Pro Tools’ vast array of features and tools for recording and manipulating audio have made it one of the most popular digital audio workstations (DAWs) among musicians, music producers, and other audio professionals. 

One convenient feature in Pro Tools is the ability to tap tempo. Tapping tempo makes it easy to tap out the beat to a song or find the tempo of an audio sample that you were given without the tempo noted. 

In this guide, we’ll show you how to easily tap tempo in your next Pro Tools session.   

What is “tap tempo?”

Being able to “tap tempo” simply refers to a feature that allows you to tap to a certain beat as a way of finding or setting the bpm of a project. 

Tapping the tempo is one of the easiest ways to figure out the tempo of a sampled audio track. You tap a key on your keyboard or external midi device to either the beat of your track or a new beat, and Pro Tools will automatically read the beat and interpret the new tempo of the song into a numerical value.

How to tap tempo in Pro Tools

Two methods allow you to tap tempo in Pro Tools. However, both first require you to update your transport window settings to allow this shortcut.

How to update your transport window settings for tap tempo function

Step 1: Click on “Window” in the top menu bar, then select “Transport”.

Step 2: In the Transport window that appears, click the down arrow button on the right-hand side of the window and make sure to check the boxes for “Midi Controls” and “Expanded Transport”.

Do not skip this step, as it’s essential to be able to tap tempo in Pro Tools. 

Ok, now that we have our transport window set up, we can start tapping tempo through one of two methods. We’ve outlined each one and its steps below.