Tempo

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. On the Axe-Fx III, FM3 and FM9, the Controllers block has 4 channels.

Tap tempo

The Setup menu lets you specify how tapping tempo works:

Average 

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

Last Two 

Uses only the most recent two taps to determine the tempo. This acts faster but is also less precise.

Tap Tempo needs at least two taps to calculate.

See the Tap tempo issues discussion for more information.

Tempo per preset or global

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. On the Axe-Fx III, FMN3 and FM9, the block has 4 channels, so a preset can have 4 different tempos which allows setting separate tempos per scene.

Syncing 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!

Metronome

The Tempo menu contains a metronome. Read this: Metronome

Remote control

Footswitch

Scroll to the Tempo CC in the Setup 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 Expression pedals and external switches for more information.

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, FM3 and VP4 let you set the Tuner CC manually in the Setup 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 MIDI Clock for more information.

DAW

FRACTAL AUDIO QUOTES

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[1] 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.

Tips, tricks and troubleshooting

LED accuracy

PREVIOUS GENERATIONS

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[2] 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.

Tempo and Beats Per Minute (BPM) values

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

Show 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

Search the Delay block page for auto delay.

SysEx commands for tempo

These are useful:

• Fractal Audio: List of all SysEx commands for each tempo setting in the Delay block in the Axe-Fx II XL.
• Kamilkisiel.net: Fractal Audio Tempo SysEx Generator.

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.