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Open the MIDI Devices window and choose a device for and enable the Beat click. You must listen to a click while playing.
You can change the sound of the click in the Beat Click window.

Enable Tempo Tracking on the Main window.

Use one of the following methods for your countoff:

• If you want an automatic countoff from InTime, open the Tempo and Start Controls window. Enable "Countoff", select "auto" from the drop down menu,and enter the number of countoff beats in the "N:" window. Set your initial tempo in the window. Enable the Record button on the Main window. Enable the Start button on the Main window. After InTime clicks the assigned number of countoff beats, recording begins.
  
  
• If you want to countoff manually, open the MIDI Triggers window, enable the "Tap", assign a MIDI event to be the tap trigger, and enable "Initial and Countoff". Then, in the Tempo and Start Controls window,  enable Countoff, enter the number of beats you want to tap for a countoff in the "N:" window, and choose Manual. Enable the Record button on the Main window. Enable the Start button on the Main window. Tap the indicated number of beats on the MIDI Tap Trigger and begin recording.
  
  
• If you want to record as soon as you begin playing,  open the Tempo and Start Controls window and enable Wait Note. Enable the Record button on the Main window. Enable the Start button on the Main window. InTime will begin recording as soon as you begin playing.
  
  
  

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How do I switch between a Steady Tempo and Tempo Tracking?

In the MIDI Triggers window, enable the Tracking Toggle. Assign a MIDI event to the Tracking Toggle to switch between Steady Tempo and Tempo Tracking.

If you are recording, decide which method you want to use to Record your track.

While recording, switch between Steady Tempo and Tempo Tracking at any time using the MIDI event you assigned to the Tracking Toggle.

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How do I make a sudden tempo change?

In the MIDI Triggers window, enable the Tap, assign a MIDI event to be the Tap trigger, and enable the Performance option.
Enable Tempo Tracking on the Main window.

If you are recording, decide which method you want to use to Record your track.

While you are playing, you can tap any tempo using the MIDI Event you assigned to the Tap trigger, and the new tempo will immediately take effect.

TIP: You can use this sudden tempo change method in conjunction with the Tracking Toggle (above) to make a sudden tempo change from one Steady Tempo to another. When you want to make the change, toggle the tracking on, tap the new tempo, and toggle the tracking off.

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How do I play with "steady" tempo but still get a human feel?

Open the Advanced Tracking Options window, and enable Groove Tracking.

If you are recording, decide which method you want to use to Record your track.

InTime will keep you close to your chosen tempo. The tempo indicator will remain at your chosen initial tempo, however you will be able to play around that tempo, and these tempo changes will be reflected in your tempo map.

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How do I play with an existing MIDI file with tempo tracking?

Open the MIDI Devices window,  Enable File Out and choose the proper MIDI device.

Enable Tempo Tracking on the Main window.

In the Open MIDI File Window, load the existing MIDI file you want to play along with.

If you are recording, decide which method you want to use to Record your track.

You must listen to, and play along with, the file as you play. When you have finished recording, the new file will have a tempo map reflecting your performance.

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How do I have an external MIDI device, such as a sequencer, follow along with my playing using tempo tracking?

NOTE: See also How do I control another program on my computer with InTime?
Open the MIDI Devices window,  Enable Beat Clock (Sync Master) and choose the proper MIDI device to send the tempo messages to the external device. If you know the proper MIDI device is set, you can click the enable button under the Clock icon to activate the Sync Master. The light should glow green.

Setup your external MIDI device to act as a Sync Slave (also know as "Sync to External Source" or "Sync to External Clock", or "External Beat Clock Sync", etc). Make sure your external device's input is receiving messages from the InTime output you selected. You can now play with the freedom of tempo tracking, and still  have another keyboard, drum machine, sequencer, or any MIDI device that can slave to MIDI clocks, follow your playing.

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How do I keep the tempo from running away from me?

If you are having trouble with the tempo running away from you, there are a few options to help keep things under control.

Use a lower Sensitivity Setting, found on the Main window. This will make InTime put up more resistance to your tempo changes.

Use the Tempo Limiter found in the Tempo and Start Controls window. Set the tempo limits to the maximum and minimum tempo you want to be allowed to stray from your initial tempo.

Change the Tracking Bias found in the Advanced Tracking Options window. Some people find that changing the Tracking Bias Setting makes it easier (or harder) to change tempos in one direction or the other. This is a setting that is different for each individual's playing, and some people notice no difference, so try different setting to find a comfortable setting for your playing.

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How can I use Apple Logic with InTime? Logic freezes or plays slow, or I get a Core Audio System Overload.

Logic 8: Unfortunately, Logic 8 no longer supports sync via Midi Clock. So you can't use it for live sync with InTime. We'll be adding ReWire support for the next major release of InTime, so that will make it usable with Logic again. In the meantime, you can still use InTime to record your performances and get a natural tempo map, which you can save and import into Logic.

Logic 7 or earlier: If you use Apple Logic with InTime on the same computer and have them connected via a Virtual MIDI Device (VMD), for example if you use Apple OS X's built-in IAC Bus, you might experience freezing or very slow playback when playing MIDI instruments/tracks in Logic, and you might see a "Core Audio System Overload" message.

If this happens, it's because Logic is sending its MIDI ouput to the same VMD that is being used for MIDI input. This causes an instant feedback loop through the VMD and the system gets overloaded. By default, Logic will listen to all available MIDI devices/ports for input, and send output to all MIDI ports as well.

To fix this, make sure Logic is NOT sending MIDI output to a VMD that is being used for input. The quick way to fix this is in the Instrument Settings panel - make sure each instrument/track is sending MIDI out only to a single port, and is NOT set to send out to "All" ports. Another option is to setup your environment so that MIDI is more selectively routed.

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How do I control another program on my computer?

To control another piece of software running on the same machine as InTime, you need to use a Virtual MIDI Device. This allows you to send out MIDI events (notes, beat clocks, etc.) to another piece of software. For example, you can have InTime control your sequencer for recording, which lets you  use the software you are familiar with for recording, but have your playing go through InTime so it can follow your tempo changes and send them to your sequencer.


Using InTime with a Virtual MIDI Device to drive your sequencing software:

• Install a MIDI Virtual Device Driver (see below)
  
  
  • When properly installed, you will see the Virtual Devices listed in the choice boxes in the InTime MIDI Devices window.
    
    
• Setup your MIDI Devices in InTime
  
  
  • The InTime Input device should receive the input from your instrument, which usually will be coming from your sound card's MIDI In port.
    
    
  • The InTime Output devices should be set to a Virtual Output Device.
    • Set the "Beat Clock" device to a Virtual Output Device. This allows your sequencer to be controlled by and follow the tempo from InTime. To make all devices the same, hit the "All" button next to the "Beat Clock" device choice window
    • Set the InTime Thru Device to the same Virtual Output Device as above so that your instrument can be recorded (an advanced option is to setup a Virtual Input Device to allow multiple programs to use the same physical input device)
    • If playing a file that you would like to send out to the sequencer, set the File Out Device to the same Virtual Output Device. Optionally, you can play the file on your sequencer as you record, which might give you different or more familiar control over the file during recording
    • If you would like to record the beat clicks, set the Beat Click Device to the same Virtual Output Device as well.
      
      
  • Set the input device on your sequencer (or other MIDI software) to the Virtual Input Device corresponding to the Virtual Output Device you used in the previous step.
    
    • TIP: If you use one of the virtual devices suggested below, you can simply select the same-numbered device for the InTime output devices and your sequencer's input device. For example, set everything to use "Midi Yoke Junction: 1" (using Midi Yoke's default naming).
      
      
  • Setup your sequencer to act as a Sync Slave (also know as "Sync to External Source" or "Sync to External Clock", or "External Beat Clock Sync", etc).
    
    
  • Start recording on your sequencer. It should pause as it waits for the Sync Master's "Start" command
    
    
  • Start InTime. It will send out the "Start" message and MIDI Beat Clocks, and your sequence should start recording.
    
    

Here are some Windows Virtual MIDI Devices available for free over the Web, and some associated help pages. TIP: Windows XP users have reported better experiences with Maple Midi than with Midi Yoke and Hubi's.

Maple Midi Tools (for Windows XP in particular)
Setup tip: After installing, run Maple Midi Tools and in the "Options | Midi Settings" dialog, choose the 'Accept input from sequencer' option.

Midi Yoke

Hubi's LoopBack Device (least recommended)

Help for Installing
Using Hubi's LBD

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When I use Cakewalk Sonar as Sync Slave to InTime, Sonar stops listening to InTime after I hit stop once. What's up?

Cakewalk Sonar has a bug which makes it stop listening for MIDI Sync input after you've hit Stop once already in InTime. To get around this problem, put Sonar into Loop mode (it won't actually loop while sync'ed to InTime), and make the end loop point the end of the song. Then, when you enable external MIDI Sync in Sonar and hit play in Sonar, it will keep listening to InTime as you start and stop using InTime. If you have a moment, email Cakewalk and ask them to fix this bug.
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InTime wants to speed up (or slow down) all the time, or it's too hard to slow down. What do I do??

If InTime seems to want to slow down (or speed up) when you're playing at a steady tempo, adjust the Tracking Bias, in the Advanced Tracking window. For details, look for "Tracking Bias" in the InTime Help file index.
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When I sync/slave another program to InTime, the first couple beats are jerky on startup.

Some programs, when slaved to InTime, will sometimes sound jerky when they startup. This is because they don't know the starting tempo ahead of time. Read the discussion on Slaved Software Startup for more details.
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How do I setup InTime to work with my drum kit (or with any kind of percussion)?

InTime works very well when tracking drums and percussion. For acoustic drum kits and percussion, you'll need to setup either Midi triggers or audio triggers to convert what you play into Midi messages for InTime to track. There are more details in the discussion Acoustic Drum kits and InTime. Feel free to email us if you have other questions. Back to the top

Can I use/authorize/unlock InTime on more than one computer?

Yes! If you want to use InTime on another machine of yours, like a laptop, studio or home machine, just send us an email to get another Authorization String. Back to the top

When I play certain drum fills, InTime "gets away" from me.

Certain styles of drum fills can sound good, but actually be very off-tempo. InTime cannot follow such styles if they are too far off-tempo, but there are two things you can do to make InTime track better:
1) Make sure Rate Filter is enabled (Advanced Tracking window). This filters out rapid events, anything faster than (very approximately) a 32nd note.
2) Try enabling Sub Tracking in the Advanced Tracking window. This will help in particular with 16th-note triplet fills and some off-tempo fills with 16th-note feels. NOTE: your overall effective tracking sensitivity will drop when you enable Sub Tracking. You can increase the Tracking Sensitivity to accomodate this to some degree. Back to the top

Are there any compatibility issues with InTime and other software and hardware products?

There are some compatibility problems with InTime and some software and hardware products.

• Some versions of Cakewalk sequencers don't record tempo changes when it's being driven in sync mode as a Slave. You should use InTime tor record while you're playing, save as a MIDI file, then import into Cakewalk.
  
  
• Cakewalk Sonar doesn't keep 'listening' for midi control messages in sync slave mode after a stop message is received. But, there's a workaround - see the entry above in the FAQ for Sonar.
  
  
• Mark of the Unicorn's Micro Express MIDI router box muddles the MIDI Clock (Sync Master) messages that InTime outputs, making the messages unusable.
  
  

We are requesting that these companies address these issues as we become aware of them. If you find problems using InTime and other software, please email us with your problem, and contact the manufacturer of the software you are using.

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