Tempo and Time Signature

Rosegarden considers a composition to be accompanied by a single stream of "tempo changes" and "time signature changes", which you can edit to adjust the tempo and the number and structure of beats in each bar.

A tempo change can be to a constant fixed tempo, or it can be "ramped" — changing smoothly to a different target tempo at a given future time. Each tempo change takes effect until the following one is reached, so any two consecutive tempo changes together describe a region that will be played at a constant or smoothly ramping tempo.

Tempo and time signature are related, because Rosegarden displays tempo in beats per minute, and the duration of a beat depends on the time signature. Rosegarden only permits a single time signature to be in effect in any given bar (that is, you can't have different time signatures in different tracks). Each new time signature causes a new bar to start, so you can place two time signatures closer together than the natural bar duration in order to obtain a partial bar.

The Rosegarden track editor, matrix editor and notation editor each contain a tempo ruler, which can be optionally displayed at the top of the editing area.

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The tempo ruler shows changes to tempo and time signature throughout the composition, and can be used for editing tempo.

To increase or decrease the tempo within the range of a single tempo change, click and drag the horizontal line (or sloped line, for ramped tempos) representing that tempo upwards or downwards.

To insert a new tempo change, right-click on the ruler for a menu and select Insert Tempo Change. This will insert a new tempo change with the same tempo as the prior one, which you can then drag to increase or decrease.

You can also click and drag the starting point of a tempo change left or right to move that tempo change to a different time, and you can click and drag the ending point of a tempo change up or down to make the tempo ramp gradually towards an ending tempo value.

Double-click on the tempo ruler to open the tempo and time signature editor.