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How often do you compose in time signatures other than 4/4?
I'm currently revising time signature, tempo and metronome support in Xequence and was just wondering how many people work in time signatures other than 4/4. Probably interesting knowledge for the rest of the forum too.
- How often do you compose in time signatures other than 4/4?63 votes
- Often34.92%
- Sometimes31.75%
- Almost never30.16%
- What is a time signature?3.17%
Comments
It depends: if I'm writing stuff on the guitar I often find that what I've written is in 6/8 or even occasionally 5/4, I'm not conscious of doing it at the time and I have to figure it out afterwards.
When I'm writing in the box I always start with a beat first, so it's almost always in 4/4.
It’s strange.. I’m probably writing something in 3/4 (6/8 etc...) half the time no matter if I’m strumming something on my acoustic guitar or messing around in Aphelian.. I love 3’s.. and as @richardyot mentioned, I’m not always aware of it until after-the-fact (unless it’s an actual waltz 😄).. many times I’m not even sure what the time signature is - nor do I care.. BUT if you need to add a sequence or something later, you might have a hell of a time trying to get things to match up (tempo-synced fx etc...).
This actually happened to me last night with something I started in RhythmBud - a 3 feel but when I tried to add a Zeeon patch, I couldn’t get the delay on it to match.. had to bypass it and used Bleass Delay with a 1/6 note tempo sync delay.. wierd but it finally matched.
I find I’m also drawn to using 3’s against 4’s or 3 against 2.. 1/4 or 1/8 note triplets when everything else in the track is strictly 4/4.. it can really grab your attention - OR - not.. but it adds a tasty spice in the right spot.
So, yes, I use odd time signatures often..
There needs to be a couple of important follow up questions:
I do it all the time...by accident! I am so bad that I write riffs that change time signatures in the middle of them! My timing is so bad that I wish there was an app that could listen and tell me what friggin time signature I was playing in.
I have a lot of stuff that switches from 3/4 to 4/4 and 7/2 to 5/8 and I do not understand it at all.
I am completely baffled by time signatures. My mind cannot comprehend them. I just write and sometimes people will tell me what it is and sometimes they just look at me funny.
Is that a request for Xequence tempo / time signature tracks?
Me? A hidden agenda? How could you think such a thing?
Often. Most tunes these days.
Almost never actually.
I also like 3's and tempo changes. It keeps the music rotating and surprising. Although I realise that reliable repetition is an important driving factor (there is a very interesting discussion on this board about repetition).
Experimenting with time signatures is a world full of joy.
+1 for time signature changes and tempo changes. The gearbox and accelerator/brakes ...
Regarding Time Signatures and Polyrhythms...
I think the youtube video I linked to below, is an interesting documentary about Led Zeppelin and drummer John Bonham.
Zeppelin's music also uses a lot of tempo change. Their song "Dazed and Confused" is a good example. The tempo shift occurs in the middle of the song.
Advance to time mark: 6:07
I do work for a middle eastern dance group occasionally. Mixed rhythms of 5/8 and 7/8...
3/4 7/8 5/4, alternating 7/8 and 4/4 (but easier to make it 15/8), and some 4/4 with an odd 5/4 added there. I wish modstep had those!
EXACTLY, Wim! Often I’ll throw in a bar of 3/4 inside a tune in 4/4. The Beatles did this all the time.
@SevenSystems : Hallelujah, I thought I’d never see the day. You give Xequence the ability to mix time signatures it will truly reign supreme... Thank You!
Even the Beatles use time and tempo changes with reasonable frequency.
Once every ten years so far.
To me, Tempo changes and Polyrhythms add another level of creativity when composing.
When I jam for fun, I don't play to a metronome, and what I play will drift in tempo in any direction that feels inspiring.
For me that kind of tempo drift is an important element of expression.
But I find when I work with iOS DAW's and other Apps, I'm compelled to conform my composing to work within the formatting constraints that the tools impose.
I think the best example of how this effects today's music, is the degree that the rigid "mechanical" music sound has become popular.
It reflects back to that old philosophical concept called Maslow's hammer (aka.. the law of the instrument), that I once mentioned in a different thread....
"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."
Said Maslow.
Thus, the types of music that people create, will be heavily influenced by the features available in the tools they use to create their music.
Give a person a "Beat Maker App" and they will likely use it to make Beats.
So yeah... I think there is room for development of new types of musical creation tools that offer methods of recording, organizing, and editing musical data, using less tempo constraining methods.
Maybe something like an "elastic" format for a DAW track. One that a user can play a track into freehand. Then select specific notes or drum beats that can act as tempo markers for segments of track, that an algorithm can use to vary the tempo timeline to facilitate the entry of additional tracks onto that elastic tempo timeline.
Imagine a drum rhythm progressively rising in tempo from very slow to very fast, and having the DAW "Map" that rhythm progression onto the main timeline so notes from other instruments could then be played and quantized to fit a changing tempo timeline.
That would be a new dimension for a creation tool, and according to Maslow's hammer, the result would be people using that tool to create music that contains a great diversity of tempo change.
Just a thought...
@zah @Telstar5 sorry if the thread has been misleading... there will be no time signature changes during a song in the next Xequence update... just the support of time signatures other than 4/4 will be improved. But on iOS, that's already quite a big deal in its own right 😉
Nanostudio does time signature changes and tempo changes using tracks. It works very well.
But yes, I would like those things for Xequence.
What’s a time signature?
I just do the Polka, so it’s all umm-pah for me.
I am usually in 4/4 nine times outta ten, but the 10th song, it might be in anything. I had one in high school which I hadn't realized was odd at all until I started playing for the drummer. After he said wtf, we counted it out 11/8 intrumental, intro etc., 4/4 verse, 6/8 chorus. Thing is, I think you just follow the riff and vocals melodically it still doesn't come off as strange in that particular case.
I used to do tempo changes when I used to compose on my Yamaha QY20 in the 90s. It was quite possible to do it on that.
I'm a stupid butcher stuck at 4/4 most of times BUT something is actually happening with my setup: it works better and better everyday thanks to X2, so I might going to explore time signatures within next years and get more subtle with my musical blood bath...