Mix Time Signatures

BeatBuddy General
1

Hey,

Is it a big deal to mix time signatures with BB within the same song? I’ve got a few tunes that are 4/4 with occasional 6/4 measures.

Thanks!

Donny

2

Yes, it’s a big deal. The BB presently only support one time signature per song. If you make your song for use in the BB, you could have a midi that had mixed time signatures, but BB would only recognize the first time signature. This really only impacts the visual metronome. Otherwise, the song will play just fine. So what will happen is that your BB will show the 1,2,3,4 beasts on the visual metronome. When you reach a 6/4 measure for the first time, beats 5 and 6 will show as a 1 and 2. Then assuming there was only 1 6/4 beat in the area of that sequence, your next 4/4 measure will appear as 3,4,1,2. After your next 6/4 measure, the 4/4 measures will be back on line with the visual metronome. Again, as far as sound goes, the mixed signature midi will play correctly, it just wont line up correctly with the visual metronome.

The other thing is that if you end a song section without a full measure, such as would happen if you had a section with just 1 6/4 measure in it, there will be timing problems owing to what BB sees as an incomplete measure.

The fix for this would be to set the song up as a one press version that plays all the way through the whole song (which we can help you with when you get there), or, to label the song with a 2/4 time signature, thus making sure you always have complete measures.

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3

Wow, thanks very much Phil for the detailed response. The song, in particular, is “Changes In Latitude, Changes In Attitude” and it’s the very last part of the main keyboard riff going into the verses. I do like the idea of the 2/4…I’ll probably play around with that.

Donny

4

Reopening this topic since close to five years have passed, and there have been several Firmware and BBM updates. I’d like flexibility to switch between parts of tunes that are in different time signatures. One-press version isn’t ideal because we sometimes vary the form by adding choruses, etc. Is there a workable solution under the current Firmware and BBM software?
Thanks!!
Mark

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