Tempo Area
The tempo area provides controls related to the master tempo and quantization. The activity LEDs on the left provide confirmation of incoming MIDI clock and other types of MIDI data recognized by Vidjam.
The synchronization mode button switches between TIME and BPM. In time mode, all controls and numeric fields are shown as hours, minutes and seconds. In BPM mode all controls and numeric fields are shown as bars, beats and divisions. A master time-stretch button, when active, will cause all videos in the playlist to speed up or slow down to match the master tempo shown in the BPM field.
If a MIDI clock source or Ableton Link is selected in preferences, this field will display the tempo of that MIDI source. If no clock is selected, you may click and type directly in this field. Alternatively, you may use the TAP button to tap out a tempo.
Use the CUE button to restart the BPM engine to keep video playback speed and sync automation locked not only to the tempo but to the phrase of your music. In case you tap the CUE button a bit early or late in relation to your music, the nudge buttons can be used to realign the beat counter LEDs with your music.
The Global Quantization setting helps keep visuals and effects in sync with your music by quantizing your actions and forcing the videos and effects to stay on beat - even if you trigger them offbeat. For instance, to ensure your visuals always stay on the beat you may set this to 1 bar. Then when you use any buttons that are set to “global” as their quantization setting, they will always trigger exactly on the beat as long as you engage them no more than 1 bar before the intended point in time you want them to take effect. This means your button click doesn’t have to be precise in order for vidjam to stay on beat. This keeps synchronization intact even when manually controlling vidjam during a performance. In other words for this example, you should intentionally click the button a little before the intended bar where it would stay in sync. Due to the 1 bar quantization setting, vidjam would wait to trigger that button precisely on that next whole bar… keeping everything in perfect sync. More on this in the quantization tutorial.
