extracting tempo from existing tracks

Reading a bunch of stuff on the 'net.  AudioSnap is complicated as it is but SONAR seems to have changed quite a bit so every article is different and the menus and shortcuts are different.
 
I've got X1 and I'm trying to extract a timeline from an existing track which was done with a drum machine.  I did this the other day on another tune, just fumbled my way into it, but unfortunately don't remember what exactly I did.
 
I can hit A to enable the AudioSnap palette for the old drum machine clip.  I can "Set Project Tempo from Clip" and while the project tempo seems to update it doesn't change the bar markers.
 
I'd like to be able to extract the old bars and then use this tempo map to do some new more modern drums.  I did it the other day...
 
I'll keep reading but my modus operandi is to post here and it seems one of you gurus can often give me the pointer I need.
 
Thanks,
 
CAF

That's exactly the clip I watched the other day that helped me fumble into things.  And it helped again, I think I'm set.  I had to do an odd "threshold" fiddle at the start to get my count to get picked up right.  I saw the little diamonds showing prospective transients but I couldn't drag the time markers to 'em.  I tried "promote" but that didn't seem to do anything.  Is there a cool way I could have made those valid transients short of playing with the "threshold" setting?
 
Huge thanks.
 
CAF
 

A few thoughts that might help:
 
1. If the tempo of the clip is misdetected, SONAR will tend to insert superfluous "User" markers (stubby markers with solid diamond handles/heads) at quarter-note beat markers in the timeline where there are no actual audio transients. Usually there will be another tempo in the clip tempo map dropdown that's closer to the actual tempo that will eliminate most or all of these superfluous User markers when selected. then you can select any reamining User markers and delete them (you'll want to bind a key combo to Delete Marker to speed up the process, since each Delete command deletes only one). One way or the other, it's a good idea to get rid of those before doing anything.
 
2. In addition to adjusting the Threshold, you can enable or disable markers using the transient tool's context menu. Promoting a marker locks whatever that state is whether enabled or disabled so the Threshold setting no longer affects it. I like to get the clip in a state where all of the markers and only those markers I want are enabled, and then Promote them all.
 
3. For a drum clip that originated with a drum machine, it's likely that the tempo is fixed and consistent, in which case the best thing to do would be to find the average tempo of that clip, and set that one fixed tempo as the initial tempo in SONAR. I like to do that using Set Measure/Beat At Now instead of Audiosnap:
 
- Drag the clip to align the first transient to its corresponding beat in the timeline (e.g. could be a pick-up note on the last 8th of the first measure).
 
- If that time isn't 1:01:000, use Set Measure/Beat At Now (Shift+M) to "pin" that first beat so that becomes the reference point for determining tempo.
 
- Count out several measures listening to the clip set the Now time at a downbeat transient using Tab-to-transient, and use Shift+M again to set the correct measure and beat in the timeline to the absolute time of that event.
 
- SONAR will alter the tempo at the first point you pinned to make the specified timeline beat fall on that transient, and add a like tempo value to the beat you set as a reference for setting later beats if needed.
 
- If the clip was recorded to a click, that may be all you need to do; if not, you can set additional beats every few measures or every measure, or even within measures or beats (note that beats are divided into thousandths, not 960 ticks, so 02:480 is 02.500). With your drum machine clip, you're likely to find that the calculated tempo comes out very close to some whole number of beats per minute, and you can go back and set the project at that tempo.

Wow, thanks for all the help.  Still working thru things.  Quick question: what should "promote" do?  I thought I'd read long ago it made a proposed transient into a "real" one but I don't see any change in the UI when I promote and it won't let me drag the timeline to a promoted marker.
 
CAF

Should have mentioned: Alt+click with the transient tool to add a User marker.
 
Also, as mentioned, Promote just locks the enabled/disabled state of a marker so it's not affected by Threshold or Resolution changes. Promoting does not inhibit the ability to move or stretch a marker or to snap a beat to it. If beat a beat marker won't move to a transient, something else is going on  - maybe a marker in the way that's hidden at the current zoom level...?

Ah ha!  I need to disable Disable!  Then promote works.  Jeesh, you'd think Promote would do that.  OK, back to trying stuff...
 
CAF

It's true there's no obvious indication that a marker is promoted; it just always stays in its enable/disabled state. If you change the enabled/disabled state of a marker directly so that its not consistent with the current Threshold and Resolution settings, it will automatically be Promoted to maintain that "contrairian"state.

That's generally been my experience. Even for a project that is more rubato, working manually is ultimately just as fast and yields more predictable and precise results with only the tempo changes that are really needed. Audiosnap's Set Project function developed an issue a few versions ago where the tempo changes are not placed exactly on the measures and beats but slightly before or after, depending on whether the tempo is increasing or decreasing. Until that's fixed, I'll stick with the manual method.
 

You can save a tempo map as a MIDI file and copy-paste the map form that file into to any project. Maybe a few extra clicks compared to having a direct export-import tempo map function, but not a big burden in the grand scheme of how long it takes to set up and complete a project.

When you upgrade to X3 I believe Melodyne may be quite useful for this (at this very moment head buried in Groove 3 tutorial, so I'm just saying).