How to Warp Audio Like Ableton Using Smart Tempo

Logic 10.4 introduced the audio world to an idea that flies in the face of everything we ever thought about time and tempo.

With the introduction of Smart Tempo you’re no longer bound to the metronome. In fact, you tell Logic to listen to your performance and change itself to match your tempo.

While everyone celebrated the innovation of Smart Tempo, my imagination ran wild.

You see, I realized with Logic’s new system for managing tempos, there was a new world waiting.

And that world let us warp audio.

Warp Away

To be clear, “warping” comes from the electronic musician DAW of choice – Ableton Live.

In fact, it’s Ableton Live’s most celebrated feature.

Live has always been unique for being able to effortlessly sync any piece of audio to a chosen tempo:

• You load a loop
• Live analyzes the audio, and
• The audio file magically syncs to the Session Tempo

And it’s the only single thing I’ve ever admired (envied?) about Ableton Live.

That is, until now.

In this week’s video, watch how I take unrelated audio tracks and bend time like putty.

I match the Project Tempo to Audio File Tempos. I match Audio File tempos to the Project. I speed the whole session up and down.

And it all just works.

No cumbersome Beatmapping, Pitch and Time, or Flex Editing required.

What do you think of Smart Tempo now? Let us know in the comments below: