Beat track changes not working.

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ralphling
Posts: 19
Joined: 04:52, 10 March 2012
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Beat track changes not working.

Post by ralphling »

Hi, can anyone help me. I am trying to record a song with a time signature change in it. I have created the time signature change in the beat track, and the 2/4 beat bar appears in the song display window among my 4/4 beat bars, however when I record a phrase across that bar with the time signature change it just records 4 beat bars across the whole phrase. Leaving me with a phrase that is half a bar too long at the end. And I can't delete the half bar. The Phantom g is simply not registering the fact that there is a time signature change halfway through the phrase. Is there some trick I am missing?
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G-Man
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Location: RCF

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by G-Man »

Yes there is. The G sequencer is different than the previous ones, therefore it can not do what you expect in this case. It only tells what phrase or sample is played and where, the rest of the information is in the samples or phrases themselves. You need to make sure that you have the last OS installed (1.5) in order to access the Phrase Beat option in the Phrase Edit screen. You can change the time signature there, and see the grid changing also. Make sure that you save the phrase so the Microscope Mode can read correctly the new time signature. Once you do this, from that point on, the phrases should look normally (in 2/4). Your problem occurs because the phrase is "across" that bar - beginning most likely in an 4/4 area of the song.
ralphling
Posts: 19
Joined: 04:52, 10 March 2012
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by ralphling »

Thanks, so just clarifying? If I do what you are saying, will I be able to create phrase that starts in 4/4, changes to 2/4 in the middle, and then changes back to 4/4?
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G-Man
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Location: RCF

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by G-Man »

No, only one time signature can be specified per phrase. With the phrase beat you can change the phrase to be shown as 2/4 all the way. It's almost the same thing as 4/4, only with twice the number of measures. In this way you will be able to delete the "half bar" at the end. The other workaround to obtain exactly what you want is to duplicate the phrase, use the Delete function and Phrase Beat to configure both phrases as you need and then insert these into the song (one right before the time signature change and one after).
ralphling
Posts: 19
Joined: 04:52, 10 March 2012
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by ralphling »

Thanks. Forgive me for debating this point but for a start that sounds really pathetic that the G can't cope with a time signature change mid phrase, and secondly what you're saying appears to be contradicted by what this character says in this YouTube clip... although to be fair, he doesn't open his phrase at the end to let us look inside the phrase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyjjNynnvKc

What I do note is that his phrase seems to correctly fit the bar lines in the Song window whereas when I try it on my G, the phrase overflows the end of the bar lines.
Also to query your point about deleting the "half bar at the end", I can't find away to do that. In my Prase Edit, modify, delete menu, I can only delete whole bars or not at all...?
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G-Man
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Location: RCF

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by G-Man »

Yes you can delete only whole bars but in a phrase of 4/4 if you change it's time signature with the phrase beat function to 2/4 you can then delete the last measure wich is half of an initial 4/4 measure.
As for Dan's video, yes he doesn't show inside the phrase. But I did the test myself to see what happens. I inserted in a blank song two 5/8 measures and two 6/4 measures. Then hit record - a 4 bar empty phrase spanning all those. Inside the phrase edit, the grid shows four 4/4 measures plus an 1/4 measure at the end :) What's even cooler is that if I go to Microscope, scroll the value dial to reach the end of the phrase and then return to the phrase edit screen, now the grid shows five 4/4 measures. And, in the song screen, the lenght of the phrase extends beyond the end of the song :) In a way it's funny, but these are the limitations of the phrase based system on a workstation. It has some advantages...if you use it right :)

P.S. That video was made before the release of the O.S. update that contains the phrase beat function.
ralphling
Posts: 19
Joined: 04:52, 10 March 2012
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by ralphling »

Ah ok. So that's "progress" then isn't it!
Appreciate your time!
ralphling
Posts: 19
Joined: 04:52, 10 March 2012
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by ralphling »

I've also figured out through necessity some work arounds as well. One of them is when I have phrases that are over sized as a result of song time signature not matching phrase time signature, I just insert the next phrase on another track.
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G-Man
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Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by G-Man »

That's one way to do it, but the Phrase Beat function can be very useful in these cases. You can set even one beat per measure if you want to, and that beat can be a quarter note, eight note etc wich can make all the various track editing functions more precise.
ralphling
Posts: 19
Joined: 04:52, 10 March 2012
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Re: Beat track changes not working.

Post by ralphling »

Ok, must have a play with it then, have not tried it before. Thanks again :-)
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