timing

Event timing with transport

This patch shows a simple use of a transport-governed metronome to trigger events at a constant rate. The metro object that has the argument '4n' will be governed by the transport because its interval is specified in a tempo-relative, music-based "note values" format. (Just for the sake of comparison, the patch includes another metro that is unaffected by the transport because its interval is specified in milliseconds.) The transport-governed metro will only run when the transport is on.

Transport-controlled phasor~

A phasor~ object, like other MSP objects such as cycle~ that use a rate for their timing, can have its repetition rate specified as a transport-related tempo-relative time value (note values, ticks, etc.). So if you want a phasor~ to work at a rate that is related to the transport's tempo, you can type in a tempo-relative time as an argument to specify its period of repetition instead of typing in a frequency.

The translate object updates its output when the tempo changes

The translate object converts a message from one type of time unit to another. It uses the tempo and the time signature of the transport to do that calculation. If the tempo or the time signature changes, the result of the calculation would be different, so translate always resends its output whenever the transport receives a change to one of those values.

Other basic functionality of the transport object

This patch does some of the same things as the "GlobalTransport" patch in the Extras menu, and shows what is likely going on behind the scenes in that patch. The toggle labeled "Start/Stop" starts the transport and immediately turns on the metro to begin triggering time reports. The button labeled "Rewind" sends a time position of bar 1, beat 1, 0 ticks to the transport to reset its time.