Tempo

Channels or X/Y

• Axe-Fx III and FM9 and MF3: 4 channels
• Axe-Fx II: no
• AX8: no
• FX8: no

Tempo button and menu

When tapping the Tempo button on the device, the Tempo menu appears on the hardware display.

On the Axe-Fx III, FM9, and FM3, the Tempo button also is a shortcut to the Controllers menu.

Global tempo or per preset

You can specify whether you want to the tempo to apply to all presets (global) or per preset.

Tempo per channel or scene

Tempo is part of the Controllers block. That block has 4 channels, so a preset can have 4 different tempos which allows setting separate tempos per scene.

Tapping tempo

The Global Settings menu lets you specify how tempo tapping works:

Average — Averages the tempo to the last 10 taps. Usually a wise choice if you can't get the first taps right, and the default setting.

Last Two — Uses only the most recent two taps to determine the tempo. Acts faster but also less precise.

Tap Tempo needs at least two taps to calculate.

More in this forum discussion

Syncing an effect to the tempo

You can assign effect parameters such as Time or Rate to a specific tempo, as 1/4 or 1/8 Dotted, instead of specifying the number of milliseconds. That will make the effect depend on the global or preset tempo. Tapping a different tempo will change the rate of the effect.

Important: after assigning a parameter to a tempo, you can no longer adjust the time in the effect manually!

LED accuracy

Fractal Audio:

"The tempo LED is handled by a low-priority thread so it isn't rock solid and the higher the CPU usage the less solid it will be." [1]

Metronome

The Tempo menu contains a metronome. Read this: Metronome

Remote control

Footswitch

Scroll to the Tempo CC in the I/O menu and hit Enter. Click the switch on the footswitch that you want to assign the Tuner to.

Or configure it manually by assigning the Tuner MIDI CC to a switch on a MIDI controller.

Read this: Expression pedals and external switches

MIDI CC

The default MIDI CC for the Tuner is 14 on the Axe-Fx II, AX8, and FX8. Keep it like this to avoid issues.

The Axe-Fx III, FM9, and FM3 let you set the Tuner CC manually in the I/O menu.

MFC-101

The MFC-101 MIDI foot controller has a dedicated Tempo command for the Axe-Fx II when it's running in Axe-Fx Mode.

FC-6 and FC-12 foot controllers

The FC-6 and FC-12 foot controllers have a dedicated Tempo action.

MIDI Clock

Read this: MIDI Clock

DAW

"It all depends on the accuracy of your DAW. If I set the BPM to 130 and the accuracy is 5ms it will occasionally go to 131 BPM on my system here. If I lower the accuracy to 2ms then it doesn't do that. And this is as would be expected. 130 BPM is 2.167 beats per second. MIDI Clock is 24 messages per beat. So that's 52 messages per second or a message every 19.2 ms. 129 BPM translates to 19.38 messages per second. So your messages need to be accurate down to fractions of a ms." [2]

Tips, tricks and troubleshooting

Tempo and Beats Per Minute (BPM)

The Owner's Manuals list the tempo values with the BPM equivalents.

BPM on the Performance Page

If you add Controllers > Tempo as the first control on a Performance Page on the Axe-Fx III, FM9, or FM3, you'll always see the preset's BPM value when switching presets from your foot controller.

Auto-activate a delay by tapping Tempo

Read this: Delay block

SysEx commands for tempo

List of all SysEx commands for each tempo setting in the Delay block in the Axe-Fx II XL.

Forum member Kamil Kisiel provides this Tempo SysEx Generator for the Axe-Fx III and FM3

Bleed-through tempo noise

Audible bleed-through of the tempo signal can occur if the MIDI cable is not properly shielded. Use high-quality, properly shielded MIDI cables.