Questions about drum programming

[monkfish]

When a grid is fixed to a time signature like 1/16, what exactly does that mean? Does it mean one square is a 16th note? Meaning 4 whole squares are quarter notes?
Then what does the term "Eights and Sixteenths" mean?
What are four-, eight-, -sixteen-, and thirty-two-bar sections mean exactly?
Also what is an off-beat?

This started to confuse me. I can read music just fine on sheet, or so I thought, but I found it hard to translate to Ableton drum rack roll and piano roll. I have yet to find a tutorial that explains such note duration in DAW format. Help? :[

[SunkLo]

The grid is probably fixed to a quantize duration not a time signature. You're right, 1/16 means each grid line is separated by a sixteenth note. If your time signature is 4/4 (most dance music is) there's four beats to a bar, quarter notes get the beat = 4 quarter notes per bar. 16 sixteenth notes per bar means four per quarter note or beat. Off-beat is just the point halfway between beats, so every second eighth note (or every third sixteenth) The hihats in house music are characteristically placed on off-beats
Zooming outward, a track is usually divided into sections of multiple bars where things usually repeat or new elements are introduced, removed or changed. 8, 16, 32 bar sections just refers to that many bars of 4/4. So 8 bar section with 4 beats per bar = 32 beats

[monkfish]

The grid is probably fixed to a quantize duration not a time signature. You're right, 1/16 means each grid line is separated by a sixteenth note. If your time signature is 4/4 (most dance music is) there's four beats to a bar, quarter notes get the beat = 4 quarter notes per bar. 16 sixteenth notes per bar means four per quarter note or beat. Off-beat is just the point halfway between beats, so every second eighth note (or every third sixteenth) The hihats in house music are characteristically placed on off-beats
Zooming outward, a track is usually divided into sections of multiple bars where things usually repeat or new elements are introduced, removed or changed. 8, 16, 32 bar sections just refers to that many bars of 4/4. So 8 bar section with 4 beats per bar = 32 beats

Oh, I think I get it now.
So if a bar ( from 1 - 2) has 16 squares indicating the duration of 1/16, every square is a sixteenth note so it adds up to 16 sixteenth beats per bar. Then two squares would be Eights notes and you can only have 4 of those Eight notes per bar which adds up to 32 notes, but since they are half a beat that would add up to 16 beats. Then four squares is the standard Quarter note which are a single beat and fit four notes adding up to 16. Anything else I need to know on this subject?

And never realised off-beat was just syncopation for he rides. I understand this a lot more now, haha. Thanks for the write up, SunkLo

[drake89]

triplets. 1/8T=three notes occupying the duration of a quarter note. Could be useful using them with 3 note arpeggiations, to keep them from varying from bar to bar. Because if you have a three note arpeggiation, the notes will land on different beats as you move from bar to bar.

[slothrop]

It makes more sense if you remember that it's 'eighth note' not 'eight note' - because in 4/4 an eighth note is exactly an eighth of a bar.
(In general it's an eighth of something that's arbitrarily called a 'whole note' - but in 4/4 a whole note happens to be exactly one bar.)

So grid set to 1/8 means each box is an eighth note and you get eight of them per bar.
Grid set to 1/16 means each box is a sixteenth note and you get sixteen of them per bar.
Grid set to 1/4 means each box is a quarter note and you get four of them per bar.

[paradigm_x]

in your language (musician who can read music);

Semibreve = Whole note
Minim = Half note
Crotchet = Quarter note
Quaver = Eighth note
Semiquaver = Sixteenth note
Demisemiquaver = Thirty-second note

This correlates to the 'slots' on the grid.

big up the quaver massive

Interestingly (?) in America they don't learn the traditional quaver, semibreve etc stuff i had to learn, just 8ths, 16ths etc. My wife is a professional cellist and professor of music but didnt know what a quaver was!

Anyway.

HTH.

[slothrop]

My wife is a professional cellist and professor of music but didnt know what a quaver was!

Damn has she ever been missing out:

[paradigm_x]

My wife is a professional cellist and professor of music but didnt know what a quaver was!

Damn has she ever been missing out:

Not into quavers.

lol at greggs.co.uk/assetts tho

[monkfish]

OK, I completely understand this now, haha. It's just simple mathematics. Thanks for all your responses guys. Appreciate it

One last thing, if the note rests on half of one square, is that going into sixty fourths?

[GothamHero]

No, it would be thirty seconds

Here's an experiment, set your grid to 1/32, then slap a kick (or something) onto one square. Then change it back to 1/16, the kick note should now be half of that same square.

[monkfish]

Ah, right. Thank you! That's all cleared up.

Anyone know what the terms, "ride on the eighths" and "off-beat eighths" mean exactly? I'm sure a ride if a mixture of hats and other percussion to create depth, so how could it be in the eighths?

[SunkLo]

Ride cymbal on off-beat eight notes?

[monkfish]

Ride cymbal on off-beat eight notes?

That was mentioned to. Off-beat eighth notes mean what exactly? Is it an off-beat which is a eighth note value, or an off-beat in an eighth position?

I'm reading more on note duration and syncopation now.

[SunkLo]

Just the eighth notes that fall on off-beats, so every second one. Since it's percussion, duration doesn't matter, just positioning.

[GothamHero]

Ride cymbal on off-beat eight notes?

That was mentioned to. Off-beat eighth notes mean what exactly? Is it an off-beat which is a eighth note value, or an off-beat in an eighth position?

I'm reading more on note duration and syncopation now.

I'm glad you're getting it. 8th and 16th offbeat is the position of the notes, not the duration -- exactly like Sunk mentioned. Picture this, two closed hi hats spaced 4 16th squares apart; this leaves 3 empty squares between them for an open hi hat to syncopate. If you slap the open hi hat on the first square right of the first closed hi hat, it's in the 16th position as the grid means one square is a 16th. But if you move two spaces from the same closed hi hat, then it's an 8th.

So an 8th offbeat would be bang on in the middle. Sorry if it's a bit confusing, I'll take a screenshot with annotations in the morning. Hopefully you roughly get what I mean

[monkfish]

I'm starting to understand it a lot better. But I fear my understanding is still very vague and can't properly comprehend the terms off-beat" and "off-beat eighths" -- because I'm sure an off-beat is just adding emphasis and attention to a note that would usually be weak,, but don't understand how or why it would be eighths or sixteenths for that matter. Also, if it's not duration, then what does "on sixteenths", and "on eighths" mean in relevance to a common DAW note editor? If it's position, where is the starting point?

[SunkLo]

Off-beat = halfway between beats. Like the standard house beat hihat example. Off-beat eighths is just referring to the fact that the bar would be subdivided into eighth notes and every second one would be played to sound on the off-beat.

[GothamHero]

I'm starting to understand it a lot better. But I fear my understanding is still very vague and can't properly comprehend the terms off-beat" and "off-beat eighths" -- because I'm sure an off-beat is just adding emphasis and attention to a note that would usually be weak,, but don't understand how or why it would be eighths or sixteenths for that matter. Also, if it's not duration, then what does "on sixteenths", and "on eighths" mean in relevance to a common DAW note editor? If it's position, where is the starting point?

I got you, bro.

Couldn't open Ableton in time, but I think this illustrates the points we've been making. Hope this clears it up.

[SunkLo]

Thanks for making the diagram. Makes it way easier to understand, I was just waiting for someone else to do it!

[BevOh]

I read all of this being kidna confused but kinda understanding but that diagram just made it so much clearer, cheers gotham.