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Re: [microsound] AI & rhythm perception - 'groove' heuristics?



On 11/21/06, Damian Stewart <damian@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I don't think it does. I think the reason it has this aura is because it's
got a user interface that emphasises making changes to the velocity of hits
over the duration of a loop/groove. Based on my own experiments the easiest
way to make a machine beat feel 'groovy' is to alter the velocities of the
notes. As a very simple example, if you've got a closed hihat sample
banging out once every sixteenth note, to make it sound groovier (to make
it sound like it is swinging, even) you alter the velocities of each hit in
a way that emphasises the underlying meter. My dad's studying jazz piano at
the moment and he was telling me about one of the things he discovered,
namely that to make certain kinds of swinging piano line you time the notes
like a metronome /but alter the velocities/.

First, let us keep jazz out of this. It's interesting, but I think it clouds the issue here, as there isn't a right and wrong way to swing. Swing changes from player to player, and from era to era. John Coltrane was called "anti-jazz" for his rhythmic style at one point, but what is rhythmic heresy and destruction of the groove from one point of view, is innovation and expression from another view.

As far as velocities being an essential part of creating a good
groove, well that's true. But neither is it mathematically
quantifiable. I like FLStudio (yes some think it is a toy) because I
can draw in velocity curves really quickly, and many times very
contradictory sets of velocities will work. (It is also very easy to
delay a particular beat, and I often have swing vs. straight 16ths at
the same time, or 16ths with different swing, or swing that is drawn
in by hand at points where it feels correct.)

However, as far as velocity goes, when you consider a groove as a
whole, you must consider the psychoacoustic effect it creates when the
brain blends the parts together, not the individual parts in their
mathematical precision.

And, following from this, you must especially consider things like the
actual mix and the compression on the mix, which have a HUGE effect on
the accents and psychoacoustic effect, but are quite hard to quantify
and aren't usually considered part of the composition of the groove
per se. All this stuff goes into making a good groove.

~David

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