Tempo and time

Tempo is the project speed, shown in the transport as BPM (beats per minute). At 120 BPM a quarter note lasts half a second. The time signature groups those beats. 4/4, the usual setting, is four quarter notes to a bar, so a one-bar loop is four beats long at any tempo. Change the BPM and the bar takes less clock time. It is still one bar.

The metronome clicks on the beats. Count-in plays a bar of clicks before recording starts. Both are in the transport. See Basics.

A delay set to 1/8, an LFO with sync on, and a compressor release set to a note value all count in bars and beats. Change the tempo and they stay with the song. A delay set in milliseconds stays at a fixed length and drifts off the grid.

A loop in the sample library has its own BPM. When it matches the project, the loop lands on the grid. When it does not, time-stretch it, or set the BPM field in the library before you drop it in. Swing then shifts the timing inside that grid. The tempo stays put.