[Solved] Creating Tempo Map from Guide Track (best process in post #7)

The issue you referenced was fixed in X1 sometime, and doesn't affect Platinum. Setting tempos with SM/BAN does not affect playback of MIDI or Audio; it just changes the tempo to make the M:B:T times land on the absolute Now times you specify. And setting more points in between previously set points is not a problem. The audio waveforms will be redrawn visually, but no actual stretching of audio occurs.
 
I'm headed out for the day, but can take another look later later if you give specific example of what you're setting, and what the result is. One place you can get  in trouble is if the first down beat isn't at 1:01:000. This can be handled, but takes some extra steps.

The short answer is you have to Undo a 'Set' to restore the original tempo and alignment. You can't just delete a tempo change created by Set Measure, because SONAR has no way of knowing what beat to return that Now time to; it just leaves the most recently set tempo in place without regard to the later alignments. If you decide to start over, you have to Undo back to the original state or the last place you were satisfied with what you had.
 
This is especially critical with MIDI, as deleting a tempo change will change the way the MIDI plays back since it always follows M:B:T time. Audio clips that don't start at 1:01:000 and have their Timebase set to Musical will also get out of sync in that case.
 
Edit: That said, on re-reading your last post and looking at the screenshot, I'm a little confused about what you're doing. If I understand correctly, you're using SM/BAN against a click track, but that click track has Audio-snap enabled so you can see transient marker pool lines on the musical track(s), is that right? If Audiosnap is just enabled to show pool lines, the guide track and musical tracks should stay in alignment with each other no matter what you do, though they will get misaligned with the timeline if you delete tempo changes. But if you've enabled Autostreth on the guide track, it's going to get stretched/compressed when you delete tempos. I've never tried to mix Audiosnap and SM/BAN; they're not mutually exclusive, technically, but it's not something you would need/want to do in most cases.

I think I mistook Snap Grid lines in your screenshot for AS pool lines. Personally, I would stick with S/MBAN for a job like this. Ultimately, it's not a lot more time-consuming than massaging transient markers to make Set Project From Clip work as expected, and it gives much more precise, predictable and controllable results. Set Project From Clip has had an issue for some time now that it doesn't place the tempo changes right at measure beat lines which irks me, though it may not make an audible difference.
 
Off the top of my head, I would not have expected Highway to Hell to have a lot of tempo variation, either. I might have to check it out.

Just a quick follow-up to close this to outline the method I finally chose (not perfect, but close):

1. Import and calculate generic bpm from track.
2. Slide audio to place first desired beat on a measure marker (easiest if grid is viewable in front of clips in track view). Bounce to clip(s) - this step makes life simpler!
3. Shift track view to "Audio Transient" view. Click track and open Audio Snap Palette (Alt-A) if required.
4. Click "Edit Clip Map" and move 1:1 mark to first beat. Set "Average Tempo" dropdown at the bottom-left corner of the clip to the closest bpm to calculation.
5. Move through track and align markers at the top of the clip (audio snap pool markers) as needed to align them.
6. When complete, select "Set Project from Clip." In most cases, using "measure" (from the dropdown to the right) will be sufficient. In this case I chose "Beats"
7. Issue noted - When using beats for this case, I had to click on 1/2 of the audio pool markers to turn them red (locked), then clicking "Set Project from Clip" snapped the clip timeline appropriately.
8. No render is required when Audio Snap is disabled (tempo map remains changed), but the audio snap pool markers only seem to stay resident when the project is open.
9. If adjustments are made after the project is saved/closed, the above must be done again.

Melodyne can be used to align audio to the project timeline, but not the other way around which is what this thread is about.

But that doesn't get the tempo map into SONAR. I suppose possibly you can save it as a MIDI file and import it - hard to say since the referenced page doesn't mention it.
 
In any case, it's basically a variation on SONAR's own Set Measure/Beat At Now with a more graphical implementation. With SONAR's tab-to-transient function and the beat-guessing capability of SM/BAN, I'll wager I can do it faster in SONAR.
 
Also, it's not evident that Melodyne can set tempos anywhere other than downbeats...?
 
 
 
 

No offense intended, Nat, but without the detail you provided in your subsequent responses, your original post wouldn't have been very helpful to anyone. And it wasn't unreasonable to conclude based on that meager initial contribution that you had misunderstood the goal.
 
The fact remains that, by itself, Melodyne cannot align a SONAR project's timeline to audio - extra steps are required. And if the project contains clips that don't start at time zero (as in this case where the song starts on a pick-up note), you're going to encounter more issues when you bring in tempos from a MIDI file, which, incidentally has to be done by copy-paste after opening the MIDI file as a new project; it's not actually possible to 'import' a tempo map directly from a MIDI file to an existing project.
 
The Devil on the Highway to Hell is in the details. 
 

Better than being whipped with a ruler by The Penguin.