Rhythm Basics

Rhythm

play([d2, f, e2, bf1], synth)

Ok, so we have a little pattern from last chapter, but we want something more interesting than just 4 quarters.

Hold on to your seat, because this can get complicated. Trust me, there is a simpler way in the next chapter. If you want to jump to that, feel free. But you may miss some useful context here.

If you are familiar with somthing like strudel you will be probably be comfortable with proportional rhythm in patterns.

The fundamental unit of measure is a cycle which, in swync, is equivalent to a bar. This can be changed via tempo and meter in the transport toolbar. So in 3/4, the cycle is 3 beats. The system adjusts.

Each slot in a pattern is equivalent to 1 unit by default. How long that unit is depends on the above and how many slots are used. so:

play([d2, f, e2, bf1], synth)
play([d2, f, e2], synth)
play([d2, f, e2, f, e2], synth)

the first is 4 quarters. While the second is a half note triplet over the full bar in 4/4. The third represents a quintuplet over the full bar. Listen to their differences.

You can comment out that ones you don’t want to play with ⌘ / or Ctrl / or type //.

You can nest divisions with nested lists, the following creates three quarters and two eights

play([d2, f, g, [e2, bf1]], synth)

Turn the last grouping into a triplet

play([d2, f, g, [e2, bf1, g2]], synth)

But wait, there’s more

I can tell a note to take up more space than the others

play([d2;2, f, g], synth)

The semi-colon ; is used to communicate that we are setting a rhythm. Here we are making the rhythm twice the length of the underlying unit. In this case, in 4/4, it would be a half note followed by two quarters.

play([d2;3, f], synth)

The above would be three beats followed by one. Everything is weighed proportionally.

This works with nested patterns too:

play([d2, f, [e2, bf1];2], synth)

The above will play 4 quarter notes rather two quarters and two eights.

For fun, you can also use variables:

let length = 2
play([d2, f, [e2, bf1];length], synth)

Great you may say, but this is complicated and you just want quarter notes and stuff. Jump on over to the next chapter!