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Potentially silly question regarding time signature (possibly triplets…)
I’ve tried to find out the answer to this on my own but haven’t had much luck. So here goes!
If programming my drum tracks in what I would call triplets or 4/3 (4 beats per bar and 3 steps per beat or 1/12th), what would be the “standard” way of programming other instruments/sounds?
I know there may not be any hard/fast rules with this kind of thing but generally speaking if your drums are programmed at 3 steps per beat (hope I’m saying that correctly), and you head over to program a bass line or a synth - are you keeping that same time signature throughout or is it back to 4/4?
I’ve always pretty much stuck with 4/4 other than for small intervals where there’s many a hat/snare roll and I’m switching to 1/32th or 1/24th. But, I’ve really been digging this 1/12th (4/3?) format for drums - just not positive where to take it from here.
Hopefully the terminology is correct enough to make sense of this. In searching around, seems like maybe a more popular alternative to the timing I’m using is for there to be 3 beats per bar and sticking with the 4 quarter notes but that’s not what I’m using or talking about. (Now I’m confused if what I’ve been doing is even actually triplets?)
Thanks for any guidance in advance!
Comments
To me it sounds like you are describing 4/4 time with subdivisions of 8th note triplets for your drums.
I think maybe that's a12/8 rhythm. 12 divisions per bar, three 8th notes per beat.
I don't think there's such things as 4/3, as there's no such thing as a 3rd note, which is what the 3 at the bottom means. So whether I'm right about the rhythm you're after, I think what you want would be called something other than 4/3
+1
Reading the OP, this was my guess as well.
You’re still playing in 4/4 (4 beats per bar), so just play every instrument in 4/4 (even the drums). The triplets are a way to divide each beat in 3 instead of 4, so you’ll need a way to enter 1/8 triplets (some apps only allow 1/16ths), but those still land on the 4 beats, the beats are just oddly divided.
This is not the same as playing in ternary tempo, like 3/4, because the latter only has 3 beats/bar, like the waltz. For that you need an app that lets you select a tempo of 3/4, or a sequence with only 12 steps (or other multiple of 3).
yes keep the same time signature for the bass/synth etc. Lining up the melody makes the odd timing sound tighter..more intentional.. if you know what i mean. but like you said no hard fast rules.
^ I think it does sound like a version of waltz time. likely just a lot faster. i.e. regardless of your BPM can you tap along to it at:
1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 ?
What you are describing is having triplets on each beat, so 12/8 would technically be the right time signature with four beats to the bar. Some software allows you to set 4/4 and then use a triplet grid, or to set “swing” which will move the second 1/8 note to give a “bouncey” feel (like tap-gap-tap on each beat). You should generally keep all instruments to this time so they are all locked in, but sometimes dipping outside of that so you get duple time set against triple time can sound good.
Thanks for all the feedback. I guess it would have helped if I posted a photo. I wasn’t sure how unique this timing really is (definitely has not been familiar to me but figured a lot of you would know it well). Sounds like it’s fairly obscure based on the feedback.
Here’s a photo for anyone trying to picture what the hell I was trying to describe. It’s Auxy that has this timing (they call it 1/12 and triplets which sounds like it may be wrong).
And what the hell… here’s how it sounds. Very early in the whole process but figure with drums and a bass track, probably get an idea of the sound…
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/6Av7R9jVedkGde2WA
That's triplets in 4/4. That particular rhythm is often notated as eighth notes with an instruction to play them with swing.
Oh nice. Well, I dig it!
@Obo : the reason they are calling triplets 1/12 is that there are 12 eighth note triplets in a measure of 4/4. So the grid is divided into 12 equal parts.
You may know this, but in case you don't: there can be triplets for any note value. Quarter note triplets (three notes in the space of two beats) and sixteenth note triplets (3 notes in the space of two "straight" sixteenths -- which yields six notes per beat) are relatively common, too.
Ahhh… this makes sense to me now. I’ve seen the 6 notes per beat quite a bit. Thanks for the knowledge! 👊
I wouldn’t call this obscure at all. But then I listen to a lot of Prog where things like 7 beats to the bar are not uncommon!
I do have trouble understanding the difference between a 12/8 feel (as in songs like Rosanna by Toto and Everybody want to rule the world by Tears for Fears), and swing. I know swing can have a variable amount so it's always that the swung beat is 2/3 of the way through the bar... but it often is. Maybe it's that in swing it's that beat that is always emphasised, whereas in the songs above it's not. Well not in Rosanna, but actually in EWTRTW it is mostly. But I wouldn't have called that a swing song.
Then swing seems a stylistic thing to, with the swing jazz and swing dance things.
This guy explained it pretty good regarding 3/4 vs 6/8 etc.
Compare to 6/8 which is the time signature for a jig. The feel is 2/4, but the melody is composed in phrases of 3. A 6/8 signature means the melody can be written in 1/8 notes, which is easier to read. But there are still only 2 beats per measure when played at jig time.
The time signature serves the musicians, and is sometimes a compromise. The needs of the melody take precedence over the needs of the drummer.
But that's sheet music. Drum sequencers have a different set of constraints.
As others said, what you described is called 12/8. It just means there are 4 beats per measure. Each beat then is divided into three equal parts, not the usual two equal parts (which would be simply 4/4). About your question regarding other instruments, usually, other parts will also use the 12/8 division as well. There is some exception, of course (see, for example, Lily Allen's Littlest Things where the piano is in 12/8 but the vocal/drum is in 4/4). 👍
I like that video. He covers 12/8, too, starting at 10:20
