> If you try to automate the task of adjusting the tempo to follow a human performance (e.g. by tracking transients/onsets), you invariably end up with a mess..

> If you try to automate the task of adjusting the tempo to follow a human performance (e.g. by tracking transients/onsets), you invariably end up with a mess... With Ardour 8.0 ... switch to the Grid tool (shortcut: "y") and simply drag the grid (lines) to fit the measure and beat onsets that you feel while listening.... The resulting grid accommodates the way people actually perform, rather than how software sometimes thinks they ought to. < Wow. THIS is something that's been needed for > 20 years. A lot of music has gotten poorer because of the mechanality of grids. Human tempos vary naturally (slightly at least) all over the board. (If you doubt that, drop a golden oldie into a DAW and just try to adjust the grid.) Neither "Quantize" and "Humanize" helped. Tempo changes like ritardando, accelerando, rubato are essential for the musicality of real performances. Not that the grid/click-track HAS to have any effect on any one part, but it very much complicates, e.g., automated/samples parts. Human performances vary tempos according to feelings. This feature may be manual, but it sounds like progress. [QUOTE follows] "A nice sort of music would result from such playing. Something like the singing of a good vocalist accompanied by a poor blockhead who hammers away in strict time without yielding to the singer who, in sheer despair, must renounce all artistic expression." - Constantin von Sternberg (1852–1924) (c. 1920). "Tempo rubato, and other essays".