iTunes-BPM

[adriantoll]

I DJ using DJ1800 - http://www.dj1800.com/ - and select playlists beforehand through iTunes. I've always thought it would be handy to have the bpm (beats per minute) for each track added in, to provide an initial idea for the flow of a set (slow - fast etc.) before tweaking it to get the final mix.

I've tried a few pieces of software that claim to automatically detect BPM for audio tracks, but I've found they're patchy at best, and mostly useless.

I looked around and found a little iTunes plug-in that you click along with the music for 5 seconds or so, and it detects the bpm, then you click the "set" button and it updates the BPM field in iTunes for the current track. It doesn't take much time and it's obviously more accurate that the auto-detect software around - I've had good results already...

http://blacktree.com/apps/iTunes-BPM/

 

[JFreak]

damnit, i was hoping you found something that automatically detects bpm and can be scripted to go through the entire (gigantic) music library... no way i'd tap the tempo for every song

 

[adriantoll]

Nah, I wouldn't trust anything automatic - I play a huge mixture of stuff and some of it would completely confuse anything like that. Most hip-hop is fine - it has nice, clear bass beats - but something like glitch electro is so full of pops and clicks that it'd never find the right bpm.

I reckon you're as well to do it as you go along, rather like I did while digitising all of my music - if you're listening to music, or sifting through stuff for a set just click along while listening and after a while you'll find you've done a lot of it.

Like I said, there are automatic things out there, but I can't recommend any of them