pause only starts, the second gives a tempo.
• Each new tempo shows briefly at the bottom: Tempo 124.3 BPM.
• The range is 30 to 300 BPM, to one decimal. A new session starts at 120.

The change is immediate, and the plugins' beat clock moves on smoothly - a delay doesn't jump or restart when the tempo changes.

In the plugins#

Set the plugin's time to sync to the host (the button is usually called Sync, Tempo or Host, and the time is given in notes). Delays, tempo-synced modulation, rhythmic gates and auto-pans then follow the tapped tempo.

Shadow Rack gives the plugins a tempo and a running beat count in 4/4, but it never presses "play": live, there's no timeline. Most synced effects don't care. A few plugins only follow the host while its transport is playing; those stay on their own tempo.

Saved with the show#

The tempo is saved in the session. Open the session at the next gig and the delays start at the tempo they had when you saved. ⌘Z doesn't undo a tapped tempo.

Tapping from a controller#

You don't have to reach for the Mac's keyboard. Learn a button of any MIDI controller onto TAP - it's on the FX and SHOW pages - and tap there. See MIDI controllers.