Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Comments
There are the usual unusual suspects in this thread lol
Here is a straight 11/8
And than good luck with this one
Being a guitar player most of the time when composing on guitar I end up with some wierd time signatures, but when I'm just playing with other instruments (perc, synth, ipad) without an initial idea - and probably because of the lack of decades long practice - I rarely can get out of 4/4 grid, which kinda bores me and I loose interest in the piece I'm making.
If you want to escape from the bounds of 4/4, listen to music in other time signatures and play along. Don't go crazy. Going the full Mahavishnu from only playing straight 4/4 will be hard. 5/4 (Take 5, English Roundabout) is a nice waypoint. 7/4 is fun with a few different accent patterns that are pretty groovy.
If you listen to bands that use interesting time signatures and make a habit of playing along. You will eventually get the feel.
For some it takes a lot of patience.
To learn odd time signatures the only way is to listen and practice. Waltz is a great start. But I will say I think music notation and the way of teaching has to be obsolete. There must be an easier way to learn theory and solfege
The Beatles. have "Here Comes the Sun" with a bridge that can be transcribed as 11/8 + 4/4 + 7/8[244] or 3/8 + 3/8 + 5/8 + 4/4 + 2/4 + 3/8. Not every odd time signature has to be prog rock although you find a lot of odd time signatures in prog.
Meshuggah's songs who happens to be technical death metal (King Crimson on steroids) is always 4/4
And Porcupine tree's song Sound of Muzak which is a pop song is in 9/8
"I Say a Little Prayer,” Dionne Warwick – 10/4 for verses and 11/4 for chorus
“Money,” Pink Floyd – 7/4
Mission impossible is in 5/4
Kashmir by Led Zeppelin reigns supreme with common time drums, but everything else in 3/4. This is further confused by having the odd measure of 9/8
Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill is in 7/4
Tears for Fears used 12/8 and 3/4 for Everybody wants to rule the World, except it is still technically 4/4
Bjork’s last album Biophilia developed a close association with the 17/8 time signature, with 3 separate songs including it partially in the songs. Hollow, Moon, and Crystalline all featured this signature
Prelude no. 15 from ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ by Johann Sebastian Bach: 24/16
The Terminator main theme, by Brad Fiedel: 13/8
Mario Kart 64 (video game), music by Kenta Nagata, at the race results screen: 11/8
So there you have odd times signatures all around in any kind of music
One thing to think about here is that these examples of stuff in this thread were most probably not deliberately written with these odd signatures and combinations of the signatures, that will have come from someone trying to score the music after the event and trying to be able to fit the notes on a stave....the artists will have almost certainly just gone with what felt and sounded good.
As we are mainly working with a computer (iPad/iPhone) most apps use a grid of some sort whether it be a piano roll or step sequencer or audio loop, and then on a timeline there is a further grid for arranging parts onto, and if using Link there is another grid (the link phase). It is this which means we are thinking about time signatures before making the music and not afterwards, if you ignore the grids and just record your groove like a tape recorder, you will not have to think about time signatures at all !
Money is often quoted as a classic example of 7/4 - and indeed it is - but as I understand it, Dave Gilmour said he couldn’t solo in that and so for the guitar solo it kicks into 4/4, just for the guitar solo, and then back to the main 7/4 riff. It works really effectively, turning a potential negative into a big positive.
Agree
Interesting. Maybe I should just record all my parts like I do my sax parts (just feeling where I should play and forgetting the beat completely).
Did you see my comment or just get over it like the other forum members?
Now I did. Sorry for taking away the spotlight from you
Yeah I saw your comment too. Didn’t skip over it, was taking it in, like all the rest. It’s been quite enlightening the whole thread for myself
straight 7/8
straight ?
Count, count, count, and count. And then get to the point where you can feel it, but you won’t get there without counting first. I love different time signatures, but I don’t get too crazy with longer beats per measure. I often just do things with 5, 7, and 9 beats per measure.
Listen to a lot of other people doing it.
Subdivide your emphasis. So, if it’s 5\8 count with 1,2+1,2,3 or 1,2,3+1,2. You can think of it as 3+2 or 2+3. Or for 9\8 4+5, 3+3+3, 5+4, etc.
I learned before I ever used any kind of sequencer whatsoever, but I think programming a few simple parts and jamming on top of it will be a very good way to help you learn. Also, try getting drumming out to some of it.
Here is my attempt at 5/8 Boogie Woogie Blues one day, which I never would have though of, but just started doing it.
Rythm
http://sergioaschero.com.ar/descarga/numerofonia/Metodo de Ritmica 1.pdf
Method with AV
http://sergioaschero.com.ar/descarga/numerofonia/Metodo Audiovisual 1.zip
Source from:
http://sergioaschero.com.ar/numerofonia.html
Wow... impressive! You've got better timing playing live than I can program into iPad. lol
S> @Dubbylabby said:
Will have to get these into English or I’m really going to struggle
Yeah I can’t play like that. Not for more than two seconds anyway lol
One of my favorite albums for 9/4,9/8 is “Gypsies of Turkey” by Ahmet Kusgoz Ve Arkadaslari. Every other song is in either 9/8 or 9/4. A lot of traditional Turkish music is also in these time signatures.
My wife thought I was watching ching the Full Monty lol. I like Mr Sting
I'm far from playing like that on any instrument, I wish iPad could be as precise timing wise, but even iPad is far from that unfortunately.
Right, well don’t let that discourage you. It’s a slow process. I don’t remember when or why I took it upon myself to play in them, but I know it was a whole lot of steps to climb. I should note I am originally a drummer, and drummers like these kinds of things.
if you check the video you can understand the basics into the first link to method I posted (rhythms). I'm spanish and I barely understand the text so I go from the video explanation into the patterns directly lol XD
jokes aside (these aren't anyways) the point of the system is to make it comprehensible for any person with maths and geometry knowledge. I can translate some specific parts of course but I'm just learning alongside you guys. I discover the Achero method time ago but started to look into it recently to improve my regular piano course.
What find you so difficult? As I said in the video post it's easy to learn that rhythm system than spanish, english and solfeo XD
Something says me you even didn't try to open them... am I right? (not offense on my side, I can understand trying to read something in other language could be difficult but don't let confuse you by the title... inside there are more draws than letter, believe me!)
Each square is Pa!
jump into 4:30, please.
See the video and understand why I said spanish is the less of the problems and why I pointed you must pass over my first comment since more visual and easy than the video will be hardly to find. Anyways if you get stuck in some point with the manual for rhythms I offer myself to translate that part. Probably will be less than the time we are discussing this XDDDDDDD
Edit: if there is not any english material, maybe I could synthesize my notes alongside the journey. Making some kind of comparison between classical and this modern(s) systems to help students (like me) to find proper tools in this journey.
)
I can't promise anything since I need to pay my bills and I'm still unemployed but I can put this into my todo list for my future youtube channel. My idea isn't do it in english but maybe I should improve my speaking and try it. Meanwhile anyone interested could reach me over realtime videocall (facetime obviously
It will be useful for both sides, mates.
Nope, I have opened the PDF Rhythm one and was trying to comprehend that. No point in just opening all of them and not understanding all at once lol.
Besides the wife is home and I’m back on painting duty now - no rest for the wicked!
Once you can count in different combinations of 2 and 3 you can do any odd time sig.
Then the challenge is frequently changing time sigs and playing different time sigs in parallel.
Here is a great example of some Turkish 9/8. Count with the tambourine when it comes in if you get lost, which I was lost until I payed attention to the tambourine thing. The tambourine (or whatever it is) is on the main emphasis of the beat. It’s like adding an extra 8th note to 4/4.
I do appreciate all the helpful stuff posted and promise I will get to watching and listening to it all