sequencers and timing resolution

  • Thread starter Thread starter madzer
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madzer

New member
Hi folks, I often lurk on this bbs and have noticed
that there are many midi experts here, so perhaps
one of them might be able to tell me if I've got the
following right regarding sequencers, timing and
resolution..

Assume that a tempo of 140 BPM is set.. This
means that 140 beats (== quarter notes yes??)
occur every 60 seconds.

That's 1 quarter note every 0.428571 secs.

Now, setting a "timing resolution" of 4 parts per
quarter should mean that 4 ticks / pulses occur
every 0.428571 secs, or 1 tick per 0.107143 secs..

Meaning that tempo and timing resolution are
closely intertwined and not independent variables
as I had previously thought..

Have I got this right or am I missing something?

Many thanks,

Dan
 
madzer said:
Hi folks, I often lurk on this bbs and have noticed
that there are many midi experts here, so perhaps
one of them might be able to tell me if I've got the
following right regarding sequencers, timing and
resolution..

Assume that a tempo of 140 BPM is set.. This
means that 140 beats (== quarter notes yes??)
occur every 60 seconds.

That's 1 quarter note every 0.428571 secs.

Now, setting a "timing resolution" of 4 parts per
quarter should mean that 4 ticks / pulses occur
every 0.428571 secs, or 1 tick per 0.107143 secs..

Meaning that tempo and timing resolution are
closely intertwined and not independent variables
as I had previously thought..

Have I got this right or am I missing something?

Many thanks,

Dan
Click to expand...

Ok Dan!
What are you trying to do? :))
 
I believe you have that correct. Sometimes for very intricate parts it is better to record at double the BPM so you have twice the timing resolution.
 
Is that "ok" as in I'm not going insane? :)

Beware: long winded post to follow..

Basically, I've just started tinkering about with the
java sound API which has some midi support built
in to it. This is not a forum for that, I know, but the
midi questions should be relevant.

I'm trying to build some simple drum beats using
the sequencer, I'm assuming that the java
sequencer acts like most midi sequencers in
some basic way at least..

Anyway, as I see it, there are two variables that
influence the "speed" of the beat: tempo and time
resolution. With a tempo of 120 bpm and a timing
resolution of 1, one midi 'tick' occurs every 0.5
seconds, and notes can be placed on those ticks.

So 8 seconds of a beat allows for 16 ticks per
instrument.

Changing the timing resolution to 2 for the
above beat had the effect of doubling the tempo:
the same beat was played in 4 seconds.

I'm pretty sure what happened was that by
changing the timing resolution from 1 to 2, I was
allowing 2 ticks per quarter note but this time
each tick was occurring every 0.25 seconds.
So, the notes are attached to the ticks, and
not the actual time.

Hopefully I answered my own question there.
If I didn't, I'm truly up the creek..

I suppose I was just hoping that I was hitting
a problem that many others had hit before me,
and they could say "Ok Dan: that's spot on!"


Take it easy...

Dan
 
sheesh, I spent so long writing that last post I didn't
see your reply! thanks Tex :)
 
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