Looking to find the tempo of a song that’s only in the YouTube video and figure out if it keeps subtly changing and be able to correct the timing so it can be locked to the actual tempo it’s supposed to be? I will accept if it comes from the “museum”, it’s just a one-off thing and it seems to have inspired me and is pulling me towards my physical modeling plugins again

Here’s the video:

 

Will this require a paid subscription or is that only for the download services/file hosts?

 

No, this is the only thing… I think I already have an installer lying around so I’m practically almost set up. Just have to get back to my MacBook cause I left it with my love while I’m visiting her, I’ll be back tonight for sure so I will be able to get going… just need a tempo correction tool if there’s one within Logic, Bitwig, Reason or something

 

I think Macs come with Python already, so just try opening the terminal and run pip install yt-dlp.

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/wiki/Installation

The command to get the audio only is yt-dlp link-to-video -f 140

This will get you the best m4a available.

 

arcana wins

 

Last edited: Jan 23, 2026

My favourite is Clipgrab. It uses the earlier mentioned GitHub yt-dlp, that it'll install automatically, and periodically updates.
The only difference is Clipgrab has a nice GUI for various audio & video filetypes.

https://clipgrab.org/

 

I will try this too, but I’ll have to convert to wav with Audacity

 

FreeTube

 

it's flexible, it can output wav file already if you wanted to using this

yt-dlp -x --audio-format wav "url"

 

The most accurate way to do this in Logic... Bring the audio file into Logic. Insert the BPM Counter plugin. it's under Metering plugins. Play the file until you get a BPM. Delete the track and set the main project bpm to that bpm. Drag it back in and it will be accurate. Then Zoom in on the beginning of the file. Zoom in until you see even the most remote dots of the waveform. Put the playhead exactly at the first dot. Hit Split at playhead. I have this set as a shortcut, Control+T, because I use it anywhere I want to cut something without using scissors tool. So I use it everywhere. It doesn't get any faster or more accurate. Delete the section in front, and drag it back. Do the same at the tail end of the file if you want. Your file will be an exact number of bars at that bpm. Switch project to the new BPM, option click the bottom portion of the waveform and drag it to the new grid for the same number of bars.

Total time, under a minute. You do not want to use other methods unless you actually know the file bpm is already perfect, like you can do with samples. In those cases, you can either just turn Flex Time on for the track before you bring in the audio file, and it will automatically stretch it to the new bpm. Or you can turn on Smart Tempo for the entire project, and decide wether you want it to warp everything to lock to Bars, Bars and Beats, as you import or record any new file.

To use Logic and get best sounding results and make everything so much easier, you should know this like the back of your hand. It reads long, but takes seconds to do any of it.

PullTube on Mac is good but not "free" for the useful version. Get a [tnt] release of it. https://mymixapps.com/pulltube

 

Last edited: Jan 23, 2026

Pay the $20 and just get Downie.

 

I frequently use https://ytmp3.ai/

 

Would I need to input this command before the download command or can it be added to the same line? Just in case it’s like a setting adjustment before actually running it in the future?

 

There are TONS of (based on ytdlp) !

GitHub is your friend: https://github.com/search?q=ytdlp&type=repositories&s=stars

 

You can either use the command line like that, use a configuration file with your parameters, or use a shell alias.

I personally use a shell alias, something like this my .bashrc (in home directory):

Code:

# get the video
alias yd='yt-dlp -o ~/yt-downloads/ --extractor-args "youtube:player_client=default,web_safari,web_embedded"'
# get video and extract audio
alias yda='yt-dlp ~o ~/yt-downloads/ --extractor-args "youtube:player_client=default,web_safari,web_embedded" -kx --audio-format wav'

So I can just then

Code:

yda https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

to get the video and audio. It might look complex but it only has to be done once.

You can do the same thing with a configuration file, for example creating yt-dlp.conf in your home directory:

Code:

# directory to save files to
-o ~/yt-downloads/

# make youtube play nice
--extractor-args "youtube:player_client=default,web_safari,web_embedded"

# keep all downloaded files
-k

# extract audio
-x

# create WAV out of downloaded audio
--audio-format wav

And then just use:

Code:

yt-dlp https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ

...but this way it's harder to juggle parameters for different needs. Up to you.

 

Last edited: Jan 24, 2026

usually I just use Windows batch to do it for me, I made something with LLM vibe coding, make a txt file copypaste this and change the file extension from .txt to .bat, place the file where the yt-dlp.exe is located. then run the bat file it should just work

Code:

@echo off
setlocal
title YouTube to WAV Downloader
:: 1. Create the "Downloaded" folder if it doesn't exist
if not exist "Downloaded" (
    echo Creating "Downloaded" folder...
    mkdir "Downloaded"
)
:: 2. Ask the user for the URL
echo.
echo ========================================================
echo   YouTube to WAV Downloader
echo   Files will be saved in the "Downloaded" folder.
echo ========================================================
echo.
set /p "url=Paste the YouTube URL here: "
:: 3. Run yt-dlp command
:: -x: Extract audio
:: --audio-format wav: Convert to WAV
:: -o: Output path and filename template
echo.
echo Downloading and converting... please wait.
echo.
yt-dlp.exe -x --audio-format wav -o "Downloaded/%%(title)s.%%(ext)s" "%url%"
:: 4. Pause so you can see the result message
echo.
if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
    echo Download complete! Check the "Downloaded" folder.
) else (
    echo Something went wrong. Make sure ffmpeg.exe is in this folder.
)
echo.
pause

 

Yeah, the more complicated the better.

Jdownloader2.

Period.