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Timing guide for beginners

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Ambu5h
Hello there

So in this guide i'm gonna talk about timing, the core of any map and the very first thing you have to do when you start a new mapping project. I will talk mostly about how to time songs with constant bpm but you can also find a few words about timing variable bpm tracks.

So lets get started.

Step 1 - Chosing a song

This step is actually important, because for your first maps its a lot easier to use songs which have constant timing, but how do you actually know that timing of a song will be constant?

Well experienced mappers can just kinda hear it, but you can try slowly clapping or tapping your keyboard to the rhythm of the song and if the frequency of your taps doesnt change throughout the whole track then it most likely has constant bpm.

Note: make sure to check songs properties. If you are planning to rank your map one day then the bitrate of the song must lie in range from 128 to 192 kbps. And if your map is ready but you have to change mp3 to another one with different bitrate it will most likely screw your timing, so you' ve been warned.

Usually anime songs and japanise music in general as well as electronic have a constant bpm and sounds like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7BddpYYNGk

Step 2 - BPM

So the first thing you're gonna see after you drag your song into the editor and set parameters is this



Here the editor suggests you to click your mouse on a button called Tap Here! at the top right or you can also tap the T key. So we're just gonna do this because why not, its not like we can do anything else unless we time the song.

So a couple of fast taps brings us to the next stage



As you can see i can easily singletap 325 bpm and now our map also has an offset (dont mention Slider Velocity and Slider Tick Rate), but you probably can guess that the timing we just got is not nearly accurate

So im actually a very lazy person and not gonna waste my time trying to find the right bpm. Instead i will use a certain program which is very helpful if you need the bpm of a song with constant bpm (doesnt work with multiple bpm songs unfortunately)

Here's the link to this program - https://bpm-analyzer.en.uptodown.com/windows

All you have to do with this program is open it, drag your mp3 into the window and you'll get the bpm almost immediately



So the bpm is 129.99, but whenever you get numbers like this you can just round them, because the difference is not noticable, so im gonna use 130. Exceptions are possible, for example Freedom Dive has a 222.22 bpm, but thats because XI is a memer and these cases are pretty rare.

So now that we have a right bpm for our song we just come back to the editor, press a big yellow button called Timing Setup Panel and input our 130 bpm manually in the window that will appear. Then just press OK.




Note: You can also use 2x or 0.5x of the bpm that program gives you (260 or 65 in my case), it will still be on rhythm; sometimes its appropriate but in most cases theres no reason to do this.

So now our map has its 130 bpm but the metronome still doesnt tick to the beats of the song, and this is where we start finding offset.

Step 3 - Offset

People say that offset is a first major beat of the map. In my opinion this definition is not completely accurate cuz there are some maps for a songs without noticable beats though they still have offset. But in most cases yes, you just have to listen and find a first major distinct sound, usually its a drum sound or basically any kicking sound. So lets say you hear it somewhere here



So what we want to do now is to move our 130 bpm flag to the spot where we hear the first strong sound. For this purpose we scroll to the nearest place where we hear this sound and we start changing offset.

To do this you can use two arrow buttons, which move the flag to the right if you press right arrow button and to the left if you press left arrow button. We need to move it to the right.

Note: Hold shift for big changes or ctrl for precise changes



Alternatively you can input offset manually in the same window where you can input bpm or you can also click a Use Current Time button, which will set current time you are on now as an offset



So now we are much closer to finding our perfect offset. At this point i recommend you to lower Playback Rate to 50% or even 25% and adjust the offset by using arrow buttons (dont forget to hold ctrl if you need precise changes).



It may take some time but by listening to the music and making small adjustments you will definitely find your offset which is 865 in my case, also maybe its just me but if you did everything right the metronome ticks will become a bit louder



Note: The offset number doesnt exactly have to be nice like 865 or 860. If you feel like 866 or 867 fits better - stick to it because some players find even a 1-2 ms a huge difference which ruins their accuracy

Last thing you should do is make sure that metronome ticks to the beat through the whole song and if it does - congratz, your timing is ready!

A few words about timing multi-bpm songs

First of all im not a big pro at timing, i made a few tries to time some rock songs which sometimes are quite hard to time but im not nearly as good as some timing masters like pishifat (search for his timing video on yt), shiro or bonsai. But i still have something to say to you.

First of all, programs doesnt really help in case of multi bpm songs so most of the job you'll have to do manually. Its a long and tedious process that requires a lot of listening and changing the timing that is already done but you cant really help it, cuz thats how its done.

Unlike i did in constant bpm songs when you time multi-bpm its actually better to start with an offset. The rest of the job comes into listening closely to the song trying to find parts that have a constant bpm and adjusting bpm using the similar arrow buttons as the offset buttons. Simultaneously you can place some notes mainly on white ticks in a Compose tab to listen if they are actually on rhythm. If they are not then probably either the bpm is wrong or you didnt notice that a new bpm section started and you should add it in timing panel, so listen to everything very closely.

Note: Dont forget to resnap notes to the ticks after every bpm change

When you feel like bpm of the song had changed you should make a new timing point. That is done again in a Timing Setup Panel where you click the green "plus" buton and then uncheck the "Inherit previous timing setting button".





And thats pretty much it: listening -> chosing bpm -> adjusting bpm -> listening -> adding new timing point -> chosing bpm and offset -> listening -> adjusting bpm -> listening ..... did i ever tell you what the definition of insanity is?

Sometimes multi-bpm tracks doesnt require many timing points but timing the other ones can become a nightmare and waste more time than the mapping itself, so you better be prepared



Anyway thanks for your attention if you survived to this point, i hope this gave you some idea of how to time a map. Good luck!
Uta
lol
Galaxypancake2
Thank you so much for helping me with timing!! I really appreciate the fact someone like you exists :D
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