[Ramengan]

Originally Posted by 4_teddybears

I have a few questions. Maybe someone can help.

Questions:
1-Is there a way to increase the speed of your song, or is that only done by BPM?
I would not like to have the arrows going so slowly. Sure I can increase the speed before playing in Stepmania, to 2x, 3x, 4, 8x...etc, but once the song is uploaded, it will be ridiculously slow and crammed together.
If not I will have to multiply the real bpm by 4 and space the arrows out myself. Is that the wrong thing to do?

2-Is there a program that will give a breakdown of the BPM in each part of the song?
The program mix meister tells me that the song has 101.5 BMP, but it is obviously an average.

1) F7/F8 will allow you to change the BPM manually at a certain point. The BPM in the step editor controls how fast the arrows scroll. Of course, it should match the song's real BPM, unless you want to space it out. In that case, highlight the section you want to space out and Expand 2x like trumaestro said. It will create a BPM change at the end of your selection, so if you don't want it there, delete it (F7/F8 it until it's equal to the doubled BPM).

2) MixMeister is best with constant BPM songs, but don't just take a decimal value as an "average". Decimal BPM values are common, so try plugging it in first, and if it doesn't work, tinker with it (F7/F8). Even at half BPM, the arrows should still sync to the music well, and you can expand it (see #1) if you want.

If you're sure that the song has dynamic BPM, then MixMeister MAY give you the predominant BPM in the song if there is one. Chances are it won't work, so try cutting the song up into sections with an audio editor (meaning, make a bunch of small song sample files) along where you hear changes in tempo (if you can) and plug those individually into MixMeister. It will hopefully give you a close estimate of the BPM in that section. Some songs will have so many BPM changes that this is impossible to reasonably do, and you'll have to recognize and place BPM changes in purely by ear, which is very difficult to do.