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Old 01-20-2022, 03:37 AM   #1
amagalma
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Default BPM indication is misleading. Should rather be QNPM

A beat is the basic unit of time and has no other meaning than that. It is not hard-wired to any musical note.

What consists a beat is defined in the tempo marking of a piece.

Example:



This means that one dotted quarter note is considered to be the beat and it fits 50 times in a minute.


THE NITPICK:

Reaper considers a beat as always being a quarter note. Example:
- Set BPM to 120 and the time signature to 4/4 and listen to the metronome
- Now change the time signature to 8/8 and listen again. The metronome doubled in speed.

Since there is no setting that defines what musical note is a beat, one would expect that the denominator of the time signature would be the beat. So, no matter if the time signature is 8/8 or 4/4, one would expect that the metronome would beat at the same speed.


PROPOSAL:

Add a setting where the user can define the musical note of a beat. In order to be backwards compatible with existing projects, if it is not set (overridden) by the user then Reaper assumes it is a quarter note (as it has been doing for all this time).
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Last edited by amagalma; 01-20-2022 at 09:09 AM.
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Old 01-20-2022, 03:45 AM   #2
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A musical example:





These two measures DO NOT last the same. The first one lasts double the time of the second. They have the same BPM value but the beat is set to a different musical note. (the first one would be 30BPM if the beat were a quarter note as in the second measure)


I created this nitpick/feature request after this thread
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Old 01-20-2022, 11:37 AM   #3
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Right click a time signature marker and change the BPM basis.
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Old 01-20-2022, 01:04 PM   #4
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Oh, so embarrassing! Requesting something that is already there!...


However, if there is no time signature marker and the only place to enter the BPM is at the transport, this feature is missing, isn't it?
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Old 01-20-2022, 01:15 PM   #5
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I suppose, but this is an area where advanced features are in an advanced section of the program. If you have enough domain knowledge to want to set a custom beat basis, you are probably dealing with time signature changes or notation anyway.
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Old 01-20-2022, 05:32 PM   #6
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I did not know this, thank you
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Old 01-21-2022, 10:07 AM   #7
amagalma
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Quote:
Originally Posted by schwa View Post
I suppose, but this is an area where advanced features are in an advanced section of the program. If you have enough domain knowledge to want to set a custom beat basis, you are probably dealing with time signature changes or notation anyway.

Well.. now I know :P... but I still find it not optimal (which means that it is something I have to remember: "oh, if I want to use a time signature with a different denominator than a quarter in Reaper, I have to insert a time signature in the start of the piece. I can't just do it in the transport because the metronome will not play at the correct speed")
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Old 01-30-2022, 07:24 AM   #8
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Thanks for this thread. It will make a difference in my life! BTW, a simple work around is to add a time signature marker to the beginning of a empty project or template and save as new default template.
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Old 02-25-2022, 08:09 AM   #9
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It is great information, so it is no setting that defines what musical note is a beat, one would expect that the denominator of the time signature would be the beat
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Old 04-22-2022, 02:28 PM   #10
acebone
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I was not aware of this behaviour, but Amalgama is right:

If you have your clock set to 75 and your meter to x/8 - there should be 75 1/8s in a minute = 75 beats.

I don't think that the solution with a tempomarker is adequate. As it is now, you could look at project, and go "aha, it's 8/8, and the tempomarking is 100" and still have no idea what tempo the project was actually at without having to check for tempomarkers first. no musician would look at a time-signature + BPM and then email the composer asking what the timebase was.

It's great that Reaper is not preventing you from creating a project where you can trust the 'bpm'-label, but that label should be reliable pr. default. It says 'BPM' - so it ought to be BPM


I consider it a bug,

Last edited by acebone; 04-22-2022 at 02:45 PM.
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Old 05-02-2022, 08:15 AM   #11
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Agree ^ +1
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