Pulse Edit Free Tutorial

Download the installer from pulseedit.com. On macOS you'll get a .dmg; on Windows a PulseEdit-Setup.exe.

macOS: open the DMG and drag Pulse Edit onto the Applications folder shown next to it. The macOS build is signed and notarized by Apple — Gatekeeper won't complain. Launch it from /Applications, not from Downloads (quarantine can break bundled libraries).

Windows: double-click PulseEdit-Setup.exe and follow the wizard. SmartScreen may show a warning the first time — click "More info" → "Run anyway". The build is safe (zero telemetry, zero ads); Microsoft simply needs reputation history to stop warning.

Launch Pulse Edit. Drag your music file (mp3, wav, m4a) into the Audio area at the top. Pulse Edit immediately runs beat_this, a DNN beat tracker from ISMIR 2024 that handles tempo changes, swung beats, and complex time signatures without drift.

Once analysed, you'll see the waveform with detected beats overlaid. From here you can:

• Press Play / Stop to preview the song.
• Drag the two handles on the waveform to select only the segment you want to edit on (e.g. the chorus, the drop). The rest of the song is ignored.
• Re-drop a different audio file if you want to swap tracks — the previous analysis is replaced.

Drag your video files into the Clips section. Any common format works — mp4, mov, mxf, braw, avi, etc.

There's no hard limit on how many clips you add — Pulse Edit will use them in rotation, following the cut pattern you pick in the next step. For a 2-minute song with dense cuts you typically want 8–20 clips. For a slower wedding edit, 4–8 long clips often look better.

Your media files stay where they are — Pulse Edit only writes a timeline that references them. Nothing is re-encoded.

Choose how the cuts should fall on the beat. Pulse Edit ships with 12 cut patterns (full reference below) — the default Energy Map is a safe starting point.

1. Cut Pattern — Energy Map, Every Beat, Buildup, Wedding, AI Mixed, Syncopated, Downbeats, Half Time, Double Time, Breakdown, Drop Only, Montage.
2. Beat Sensitivity — slider that controls how many beats trigger a cut. Lower it for cleaner kicks, raise it for weaker percussion.
3. Intensity — Calm ↔ Intense. Affects clip rotation speed and how aggressively the energy map reacts to dynamics.
4. Time signature (optional) — 4/4 covers 95% of pop / EDM / hip-hop. Switch to 3/4 (waltz), 6/8 (ballad), or up to 7/4 for prog/odd-meter tracks.
5. Subdivisions (optional) — half, quarter, triplet, eighth, sextuplet. Use these to fine-tune density inside each bar.

Click the big 🚀 Generate & Send to DaVinci Resolve button. Pulse Edit:

• Refines beat positions and maps the song's energy / mood / flow.
• Picks clips from your pool, trims them to the right length, sequences them on the timeline.
• Writes a standard OpenTimelineIO (.otio) file to your Desktop.

A small dialog pops up reminding you where the file landed and how to import it in Resolve. The next step covers it.

Open DaVinci Resolve (Free or Studio — either works). Create a new project, or open the one you want to edit in. Two ways to bring the timeline in:

1. Double-click the .otio file in Finder (macOS) or Explorer (Windows). Resolve activates and imports the timeline automatically.
2. From inside Resolve: File → Import → Timeline... (or File → Import Timeline → OpenTimelineIO depending on your version), then pick the .otio file.

Resolve creates a fresh timeline with your beat markers, all the cuts at the right spots, and your clips in the chosen order. From here you do what you always do: tweak, colour-grade, add transitions, deliver.

Tip: if any clip looks "offline" right after import, right-click in the media pool → Relink Selected Clips and point Resolve at your media folder. OTIO references files by path, so Resolve just needs to know where they live.

The 12 cut patterns explained

Each pattern decides which beats trigger a cut and how clips rotate over the music. Try a few — they take seconds to regenerate.

Every Beat

Hard cut on every single detected beat. Maximum density, very intense — ideal for action montages or EDM peak sections.

Energy Map

Adaptive default. Sparse cuts during low-energy intros, denser through the chorus, breathing room in the outro. Best general-purpose choice.

Buildup

Logarithmic acceleration — cuts start sparse and ramp up to a dense climax. Perfect for EDM drops, action sequences, trailer-style edits.

Wedding

Long, soft holds with cuts mostly on bar boundaries. Designed for ceremonies, slow-paced narratives, emotional moments.

AI Mixed

Pulse Edit blends multiple patterns based on what it hears in the song — combines downbeats, energy, drops, breakdowns into a single arrangement.

Syncopated

Cuts on off-beats and upbeats — adds a swinging, jazzy rhythm. Works beautifully with hip-hop, funk, R&B.

Downbeats

Cuts only on the first beat of each bar. Cinematic, slow, intentional. Great for B-roll storytelling.

Half Time

One cut every two beats — relaxed, contemplative pace. Good for ambient or singer-songwriter tracks.

Double Time

Cuts on beats and eighth-note subdivisions — double the density of Every Beat. Almost rave-like.

Breakdown

Detects breakdowns in the music (the quiet drop before the drop) and slows cuts down there, then resumes rapid cutting when energy returns.

Drop Only

Saves all the cutting energy for the drop sections. Quiet intro, explosive payoff. Best for EDM, dubstep, modern pop drops.

Montage

Long, varied holds with occasional sync points on key hits — feels hand-cut. Ideal for travel videos, brand films, emotional recaps.

Frequently asked questions