BeatAtlas 1.3.0: release notes

What's new in 1.3.0

Song structure. After the analysis, BeatAtlas names the song's parts in the sections band, each starting on a bar line: Intro, Build, Drop, Breakdown and Outro, or Verse and Chorus in a song without drops. A new Energy lane shows how intense the song is from moment to moment, so builds, drops and quiet parts are easy to see. Rename, move or delete parts as before: what you change is yours, and a re-analysis leaves it alone. Detect sections and Re-analyse the song are in the sections band's menu, and a setting turns the detection off.
Suggest cues (Ctrl+Shift+M, or the spark button in the tool bar). One click drafts a cue list: a marker at the start of each part, named after it, and a few at standout fills and hits. You see them first as a preview, choose Few, Normal or Many, and add them in one step (Ctrl+Z takes them all back). Then delete or rename what you like. Suggesting again replaces only the suggestions you have not changed. Show mode counts down to them, and they export like any marker.
Vocals. A new Vocals lane shows where someone is singing, found on your PC by a small offline model. Suggest cues adds Vocals in and Vocals out where the singing really starts after a gap or stops before one, not on every phrase. When BeatAtlas is unsure (a lead guitar or sax can sound like a voice), it greys the lane and suggests no vocal cues. Turn it off in Settings if you don't need it.
Steadier bars. Where a dropped or extra beat used to leave a lone odd bar in a steady song (a 3/4 bar in a 4/4 song) and shift every bar after it, BeatAtlas now counts that bar again at the song's tempo. The Song tab lists the bars it re-counted. Use Re-analyse the song on maps made with an earlier version.
Better bar lines. BeatAtlas now listens to each song three ways and combines them, for about a fifth fewer false time-signature changes. A stretch read at double or half the song's speed (a half-time breakdown, say) is counted again at the song's speed; the Song tab lists it. The first analysis takes about twice as long; turn on Fast analysis in Settings on a slower PC.
Halve or Double the tempo. If a ballad is counted at double speed (or a fast song at half), right-click the timeline and choose Halve the tempo or Double the tempo (Ctrl+Shift+H, Ctrl+Shift+D), for the whole song or a selected stretch. The beats and bars are found again at the right speed. Ctrl+Z takes it back, and Re-analyse keeps it.
MagicQ CSV export. Markers come into ChamSys MagicQ with their timecode, names and notes: Cue Stack > VIEW TC > IMPORT TC TIMINGS > Make Cues. Set BeatAtlas's frame rate to match the console.
Editing. A Sensitivity slider (0 shows the fewest hits, 100 the most), Click markers, hit lanes that grey out and go quiet when hidden, delete and select all (Ctrl+A) in the marker list, a filter by marker name, speed from 1 to 200 %, and a button to hide the side panel.
New cue colours: Hit cues are white, Fill cues pink and vocal cues aqua, so they never look like a part's colour.
The names are a starting point, worked out from loudness, repetition and position rather than from the song's meaning: check them against the music.

What's new in 1.1.0. Show mode (Shift+F), and in REAPER: Apply to REAPER project, Use this track's audio, the song's place in the project, Check REAPER's grid, and the click on your DAW's beats.

What it does. BeatAtlas listens to a song and finds its beats, bars and time signatures (also where they change), its parts and their energy, where someone sings, and the hits of kick, snare, hi-hat and bass. Mark the song up while it plays (markers snap to the beats or hits), or let Suggest cues draft the markers for you; see every marker in a list with exact times and timecode; and export marker CSVs for REAPER and MagicQ, a cue list, a MIDI tempo map, a timecode (LTC) WAV and a click track. Standalone program and VST3 plugin.

Installing. The installer is not signed yet, so Windows warns that its publisher is unknown: click "More info", then "Run anyway". Needs Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) and the free Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x64). Choose "Install for me only" unless several people use the PC; REAPER finds the plugin there by default.

Licence. Try it free for 7 days (the demo needs the internet once), then buy a key. After the demo, BeatAtlas still opens and plays your maps; a key unlocks analysing, editing and export again. A key works on 2 computers and covers version 1 with all 1.x updates, including this one. BeatAtlas works offline and checks in once every 30 days; audio and file names never leave your PC.

Known limits

Windows only. Beats and bars cannot be edited by hand; markers and parts can.
A song or a quiet passage can be counted at double or half speed: Halve or Double the tempo fixes it. After Double, the bars of that stretch are marked "to check".
Song files made with 1.3.0 need BeatAtlas 1.3.0 or later: update before sharing maps with someone on an older version.
A long guitar or sax solo in a sung song can still be shaded as singing in the Vocals lane.
The timecode WAV and the cue list have not been tried on a console yet; the MIDI tempo map was checked in REAPER only.
One song at a time.