Mike (and all)-- I just re-read this before sending, and it may sound a bit abrasive or unappreciative... On the contrary, if I didn't think DoggieBox was one of THE BEST pieces of music software the Mac has EVER seen, I wouldn't have bothered to write. Keep up the fantastic work-- DB is a dream come true for me and my musical endeavors. Now, on to my frustration... ;-) Concerning the swing setting for iDrum, it's most likely a "stretcher" of the off-beat eighth notes in a pattern, which is a very valuable feature. I've wanted to ask about this topic for a while now. The concept is: straight eighths (all 8 of 'em in a 4/4 measure, normally on a hi-hat in a rock or latin pattern) occur precisely on, and precisely half-way between, each beat. (ONE AND / TWO AND / THREE AND / FOUR AND) A heavy swing pattern would have the hi-hat or ride cymbal off-beat eighth notes (ex. the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th ones in a 4/4 measure) feeling like triplet eighths. (ONE and A / TWO and A / THREE and A / FOUR and A) The total time of the overall measure, however, and the timing of the main beats, would be exactly the same as a rock or latin measure at the same tempo. If I want a more subtle swing, I would play those off-beats somewhere in between straight and tripletted. (Whoa, now I'm makin' up words. Gettin' fired up here.) So... Solution 1: if I have a "swing" setting like iDrum's, I could adjust the timing of the off-beats across the entire pattern (or, ideally, any section of the pattern I choose) with a simple change of a single setting. Solution 2: If I want to do this in DoggieBox... Do I stretch out the view of every measure so I can manually place each off-beat cymbal hit (or "swung" hit on whatever drum) a hemi-demi-semiquaver or two late? This will not only take an unreasonable amount of time and effort, but it will also make for an extremely messy DB-to-MIDI-to-sheet music conversion, with lots of flags and double-dotted notes... most written "swing" patterns display the 8th notes straight, and indicate the swing feel at the top or at each swung section. (light/med/heavy swing, up by the tempo) Or Solution 3: Do I record my own custom cymbal (or whatever drum) sound with half a triplet's worth of extra space in front of it, so when it triggers precisely on the beat, it doesn't actually make the sound until a half-triplet later? This would work for a "strictly swing" kit... But many jazz charts flip-flop back and forth between straight 8ths and swung 8ths... now I need a bigger kit to include both recorded sounds...? What if I don't want a full hard swing? Now I need ANOTHER recording of those sounds that are only SLIGHTLY late? Ugh... Anyone else working with swing patterns have a more practical solution to this? Thanks-- Dan Costello Re: excerpt from DBDigest Vol.12 issue 5
3) There are some cool things present in the iDrum UI such as the "swing" level selection. I'm not sure what this does, but it seems to introduce a bit of timing randomness within the pattern itself, while retaining the overall timing from pattern start to pattern end. (Huh? Even I'm having trouble understanding my own sentence).