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BPM mode, tap tempo and MIDI clock

Sync Scene and Cue fades to a tempo with BPM Mode: preset or typed BPM, tap tempo, MIDI Clock and Quantize.

The bottom bar shows up on every screen. While BPM Mode is off, it affects nothing: Scenes and Cues play back on their saved times. Turn it on, and you can set a tempo — with a preset, by typing it, with tap tempo, or from an external MIDI Clock — and your fades and chases follow it live.

Turn on BPM Mode

  1. Open LIVE CONTROL from the home screen.

    Live Control screen with the Scene Layers panel; the bottom bar shows only the highlighted BPM Mode button (off) and the workspace switcher.

  2. Click BPM Mode in the bottom bar.

    Bottom bar expanded: four beat dots, the BPM value (120.0), Tap, preset tempos, Quantize and a Sync: Manual badge.

The starting tempo is 120 BPM.

Set the tempo: preset, type it or Tap

There are three ways to set the tempo.

  1. Click the 128 preset tempo button.

    Bottom bar with the 128 preset highlighted and the BPM value showing 128.0.

  2. Click the BPM value, type 124, and press Enter.

    Bottom bar with the BPM value showing 124.0 after typing it in.

  3. Click Tap 5 times, about half a second apart.

    Bottom bar with the BPM value showing 120.0 and the beat dots aligned to the last tap.

Scene fade times assume 120 BPM

To see how fades follow the tempo, let’s set one up.

  1. Click Back to go back to the home screen, then click the Scenes card and click Edit values on the Warm White row.

    Scene Designer showing Warm White's Edit scene values screen; the highlighted Default fade (s) field shows 2.

  2. Select Default fade (s), type over it with 1, and click Save.

    Highlighted Warm White row in the scene list showing 'Default fade: 1s'.

Here’s the rule: every Scene’s times — its fade, Fade In, Fade Out and delay — count as written at 120 BPM. With BPM Mode on, the time is scaled by 120 divided by the live tempo. So at 120, one second stays one second; at 60, it doubles; at 240, it halves.

Fades follow the tempo

  1. Click Back to go back to the home screen, then click the LIVE CONTROL card; click the 120 preset tempo; click the “Warm White” scene button.

    Scene Layers panel with the highlighted Warm White button on and its fader fully up; the bottom bar shows 120 BPM.

  2. Click “Warm White” again to turn it off; click the BPM value, type 60, press Enter; click “Warm White” again.

    Warm White on again, but its fader is only halfway up; the bottom bar now shows 60.0 BPM.

Cues follow the tempo too

  1. Click Back to go back to the home screen, then click the Cue Stacks card.

    Cue Stacks screen with Dance Chase highlighted in the Step Loops list on the left, not yet selected.

  2. Click “Dance Chase” in the Step Loops list on the left.

    Dance Chase step table open; the Duration (ms) column reads 500 for every step.

  3. Click the 120 preset (bottom bar); click GO.

    Dance Chase playing: a Cue 3 / 4 counter in the footer and the highlighted GO button switched to Next; the beat dots in the bottom bar.

  4. Click Pause.

    Playback stopped; the footer shows Stopped and the button is GO again.

The values in the table don’t change — scaling only applies during playback. Cues you record live are stored at 120 BPM, the same reference as Scenes; a cue built in the Effect Wizard instead remembers the tempo it was made at as its own base.

Quantize: cues start on the next beat

Start a cue halfway through a beat, and the light drifts off the music. Quantize fixes that.

  1. Click Quantize in the bottom bar.

    Quantize button active (highlighted) in the bottom bar.

  2. Click GO mid-beat.

    Dance Chase playing with the highlighted button switched to Next; in the bottom bar, Quantize is on and the beat dots are visible.

MIDI Clock: tempo from outside

If your DJ software, drum machine or DAW sends MIDI Clock, you don’t need to set the tempo by hand.

  1. Click Back to go back to the home screen, then open Settings.

    General Settings screen with the MIDI Settings button highlighted.

  2. Click MIDI Settings.

    Control Surface (MIDI & OSC) screen; in the Devices section, 'No MIDI input ports found' is highlighted.

  3. Click Back to go back to the home screen, then open LIVE CONTROL again. Once a clock starts coming in, the sync indicator in the bottom bar switches on its own.

    Bottom bar with the highlighted Sync: MIDI Clock badge; Tap and the presets appear dimmed and disabled.

Under Devices, enable the input port that sends the clock — only one port can be active at a time. Once the clock comes in, the tempo updates from it, and Tap, the presets and the BPM value lock, since the tempo is no longer yours to set.

What’s next

To sum up: turn on BPM Mode, then set the tempo with a preset, by typing it, with Tap or with MIDI Clock. Scenes and Cues are written at 120 BPM; when the tempo drops, fades get longer, and when it rises, they get shorter. Quantize puts your cue starts on the beat. Next, use Show Timeline to place your lights on a song’s waveform.

Updated: October 8, 2026

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