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Most experienced DJs will simply match the tempos of two songs by hand using the Speed Adjust slider, which is a perfectly
acceptable method of mat ching songs (indeed, this is the way it’s been done for dec ades). Since it requires a lot of practice
to hear when one song is playing faster or slower than ano ther, those new to DJing will benet from some of t he extra
features bu ilt into Torq. Such features include automatic beat detec tion, BPM displays, scrolling waveform displays , and
automatic synchronizat ion.
< BPM Display
Tempo is a measurement of the speed of a song and i s normally expressed
as Beats Per Minute (BPM). As the BPM increases, the speed of the song
increases. In order for two songs to be mixed together with their beats
aligned, the two songs will need to be playing at the same tempo. This is
why Torq’s Decks are equi pped with Speed S liders. In the event the DJ is
trying to mix two songs wi th different tempos (which happens more of ten
than not), he will need to use the Speed S liders to match the tempo of the
new song to the tempo of the curren t song.
» Automatic BPM Detection
Any time you lo ad a new track into a Deck, Torq will analyze it and
attempt to determin e the tempo of the song. For most dance music,
Torq will be able to determine the tempo accurately. Once scanned,
the tempo of the song will be shown in the BPM display for the Deck,
which is located just to the l eft of the Speed Adjust slider.
The B PM shown here is a “living value”—it will change when you
alter the speed of the song with the Speed Adjuster. This is extremely
helpful when t rying to synchronize t wo songs since you’ll be able to
nearly match the te mpos of the two songs just by matching th e BPM
values shown in the displays.
» Double/Halve Button
When Torq incorrectly identies the tempo of a song, it will often
return a result th at is hal f the orig inal tempo or double the original
tempo. Thi s occurs freq uently when using Drum & Bass tracks with
tempos in the neighborhood of 170 BPM. Torq may think that the
tempo of the song is 85 BPM, which is half the actual tempo. When this
happens, you can quickly d ouble the tempo using the Double/Halve
button.
The rst time you press this button, the up arrow will light and the
tempo of the cu rrent song will be doubled. The second time you
press the button, t he down arrow will light and the tempo of the song
will be cut in hal f from the original tempo. The third time you press
this button , the arrows will turn off and the tempo will revert to the
originally detected t empo.
» Manual Tempo
As ment ioned above, Torq can determin e the te mpo of mos t dance
music. Some music, however, is too complex or not repetitive enough
for Torq to detect the tempo with precision. Fortunatel y, you can help
Torq to dete rmine the prop er tempo t hrough a number of differe nt
methods. The appropri ate method will be based on the type of te mpo
correction you’re trying to achieve.