23 Nov 08 Metronome for a time signature

Right now I’m working on the Rhythms and multi-beat polyrhythms metronome
for Tune Smithy

This is a new window that lets you enter your rhythm using time signatures like 3/4, 6/8 or whatever rather than a list of numbers of beats per bar. Also now it can play unusual meters needed by some modern composers such as 3/6, 3.5/4, and truly “irrational” meters like PI / 4 (the beats for the notes drift in and out of phase with the bar line beats).

This is what the window looks like:

BTW, for British readers of this blog, quarter note is the American word for crotchet - when you have the actual software to hand, the tool tip for the quarter note fields in the window explains that.

metronome for time signature 3/4 with 4 subdivisions of each beat

Then in the More version of the window you can add two more rhythms, and play them either simultaneously or one after another:

metronome for time signature 3/4 with 4 subdivisions of each beat, then 4/4 with three subdivisions, then 5/4 with two subdivisions

You can edit any of the time signatures to make the so called “irrational” meters such as 3/6, 4/7 or whatever, or you can even use truly irrational time signatures like PI/4 with slightly over three beats to a bar so that the beats go in and out of phase with the bar line.

Polyrhythm with three “irrational” meters played simultaneously (very hard for any performer to do):

There for instance 5/11 means each beat is an eleventh of a whole note so at a rate of 100 quarter notes a minute so 25 whole notes a minute, that that means the individual beats will flow at a rate of 275 beats per minute (11*25).

metronome for time signature 3/6 with 4/7 with 5/11

As you listen to the clip you will hear that the bar lines drift in and out of sync in the three rhythms and the beats move slowly in and out of sync, in a way that would surely be rather hard for a performer to achieve at least unless using metronomes.

Metronome with a truly irrational rhythm PI/4, surely next to impossible for any human performer to perform accurately over long periods of time: