Tap Tempo for Accurate Event Period

[JonathonReinhart]

Hey everyone,

So I've noticed that a well-chosen event period can make all the difference when sequencing complex, fast-moving pieces (like a lot of TSO). What I mean by this is, it is optimal to choose an event period length such that it lines up to the beats in the song.

For example, at 150 BPM, each beat lasts exactly 400msec, so setting the event period to 50 msec allows you to have exactly 8 events per beat. In other words, one event corresponds to one 32nd note exactly (http://lights.onthefive.com/tapcalc/8evpb.png).

Since Vixen's event period lengths must be integer values (and a song rarely holds a perfectly constant tempo), your sequences will rarely "match-up" perfectly. You'll have to insert an occasional extra event if your beats are a bit too fast (or remove one if too slow).

In order to help calculate these optimal event period lengths, I put this little app together: <http://lights.onthefive.com/tapcalc/> It's pretty rough right now, but I think you can get the idea...

Comments?

Jonathon

[dirknerkle]

Very clever!!! Nice work! I'm impressed with your musicality. Did you formally study music?

[BuzzKill]

I love it. What a great tool,

[wonder]

Really great!! highlighted

[Virtus]

Very nice. I recommend you take it one step further and just have it tell you exactly what to put into Vixen during the new sequence wizard so there is nothing to calculate at all.

[JonathonReinhart]

Cool, I'm glad you all found interest in this... I'm open to any and all suggestions, as I've found this calculation very helpful. It really makes sequencing a lot easier, as you know almost exactly where to insert events.

Very nice. I recommend you take it one step further and just have it tell you exactly what to put into Vixen during the new sequence wizard so there is nothing to calculate at all.

I highlighted the optimal event period for the 8 event per beat calculation, as this is what will be used 9 times out of 10. Unless you get into swing beats, or other strange time signatures.... (Has anyone synced lights to any Tool songs?)

[Virtus]

OK, I see it now. I think the capital "M" was throwing me... milliseconds should be abbreviated with a lower case "m". Captial "M" is for mega. Very nice...especially now that I understand what the red number was telling me!

[mrpackethead]

hate to through a spanner into the works, but Music that falls perfectly on the beat is 'soul-less'.. Its the ever so slight variances that actually make it interesting on the ear. 'Quantifed' music, you know the stuff that a midi sequencer chucks out might be accurate, but it does'nt sound very nice.. You might find it pretty hard to make many recordings actually fit nicely....

[JonathonReinhart]

I'm going to have to disagree with ya there... lights that are timed perfectly to the music are what make the show look amazing... being off by even 5 or 10ms is quite perceivable by the human eye/ear, and in my opinion, contributes to the 'amateur' feel of a lot of shows...

A lot of artists record to a computer/metronome 'click track' keeping the tempo very rigid. I've found that if I set the event period correctly, I'll be able to throw events in anywhere in the song, and they will almost always be perfectly in time.

Actually, being able to offset the music by +/- a few msec would be a nice feature, because depending on where it starts, your beats might be timed correctly, but just offset by 5-20 msec (throughout the whole song)

[Virtus]

I am going to try this out as I am just about ready to start sequencing and have had the idea to do this before but never the cool calculator to make it so easy to do. When the song leaves the steady part I will deviate as well.