Changing Time Signature

Can someone explain in easier terms what time signatures are? I never dealt with this feature until I heard a song that has staggered drums with a fast hihat, now coming from the 3000, I know when you change the time signature you can get that dirty south feel, does anyone know the dirty south time signature for the 4000? This would help my creation skills immensely.

Also could you break down if I put the 4000 in 8|4 signature which part of the 8 bars do I put it at like you know what I mean when youre in that screen, I tried to set the 4th bar to be in 8|4 and the 8th bar, will that extend my Beat longer or will it stay within time of 8 bars when I track it into Pro Tools? Im trying to get the sped up hi hats within I guess the time signature, Im not too sure on what Im doing but I have an idea of what Im asking if someone could break this shit down.

MoreBuck$ wrote:http://www.musictheory.halifax.ns.ca/13ts.html

Damn Bucks...youre ill bro...Im checking out that site right now, I dont understand it right now, but Ima keep **** with it...Do you know if I put my 4th Bar and 8th bar in 8|4 that will have my high hats sped up, Correct? I tried that and the sequencer kinda blipped but I could see it switching time signatures after I set it...What am I doing wrong? Do I speed up the resolution?

Dude, no offence but you are clueless

'Time signature' describes how many 'beats' there are in a bar. (By 'beat') they mean a steady rhythmic pulse, i.e. how many times you tap you foot, not the modern hip hop sense of 'a drum pattern'.

It's not talking about tempo (how fast those beats are).

So if your tempo is the same, and you put more beats in a bar, the bar will just be longer: e.g. in your example, a bar of 8/4 will be twice as long as a bar of 4/4.

feline1 wrote:Dude, no offence but you are clueless

'Time signature' describes how many 'beats' there are in a bar. (By 'beat') they mean a steady rhythmic pulse, i.e. how many times you tap you foot, not the modern hip hop sense of 'a drum pattern'.

It's not talking about tempo (how fast those beats are).

So if your tempo is the same, and you put more beats in a bar, the bar will just be longer: e.g. in your example, a bar of 8/4 will be twice as long as a bar of 4/4.

Damn, you dont have to be an dikkhead about it. and yes Im clueless, thats why I referred to my only resource about MPC's...Its not like I can ask a friend, I dont know anyone around here within a 100 miles that owns a MP...especially a 4000...but thanks for your information, side comments arent neccessary

feline1 wrote:
So if your tempo is the same, and you put more beats in a bar, the bar will just be longer: e.g. in your example, a bar of 8/4 will be twice as long as a bar of 4/4.

Answer me this then, so that extends the bar, so do I speed up the hihats to 1/32 to get the faster hats within that time?

Damn, you dont have to be an dikkhead about it. and yes Im clueless, thats why I referred to my only resource about MPC's...Its not like I can ask a friend, I dont know anyone around here within a 100 miles that owns a MP...especially a 4000...but thanks for your information, side comments arent neccessary [/quote]


^^^That's really not an 'MPC' question. It's basic music knowledge that the forum kind of expects you to already know or do the simple google research before posting such a question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature <--------Do you know the wikipedia?

Man, if you need spoon fed like that and you're a new 4000 user, prepare for abuse!

YumYumRolex wrote:

feline1 wrote:
So if your tempo is the same, and you put more beats in a bar, the bar will just be longer: e.g. in your example, a bar of 8/4 will be twice as long as a bar of 4/4.

Answer me this then, so that extends the bar, so do I speed up the hihats to 1/32 to get the faster hats within that time?

Time signature is just a general musical term, it goes back several centuries to when people started writing out music on sheets of paper, putting dots for each note on a stave, and they wanted a way to put it on paper which helped people understand how the rhythm went:
they drew vertical lines on the stave to split the music into "bars", and the time signature tells you how many beats are in each bar, and how long each beat is.

In a MIDI sequencer, you generally program the rhythms in patterns, and the drum hits in each pattern are broken down into steps in a grid.

The time signature isn't anything to do with your faster hi-hats: if you want faster hi hats, just program them into the pattern to sound like what you want them to sound like! If you want to fit more hi-hats in, then increase the quantise level on the grid to allow for finer steps.

Yeah man, do your homework away from the forums. And when all is said and done, come back to compare what you've researched.

Otherwise, you'll make yourself look real noobish and the brunt of peoples jokes.

Thanks you guys...I appreciate the input...but there is no need to knock someone for asking a simple question, Im not new to MPC's but Im just playing around trying to figure stuff out. I was confused because you can switch the time signature every bar and it confused me...Im basically just trying to make a 140 BPM Kick Drum pattern with like a 1/32 note Hi Hat I guess...but its not working...

What are some examples of you guys changing your Time Signature? Im going to study both of those websites but I dont understand where and why you would change Time Signatures.

YumYumRolex wrote:What are some examples of you guys changing your Time Signature? Im going to study both of those websites but I dont understand where and why you would change Time Signatures.

Most standard beats are generally 4/4 (meaning four beats per measure with the qtr note counting as a beat).

When you start changing from this configuration, you need to understand the equation you'll be facing.

3/4 time is probably best understood through the term "waltz tempo" or something to that effect. Now you're working with three beats per measure with the qtr note getting the beat.

And I don't change this because I don't need to. 4/4 works just fine for what I need it to.

YumYumRolex wrote:What are some examples of you guys changing your Time Signature? Im going to study both of those websites but I dont understand where and why you would change Time Signatures.

dude, this question is just SILLY. It makes about as much sense as "why would you use different notes when writing a melody?" lol

You set the time signature on the MPC4000 to match whatever time signature the rhythm pattern you've written is in!

Most popular music is in 4/4.

Some things are in 3/4 (waltz time).
Other things are in 6/8 or 12/8 time.
Occasionally things like prog rock are in wierd assymetric time signatures like 7/8 or 5/4.

Occasionally songs change time signature, for example it might be in 4/4 the whole way but just have a single bar of 2/4 in one place.


So if you write a rhythm, and you want to program it into the MPC4000, and the rhythm is in 4/4, you don't need to change the time signature.

If you ever write a rhythm in a different time signature, and want to program that into the MPC4000 (e.g. a 3/4 rhythm), you first need to set the time signature for that pattern to 3/4, before you go programming it in.


It's got f*ck all to do with your damn hi-hats

Listen to the metronome click when you're in record mode, and then play the hi-hats the way they need to go using the pads.
You need to set the QUANTISE amount to the appropriate value as well: if play your hi-hats in and they come back all shifted to the wrong places, most likely your quantise interval needs to be smaller.