Tempo sync
Lock DNA's musical clock to an external tempo — Ableton Link, MIDI clock, timecode, or a tap of the spacebar — so your beat-driven motion stays in step with the room.
DNA keeps a dedicated musical clock that counts beats, bars, and tempo (BPM). Anything tempo-aware — sequencers, beat-synced LFOs, anything you've keyed in musical time — reads from it. Tempo sync is just choosing where that clock gets its beat from.
For the bigger picture of how beats relate to frames and audio time, see Clocks & tempo.
Choosing a tempo source
Only one tempo source is active at a time. You pick it in the tempo settings, and every tempo-aware node follows instantly.
Manual — the built-in tempo knob. Set a BPM and DNA holds it. This is the default.
Tap — tap out a tempo (e.g. with a key or pad) and DNA averages your taps into a live BPM. Great for matching a track by ear.
Ableton Link — join the local network's shared tempo. Any Link-enabled app or device on the same Wi-Fi (Ableton Live, hardware, DJ software, other DNA machines) shares one tempo and phase. Start playing and you're already in sync with the room.
MIDI Clock — follow the 24-pulses-per-beat clock streamed from external hardware or a DAW over MIDI.
MTC (MIDI Time Code) — follow SMPTE timecode delivered over MIDI, for locking to a video deck, DAW timeline, or show controller.
Ableton Link is the easiest way to jam two machines or sync with a DJ — there's no cabling and no master to nominate. Everyone on the network negotiates one shared beat.
How it reaches your graph
Whichever source you pick, the result is the same single tempo that the whole graph reads. There's no special "tempo node" to wire up — the musical clock is ambient, so a beat-synced expression or a tempo-aware node just works once a source is locked.
SMPTE timecode can also be received as data via the Timecode In node (part of the live-performance toolset), which gives you hours / minutes / seconds / frames as values you can route anywhere — handy for triggering cues against a show timeline.
Tips for stable sync
Keep machines you want Link-synced on the same local network with multicast allowed (some venue Wi-Fi blocks it — a simple switch or direct cable is more reliable).
MIDI Clock has no concept of bar position, so it tells DNA the tempo, not where you are in the song. Use MTC if you need an absolute position.
Tap tempo smooths over several taps — give it three or four steady hits before trusting the reading.
See also
input.midi