3/8, 6/8, 12/8 measure for midi

[banzailoco]

I was following a tutorial on how to make a beat for drums until the section "Advance Your Beat: Rock with Threes" came up.
http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mak ... audio-6533

I couldn't figure how to enter the triplets (that what it is call) and didn't find any precise examples on how to do it in google for Mixcraft.

(^_^) /

[Mark Bliss]

For triplets in the step editor, I think you want to play with these.

stepeditortriplets.jpg (12.35 KiB) Viewed 4042 times

[Manfred]

If you want real 3/8 or 5/4 or something like that, you can type this directly into the little window that's to the right of the transport-controls. Standard is 120bpm, 4/4 and C. There you can change the 4/4 to whatever you want.

If you want a 4/4 Song having a 6/8 bluesy feeling, you should go the triplet way Mark is hinting at, but I would use the pianoroll instead.

I rarely use the stepeditor for drum programming except for straight four-to-the-floor rhythms because it lacks two essential features:

First: Contrary to the piano-roll, you can't turn off the grid.
Rolls and notes that are a bit out of time can't be programmed or corrected, which is essential for lively and natural sounding drums.

Second, and that's where the triplets come in: The step editor changes through the grids when zooming in and out. If you choose 1/8 triplet and then zoom in, you're suddenly in the 1/16 grid and the triplets - of course - fall out of grid. This is a rather senseless behaviour for a drum-editor. Zooming should keep the chosen grid, as does the pianoroll.
I reported this some time ago in a beta-phase, but obviously it's not seen as a bug by the developers.

[Mark Bliss]

Yes, I stuck to the step editor related suggestion because of how it appeared the OP was working. Its not how I would choose to do it either.

Edit: Spelling error that could misconstrue.

[banzailoco]

Thanks for the input. I have no musical background, so when it comes down to times and notation I'm in the dark.

First: Contrary to the piano-roll, you can't turn off the grid.
Rolls and notes that are a bit out of time can't be programmed or corrected, which is essential for lively and natural sounding drums.

Agree, but I do like how you can move an add/edit instrument parts and see the time signature in the step editor.

Second, and that's where the triplets come in: The step editor changes through the grids when zooming in and out. If you choose 1/8 triplet and then zoom in, you're suddenly in the 1/16 grid and the triplets - of course - fall out of grid. This is a rather senseless behaviour for a drum-editor. Zooming should keep the chosen grid, as does the pianoroll.
I reported this some time ago in a beta-phase, but obviously it's not seen as a bug by the developers.

Agree, I'm guessing at the moment they are focusing more on the side of recording music from (midi)instruments than an midi editor that maybe people use to make a simple music notation.

What is the difference between 3/4 and 6/8?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuPqlxvQ9aU

(^_^) /

[Mark Bliss]

What is the difference between 3/4 and 6/8?

For me, this one can be tough to describe and answer. In the example of 6/8 its like I can hear something is odd, but cant really count it in my head I guess.

But as in 2/4 (cut time) compared to 4/4 (common), to me, its like the count doesn't change, but the musical phrase ends at a different point.

In 4/4 time the phrase may occupy 1&2&3&4& then repeat. 2/4 is more 1&2&1&2&
Similarly 3/4 is 1&2&3& while 6/8 is 1&2&3&4&5&6& repeat.

(Hint, if you don't get this its probably not important yet. Just keep in mind its there)........

[Mark Bliss]

There's also the interaction with which note is emphasized, but.....
even when I re-read my own previous post it just makes my head hurt.

I just leave the 6/8 for those jazz guys to figure out.

If there's four 1/4 note beats its 4/4. If its a 3 count waltz time its 3/4. If time is being kept by a banjer, it might be "cut" time= 2/4.
If its something else its being played by someone else, so I don't worry too much about it.

[botface]

From my recollection of music theory 3/4 has one stressed beat per bar (the 1st beat). 6/8 is actually compound 2/4 time and so has two stressed beats per bar (beats 1 and 4).

Compound time means that the beat is based on a dotted crotchet instead of a crotchet as in */4 time (crotchet = quarter note to our American friends). So 6/8 means two dotted crotchets per bar. A dotted crotchet = 3 quavers (8th notes) so the are 6 of them in a time signature built on 2 per bar............... or something like that anyway

[mick]

triplets.PNG (27.28 KiB) Viewed 3895 times

The following project contains to each beat
1 quarter note
2 eighth notes
1 triplet. A triplet is indicated with the number 3
I set the tempo to 60bpm so you can relate to either the quarter / eighths / triplet to every second.
I used snap off to place the triplets as near as possible to correct but any inaccuracies would be similar to humanise

[banzailoco]

Mick, can you explain how you enter the notes on your project.

[mick]

Anyone that read the previous post here please disregard, it was too long winded.

Assuming the project is set to 4/4, set snap to 1/8 tp as above, this will dived each quarter beat into a 3 part grid, enter the triplet notes as shown.

Triplet stage 1.PNG (74.15 KiB) Viewed 3848 times

Change the snap to 1/8 or 1/16 and the triplet hits will remain in position.

Triplet stage 2.PNG (47.58 KiB) Viewed 3848 times

Now you can duplicate / add stuff, or swap to step entry, if you stay in the piano roll view the notes can be moved by selecting snap off.

Triplet stage 3.PNG (79.52 KiB) Viewed 3848 times