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Estimating the tempo of a musical piece is a complex problem, which has received an increasing amount of attention in the past few years. The problem consists of estimating the number of beats per minute (bpm) at which the music is played and identifying exactly when these beats occur. Commercial devices already exist that attempt to extract a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) clock from an audio signal, indicating both the tempo and the actual location of the beat. Such MIDI clocks can then be used to synchronize other devices (such as drum machines and audio effects) to the audio source, enabling a new range of “beat-synchronized” audio processing. Beat detection can also simplify the usually tedious process of manipulating audio material in audio-editing software. Cut and paste operations are made considerably easier if markers are positioned at each beat or at bar boundaries. Looping a drum …