Wish: Tap Tempo Press and Release

G

giantslayer

Experienced
During my wait for an MFC-101 (I had ordered mine around Christmas), I was using my old Tonelab LE for a midi controller for my Axe FX II. For some reason, using the Tonelab LE as a midi controller, the tap tempo functioned like a momentary switch, where I would press the button down and then release it for the second beat, rather than pressing the switch in again. At first, I was upset that the tap tempo was functioning wrong, but I had to live with it for a while and I realized it was actually better than the traditional system. I found it required less mental effort to release my foot to set the tempo than to press the switch down a second time (especially when setting a tempo that is off the beat).

It would be awesome if it were possible to have a setting for the MFC-101 to operate tap tempo like this, where you press, hold, and release to set the tempo, rather than tapping down twice.
 
giantslayer said:
I found it required less mental effort to release my foot to set the tempo than to press the switch down a second time (especially when setting a tempo that is off the beat).
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Gotta ask: why would you want to tap in a tempo that's off the beat?
 
You'd release it in time for the 2nd click. I did that before, works great for really fast tempo changes.
 
Chris@KatsuKuriMedia said:
You'd release it in time for the 2nd click. I did that before, works great for really fast tempo changes.
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Help me understand that. Do you mean a tempo speed-up where a new, faster tempo comes along, and you stomp and release in time to catch the faster tempo? If so, how could it be off the beat, when that's the new beat?
 
Rex said:
Help me understand that. Do you mean a tempo speed-up where a new, faster tempo comes along, and you stomp and release in time to catch the faster tempo? If so, how could it be off the beat, when that's the new beat?
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I play with other people, so the beat isn't simply whatever is set on my axe-fx. An example of setting a rhythm off the beat would be if we are in 4/4 time, I could set my tempo to an 1/8th note in between the main beats. So instead of setting my delay at a quarter note, I could have it set at a dotted quarter note (1.5 times the length of a quarter note). I can do things like that to create interesting rhythmic textures with the delay.

It is a lot easier to get the timing right for that stuff with press and release than having to press down again a second time.

Also, if I want to shorten the delay closer to slap back territory, it's a heck of a lot easier this way.
 
Very interesting request!

Especially given that you stumbled on this accidently!

Thinking this does seem like it will be a lot easier to set tempo!
 
giantslayer said:
I play with other people, so the beat isn't simply whatever is set on my axe-fx. An example of setting a rhythm off the beat would be if we are in 4/4 time, I could set my tempo to an 1/8th note in between the main beats. So instead of setting my delay at a quarter note, I could have it set at a dotted quarter note (1.5 times the length of a quarter note). I can do things like that to create interesting rhythmic textures with the delay.
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I get that part. But if I want, for instance, a dotted-eighth-note delay, I set Tempo to 1/8 DOT, then tap in on the beat. No need to tap in anything that's off the beat.


giantslayer said:
Also, if I want to shorten the delay closer to slap back territory, it's a heck of a lot easier this way.
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That I totally get.
 
Rex said:
I get that part. But if I want, for instance, a dotted-eighth-note delay, I set Tempo to 1/8 DOT, then tap in on the beat. No need to tap in anything that's off the beat.
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I use quarter notes most of the time. If I want something different, I usually think of it on the fly and would rather tap it in than start going through menus during a gig. Besides that, I like to think setting unusual rhythms by my own skill and timing somehow helps keeps me sharp as a musician in some way.
 
giantslayer said:
I use quarter notes most of the time. If I want something different, I usually think of it on the fly and would rather tap it in than start going through menus during a gig. Besides that, I like to think setting unusual rhythms by my own skill and timing somehow helps keeps me sharp as a musician in some way.
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Understood.
 
You would get the exact same effect if you just program your Axe-Fx tempos to 2x the desired value.
 
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