I think that "RYTHM" itself isn't something that is solely dependable on being "audible" - it also depends on feeling....
But like rinseout said - might not be able to point those timing differences out on a conscious level - BUT - you can "sense" them on a subconscious level....
If your ear can perceive that someone who is calling you from behind is 1feet away or 6 or 12 - you maybe can't tell the exact number but a approximate guess would be possible - and considering how fast sonics are - THIS stuff happens on a "unconscious" level.....
It's similar to the concept that the human brain on the unconscious level has no filters - so you're basically scanning everything at every second around - and I mean literally ANYTHING - just like a video-cam.....
BUT your consciousness is filtering stuff heavily out - because without it would be the same like watching 30 TV channels at the same time - overkill....
That's why a lot of autist's with asperger syndrom can do stuff like memorize whole telephone books - we could do that too BUT we have filters who are working against it - people who suffer from asperger basically JUST can't FORGET....
Stuff like that happens all the time in our brains - the most developed supercomputer on earth....
SO that is WHY people "hear/sense" groove differences between machines even if it's the same pattern - same samples - hard on quantize....
EVEN the slightest tolerance will be "sensed" - even though you might not be able to hear the difference....
Nym wrote:right, the midi timing, anyway. i hear the same kind of thing, from reason, too etc, but i've always tended to think that it's less the TIMING timing that i'm hearing and more the possibility that maybe the platform pushes its user in a different rhythmical direction than the mpc, which makes groove accessible. but i have no idea really.
the reason why i asked that question is because when it comes to notation and sequencing, if 2 samples (in the recorded sense) are 10 samples (in the notational sense) apart due to a machine's non-perfect timing, I CANNOT HEAR IT. 10 samples is a very, very, very small time, and unless those samples are phasing (layered same sound w/ self, etc) 10 samples is in all practical senses wholly inaudible.
that's why i wonder - exactly how powerful is the human ear, and at what point do we just split hairs about timing? by no means am i belittling the research done by rinse, trybtek and others, i am really thankful and interested in it.