Tempo control

[Greg Mills <gregmills@blueyonder.co.uk>]

Title: Tempo control

I’ve pondered and posted this one in the past but never been able to find a solution. There seem to be a lot of very talented programmer types here so I thought I’d ask the question again. I play with an improvisational group using laptops, guitars and keyboards and we are all starting to use computers for one reason or another. Computers are great, but there’s one thing that I think limits things, at least in our group. I don’t like the way we all have to be MIDI sync’ed together. I’d rather we could all use loops or sequencers but still be in control of our own timebase. When synced together one of us has to be the clock master and so only he can dictate the tempo. As well as this, if I want to start or stop my host sequencer, I can’t do this and then rejoin the jam. Here’s what I’d like to be able to do.

I would like to use a midi controller such as the Contour Shuttle Express with some software (maybe a utility such as Plogue Bidule/MAX/Pure Data/etc). I would like to set up the jog wheel so that it will alter the tempo and the shuttle control so that when actuated, it will increase/decrease the tempo by a preset amount (say 5bpm) then return the tempo to its original value when released. I could use the other five buttons for tap tempo, start, stop, etc. Then I could nudge the sequncer forward or backward like a DJ would with decks. 

Any ideas?

Greg