LSDj:Ticks and grooves
From Packets of Knowledge
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Ticks
All timing in LSDj is based on the concept of ticks. A tick is the smallest quantity of time that can be controlled by the user. The overall tempo of the song is controlled by controlling the time between each individual tick. The relative speed by which rows in the sequencer and tables are traversed, is controlled by grooves.
An LSDj tick is analogous to a MIDI tick, meaning that ticks are generated at 24 ppqn. By default, one row in the (phrase screen of the) sequencer is made up of 6 ticks, which corresponds to a 16th note. In turn, 4 rows make up a quarter note, which corresponds to 24 ticks, which of course goes back to the definition of ppqn, pulses per quarter note.
Grooves
A groove is a structure in LSDj that allows you to define how many ticks a step in the sequencer or a table should last. It's actually as simple as that. However, many people seem to be confused about the percentages to the right of each value in the groove screen. These actually don't indicate the speed that the song is playing at, or anything of that nature. Rather, they indicate the amount of "swing" or "shuffle" that that a pair of notes has.
In other words, the percentage corresponds to the amount of time spent on the first of the two steps in a pair. For example, in a 7/5 groove, 7 of the 12 ticks are spent on the first step, which is 58% of the total time. Similarly, in a 8/4 groove, 8 is 66%, or two thirds, of the 12 ticks. The percentage notation has its roots in the MPC family of drum machines, and notably for micromusicians, Korg DS-10 has a swing feature where you enter the swing as a percentage, as well.
Using grooves in phrases
A practical example - adding "swing" to a melody
Here's an example of how a groove can be used to add swing to a melody. I first sequenced this simple octave jump melody.
I kept it simple on purpose so you can hear more clearly what's going on.
At 0:30 you can hear the melody playing with the standard 6/6 groove. It sounds pretty straight and boring.
At 0:39, I change the groove to 7/5. What this does is effectively make the notes on even steps (0, 2, 4, ...) a little longer than the notes on odd steps. (1, 3, 5, ...) You can hear right away that the melody sounds a bit more "alive".
At 0:46, I go even further and change to a 8/4 groove. This makes each note on an even step twice as long as the next note on an odd step!
However, there's a catch. Consider a situation where you only have notes on even steps. If you think long and hard enough about it, you'll realize that if you use a 7/5 or 8/4 groove, the time between, say step 0 and step 2, is 12 ticks, just like it was with a straight 6/6 groove. The solution to this problem is that you can have more than two steps in the groove sequencer.
This is exactly what I'm trying out at 0:55, with a 8/5, 7/4 groove. Steps 0/1 and 2/3 (etc) are swung, but there's swing between steps 0 and 2, as well, since steps 0 and 1 together, take 8+5=13 ticks, and steps 2 and 3 together, take 7+4=11 ticks, which I believe would be equivalent to a 54% swing of 8th notes in MPC lingo.
Next, I try a 8/6, 6/4 groove, which adds yet a little more swing over the 8th notes, but in the same time a little less swing on the 16th notes.
I recommend that you take any ol' boring song and try a something like a 7/5 or 8/5, 7/4 groove and see how it sounds. You might be surprised over the result. :)
Visualizing ticks and grooves
This is a visual representation of the melody played in the video, using some of the different grooves shown in the video. Each of the examples contains a visual indication on the left that shows how the beat has been shifted from the default 6/6 groove.
The "16th swing" value is the same value that you see in the groove screen. The value "8th swing" is not shown anywhere in LSDj, but tells you the amount of 8th note swing for the groove in question.
6/6
The default 6/6 groove is a completely straight beat. All notes are he same length.
| Ref | Tick | No of ticks | Phrase step (16ths) | Note in the example | 16th swing | 8th swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 6 | 0 | C-3 | 50% | 50% | |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | 1 | C-4 | |||
| 7 | ||||||
| 8 | ||||||
| 9 | ||||||
| 10 | ||||||
| 11 | ||||||
| 12 | 6 | 2 | C-5 | 50% | ||
| 13 | ||||||
| 14 | ||||||
| 15 | ||||||
| 16 | ||||||
| 17 | ||||||
| 18 | 6 | 3 | C-6 | |||
| 19 | ||||||
| 20 | ||||||
| 21 | ||||||
| 22 | ||||||
| 23 |
7/5
With a 7/5 groove, there's some swing around 16th notes. However, note that there is no swing on 8th notes! If you were to place notes only on even steps (0, 2, 4, ...) the effect would be exactly the same as the straight 6/6 groove, since the time between each note is still the same.
| Ref | Tick | No of ticks | Phrase step (16ths) | Note in the example | 16th swing | 8th swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 7 | 0 | C-3 | 58% | 50% | |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 6 | ||||||
| 7 | 5 | 1 | C-4 | |||
| 8 | ||||||
| 9 | ||||||
| 10 | ||||||
| 11 | ||||||
| 12 | 7 | 2 | C-5 | 58% | ||
| 13 | ||||||
| 14 | ||||||
| 15 | ||||||
| 16 | ||||||
| 17 | ||||||
| 18 | ||||||
| 19 | 5 | 3 | C-6 | |||
| 20 | ||||||
| 21 | ||||||
| 22 | ||||||
| 23 |
8/4
An 8/4 groove, offer even more swing around 16th notes. However, there's still no swing on 8th notes, since the time between 8th notes is still the same, 12 ticks.
| Ref | Tick | No of ticks | Phrase step (16ths) | Note in the example | 16th swing | 8th swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 8 | 0 | C-3 | 66% | 50% | |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 6 | ||||||
| 7 | ||||||
| 8 | 4 | 1 | C-4 | |||
| 9 | ||||||
| 10 | ||||||
| 11 | ||||||
| 12 | 8 | 2 | C-5 | 66% | ||
| 13 | ||||||
| 14 | ||||||
| 15 | ||||||
| 16 | ||||||
| 17 | ||||||
| 18 | ||||||
| 19 | ||||||
| 20 | 4 | 3 | C-6 | |||
| 21 | ||||||
| 22 | ||||||
| 23 |
8/5, 7/4
An 8/5, 7/4 groove on the other hand stretches over 4 rows and offers a groove on 8th notes too. If you were to place notes only even steps (0, 2, 4, ...) you would still hear a 54% swing, since row 1 is delayed one tick compared to a 6/6 groove.
| Ref | Tick | No of ticks | Phrase step (16ths) | Note in the example | 16th swing | 8th swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 8 | 0 | C-3 | 61% | 54% | |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
| 6 | ||||||
| 7 | ||||||
| 8 | 5 | 1 | C-4 | |||
| 9 | ||||||
| 10 | ||||||
| 11 | ||||||
| 12 | ||||||
| 13 | 7 | 2 | C-5 | 63% | ||
| 14 | ||||||
| 15 | ||||||
| 16 | ||||||
| 17 | ||||||
| 18 | ||||||
| 19 | ||||||
| 20 | 4 | 3 | C-6 | |||
| 21 | ||||||
| 22 | ||||||
| 23 |
Keep it divisible by 6!
Unless you know what you're doing, and have a good reason, you might want keep the sum of the groove pattern equal to the number of grooves equal to the number of rows.
If your groove pattern is 2 steps long, you should keep the sum of the steps equal to 2*6 = 12. (For example, 5+7 = 12.)
If it's 4 steps long, equal to 4*6 = 24. (For example, 8+5+7+4 = 24)
The reason for this is that the BPM of the song will be slightly off from the number in the project screen if you don't. This might not seem like much of a problem, but it might become one if you mix different grooves in the same song, or later try to sync the song with a MIDI sequencer.
Using grooves for triplets
(todo)
Using grooves in tables
(todo)
