On tempo tracking: Tempogram Representation and Kalman filtering

Abstract

We formulate tempo tracking in a Bayesian framework where a tempo tracker is modeled as a stochastic dynamical system. The tempo is modeled as a hidden state variable of the system and is estimated by a Kalman filter. The Kalman filter operates on a Tempogram, a wavelet-like multiscale expansion of a real performance. An important advantage of our approach is that it is possible to formulate both off-line or real-time algorithms. The simulation results on a systematically collected set of MIDI piano performances of Yesterday and Michelle by the Beatles shows accurate tracking of approximately 90% of the beats.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ali Taylan Cemgil

The authors of this paper received the 2000 “Swets & Zeitlinger Distinguished Paper Award”, presented at the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) meeting, held in Berlin, August 2000