Counting Off or Recording with Custom Click Patterns
Ever wish the metronome could be more like a click-track, set for patterns that YOU want? Have you ever wished you could change the pattern at every tempo change and/or meter change? In DP that's not just possible, it's easy and quick (once you get the hang of it), and as is often the case in Digital Performer, the feature is very thorough. Look it up in the DP 7.4 Manual on page 211 (
Click Defaults) for the basics of how to set up customized clicks for defaults at various time signatures and tempos. (That's an amazing feature, by the way) For learning how to create an actual customized click -- that is, how the numbers work and how to accent selected beats -- look on page 637 of the DP 7.4 Manual:
Pattern Click.
Start in the Preferences Window:
See all those settings? Each has a
tempo range at which it becomes the active default click for that meter, unless you specify otherwise. Imagine; not only do you get fully customizable default clicks for any tempos you choose, but you also get to override them and specify special clicks when and where you want them!
Well, the first thing I wanted to try was compound meters like 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8. DP has always bugged me because it was unable to "click" to 6/8, or rather, it just didn't do a good job of it. I used to create complex click-tracks for people to use when recording into DP, and I'd set up an actual drum-set sound with snare, kick, and hi-hat. Maybe that was overboard, but some people really need customized sounds. The new click feature can do that. Set up the drum sound in MIDI, choose instruments to play on the accented and unaccented sounds, and set those up in your Metronome preferences. I won't go into that; I think most people understand that. But if you're like me, you looked at the new custom click settings and just skipped right over it. Time to take a deeper look. DP will do 9/8, and it will play it the way YOU want it to be played... more or less. Here are my first two 9/8 click settings:
Notice the row of numbers. What do they mean? You'll find it on page 637 of the manual (DP 7.4). Basically, the numbers represent relative values of the clicks within a bar. If you're in 4/4, and you want to click the 8th note, you will need to fill up 8 clicks, followed by a "/ 8". Maybe you want it to beat a quarter and two 8ths, twice, in a measure, with the accent on the quarters. That would be "
2 1 1
2 1 1 / 8" The code is just a bit more involved than you might think, and the numbers can mean different things, depending on how you write them. If you don't want to look them up, you can copy mine for now, or you can experiment on your own. The following strings look similar, but would come out somewhat different:
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 / 8
2 11 11 11 / 8
2111111 / 8 (I don't recommend trying that one; it says to click once in every 2.1 million 8th notes.)
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 / 1
2 1 1
1 1 1 1 / 8d
Notice the red numbers. Those represent accents. You get them by selecting the number and clicking "COMMAND-B," as in "bold-face" commands in TextEdit or other programs.
By the way, there is one little detail that is unclear in the manual, and that is how DP parses the slash-code, which is how the beat value can be customized. (default beat values are 1=8th note, 2=quarter note, 4=half note, etc.)
The following slash codes all define the time value of a given click pattern:
1 /4 (1=quarter note)
2/4 (2=quarter note)
3 /4 (3=quarter note)
1/ 8 (1=8th note)
2/8 (2=8th note)
1/16 (1=16th note)
256/4 (256=quarter note)
8/8 (8=8th note)
1 / 2 (1=half note)
2/2 (2=half note)
2/2d (2=dotted half)
1/8t (1=8th note triplet)
…and so on. You write it, DP will parse it.
In other words,
any number that precedes the slash takes the note value of the number you put after the slash. You define it, not DP. Though it's usually at the end of the click, this code can appear anywhere in the click, and the number before the slash will also function as a beat. It's a simple system that is infinitely flexible. I had to put spaces between numbers and slashes to prevent Safari from interpreting them as fractions: ½ ⅛ ¼, etc. While DP can read it either way, the spaces are not necessary in the slash code.
But in beat sequences spaces (or periods, or any other separator) ARE necessary between beats. So, 1 2 2 1/8 would read 8th, quarter, quarter, 8th, but 1221/8 would mean that the four-digit number 1221 is equal to an 8th note. 1.2.2.1/8 also works instead of spaces, as does 1-2-2-1 /8. You can use anything as a separator, but you must use
something, except in the slash code.
Here are different ways of writing the same click pattern:
1 1 2 2 2/4
1/8 1 2 2 2
1 1 2/4 2 2
1.1.2.2.2/4
Ok, once you get a click set up, you need to save it if you want to use it anywhere but as defaults. Here's how you save a click:
So, what's the difference between a saved click, and a default click? The Default Clicks only appear in the preferences window shown above. They govern your clicks, based on the current meter and tempo. If you have a click whose criteria match the current meter and tempo, that's the click that DP will use. But say you have special needs, and you want a more complex click. Let's say you want a lilting:
1 1
1 1
1 1 /8
for a 3/4 meter, so that you can hear the accent on every beat, rather than just the downbeat of the default. After creating the pattern and saving it, you'd then go to your meter change in the Conductor Track, click on the meter, then in the display, click on the word "click," which will drop down a menu. Pull down to "Pattern," and select the pattern you saved.
When you're done, it will appear in the information display:
Now, as you are recording and you reach that location, the metronome will immediately change to the click pattern you set. You can get creative if need be, and it may help some people to hear the click more easily in dense passages or complicated meter changes. It's so easy, so effective, and it's just another feature that helps keep DP in front of the pack.
Shooshie
MORE from a later post on the same subject:
If you're going to write with the "t" indicating to DP to play it as a triplet, write
To accent the first beat, SELECT it (the first 1), and type COMMAND B
Notice the spaces. You can use any character for a space, besides numbers and letters. In other words, you could write with keypad only:
But you must use some kind of separator for it to parse the rhythm. Spaces, plus signs, minus signs, Ampersands, @ signs, dots, whatever you want, but use
something.
Just to illustrate what's going on in parsing the rhythm, here's another example of the same triple pulse, (¾) but this time with 2 quarter notes followed by 3 triplet 8ths:
Explanation:
- • the pulse is 8th note triplets.
• if the pulse is triplets, then a quarter note = 3 triplets, thus 3 = quarter note
• 3.3.1.1.1. = quarter, quarter, 8t 8t 8t
You can write that another way:
Explanation:
- • 3./4 sets the pulse: 3 = quarter note
• if 3=quarter note, then 1 = quarter/3, or triplet 8th.
In this example, if you wanted straight 8th, you'd be out of luck. For that to happen, you need to use a number for a quarter note that can divide by 3 and by 2, namely 6.
So, here's a quarter, 2 8th, and 3 triplets:
Explanation:
- • 6 /4 sets the pulse as 6=quarter note.
• 3 = ½ of 6, therefore 3 = 8th note
• 2 = ⅓ of 6, therefore 2 = triplet 8th
• thus: quarter, 8th 8th, 8t 8t 8t
Keep in mind that ANY NUMBER can represent your pulse. (I find this a little buggy, however)
1024 /4 means that 1024 is going to act as your quarter note. You can write very small subdivisions of 1024! (again, I find this a little buggy. YMMV, so try to use the most logical pulse beats that you can)
A more logical example: 24 /4 gives you lots of options for subdivisions where 24 = quarter note, 12 = 8th note, 42 = half note, 84 = whole note, 6 = 16th note, 3 = 32 note. So, you could write:
Explanation:
- • pulse = 24 as quarter note
• quarter, quarter, quarter, 16th-16th-16th-16th
Are you seeing the pattern here? Using the "t" is a shortcut so that you don't have to find all the factors of an integer that will give you the triplets and everything else you want. There's always going to be a little arithmetic involved, but anyone who can write time signatures and their subdivisions can surely do the arithmetic for coming up with a click set.
Some facts to remember:
• There are probably infinite ways of writing any click pattern.
• / sets the equivalency to a pulse. Pulses can be 1 (whole note), 2 (half note) 4 (quarter note), 8 (8th note), 16, and 32.
• The "t" is used for triplets as a pulse. /4t (quarter triplet), /8t (8th triplet), etc.
• The d is used for dotted notes as a pulse: /4d (dotted quarter is the beat), /2d (dotted half is the beat), /8d (dotted 8th is the beat)
• Be sure to set your TIME SIGNATURE to match that of the track or segment to which you are applying this click.
• Any symbol (non-numeral, non-letter) can be used as a separator.
• USE a separator. If you don't separate, as in "16/4", the result may not be what you expect. 16 /4 will give you the integer 16 as a quarter note pulse. (16 16 16 16), but 16/4 may not.
• If you start coming up with unexpected results, try moving the pulse indicator, e.g. /4, to the end of the string: (24 24 24 24 /4) Sometimes that won't work if you use different note values there.
• Remember, if you get problems writing it one way, you can always write it a different way.
• if you keep getting buggy results, discard the click and start new.