steevio wrote:something interesting ive found as a polyrhythmic geek, is the perceived tempo of a track is often very different to the actual tempo.
if you make a true polyrhythmic track, (in other words not a 4/4 track with some polyrhythms added for effect), then the perceived tempo is influenced by the different percentages of the polyrhythms in the groove.
so if you have a 3 against 4 against 5 polyrhythm created on a 4/4 template at say 120 bpm in your sequencer, it will only sound like 120 bpm if the 4/4 elements are more emphasised than the rest.
so if you make a 3/4/5 polyrhythm where all the elements are balanced, the perceived tempo is a sort of average of the 3 tempos (effectively polyrhythms are phrases at different tempos)
ive just made a track where the polyrhythms are fairly well balanced, but the kick is present every 3 -16ths but only emphasised on every other 3 beat, so the tempo in the sequencer is 117 bpm, but the track sounds much faster, but the weird thing is it doesnt sound like 158 bpm which it would according to the kick drum, (or 78 in halftime), it kind of feels like about 128.
this is only going to make sense to someone who understands polyrhythm, or has experimented themselves, so sorry to the noobs if this sounds like gobbledeegook, i just thought it was worth mentioning, i'm intrigued by it.
my next series of releases 'Wildtime' is going to exploit this effect, i'll post some samples up when i'm finished.
I know the effect you mean Steevio, but can still not get my frikkin head round it
To me it's verging on the whole looking at a mirror which is adjacent to another mirror - I get scared at the sight of infinity much as I get scared at the thought of sounds travelling without moving
To get back to reality, I'm guessing this is why lots of synchopated and delayed sounds often make things sound a bit pacier than they are, a lot of dub techno with big synchopated chords tends to have to be slowed right down or it sounds far too fast.
Is this related or am I in space ?
P