VGM in timesigs other than 3/4 and 4/4

[Gario]

It can't be hypermeter because the bassline rules that out (it clearly delineates measure ends and beginnings). Same with why 3/4 wouldn't work.

Touche. Actually, I agree with you, there - no hypermeter, for me. My first glance was incorrect. I was only listening to the melody and shooting from the hip, there.

I think you missed my point on the whole '3/4' thing, though - in your tempo, think of it in '3/2', instead. I have seen music use half-speed notation in order to simplify that to 3/4 (and again, allow for easier groupings using eighth notes). I believe calling that track 'compound time' is excessive, so I'm reducing it to a simple meter. I can't really see '6/4' being a true compound meter (read below as to why) unless it was divided as 1+3+2 or something strange (which this isn't) or if the music suddenly changed meters (like a 4/4 track changing to a 6/4 meter, in which case it truely feels like the 4/4 meter with 2/4 added to it, due to context).

i was going to say this, for a different reason. 6/4 can be reduced to 3/2 - if the piece clearly is in a duple and would benefit from the simplification. like i said, though, 6/4 usually represents a compound meter, not just a large 3/4.

I can agree with this, except the compound meter that this is being reduced to is 4/4 + 2/4, correct? If this was, as I said, really a veeery slow 3/4 meter, then it actually becomes a regular meter with the accent on the first and third beat (which is normal, in 3/4 or 3/2). I personally think it overcomplicates the meter if someone subdivides it into 4/4 + 2/4 when you get the same accents just calling it a slow 3/4. It's not like an 8/8 meter where the accents on the subdivisions 3+3+2 isn't obvious, and even in that particular case I normally don't see the music written in '8/8' - I just see the meter written in common time (or 4/4) with the measures written in two dotted notes and a quarter to achieve this, or they bar the eighths/sixteenths to show that the accents on the subdivision.

I don't mind if it's called 6/4, as it might be more comfortable for some people to call it that or whatnot. I'm just saying that it's not entirely insensible to call it 3/2 or 3/4, either (with that 6/8 part, of course), since that simple meter implies the subdivision through it's normal beat accents. Calling it a hypermeter is incorrect, though.

Edited November 3, 2010 by Gario

[K.B.]

I posit that all basing of rythms and pacing from time sigs alone is pure wankery.

In that compound meters are inherently fucked.

PROVE ME WRONG.

In other news, Marble Madness is

.

Gonna be a racist and post the spoilers in white.

4x3 (or even 5+5+2 if you want to go additive all the way)

4x6 or 4,5,5,4,3,3 (the latter is uglier but makes more sense; additive ftw)

34 beats (wtflol [if you find a time sig here, you win the rodeo])

5x6

6+7, 6+6, 5+5+6 (or 4x10+1, but that looks worse and is more awkward)

Edited November 8, 2010 by K.B.
minor corrections

[Kidd Cabbage]

I really don't know anything about time signatures, I just know I tried a completely different rhythm from 3:24 to 3:55. I sort of just made it up, but it's probably something.

3/4 with an ending measure of 5/4.

[Tex]

[Garpocalypse]

My absolute favorite track from Star Ocean 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_8vgQS3do0 -Moderate

I count the first section as

7/6, 5/6, 8/6, 6/6, 8/6 5/6, 5/6, 6/6, 6/6 with each measure being a slightly different time sig before landing in 3/4 in the next section.

Had a remix of this years ago but my love of the original kept me from finishing it.

[Jamphibious]

Oh my, old thread! But a fun one

Warcraft has had some sweet music in different time signatures.

Warcraft 2 - Orc Music 2:

(In 6/4 for the first half, switches to 4/4 afterwards though)

World of Warcraft Main Theme:

(In 7/4 in the beginning, it might stay throughout but the softer parts are harder to tell)

[XPRTNovice]

I can't tell in the 10 pages if anyone has mentioned this, but the Final Fantasy VIII battle theme is in 5/4.

Also, on the album Creid for Xenogears (not an OST) the Lahan cover switches between 5/4 and 6/8

[Ivan Hakštok]

Also, on the album Creid for Xenogears (not an OST) the Lahan cover switches between 5/4 and 6/8

Lahan theme switches like that even on the original soundtrack

Some weird time signature stuff I know of:

- a bit of 5/4, a bit of 6/4, and a bit of 7/4

- mostly 9/8, except for a small part which is in 5/4 Edited April 12, 2013 by Ivan Hakštok

[Nostalvania]

Nice thread. I'd like to join.

Here is the password music from Mega Man X2

http://youtu.be/0L3EmxWPsWk

I'm pretty sure it's in 15/4.

[Theory of N]

i'm pretty sure it's in 15/4.

4/4, 3/4, 4/4, 7/8. Though it doesn't sound synched properly.

[Nostalvania]

4/4, 3/4, 4/4, 7/8. Though it doesn't sound synched properly.

But you can count 15 quarter notes throughout the whole thing. It actually works, but it's a bit tricky.

At the second half of the piece (00:3) your quarter note will be on the off beat for a few bars. The last 3 bars are back on the beat.

[timaeus222]

Alright, no one's said this one yet!

7/8

[WiFiSunset]

Cosmic Cove Galaxy - 12/8 time:

. Super Mario Galaxy's music is amazing . Mahito Yokota, Ryo Nagamatsu, and Koji Kondo !

[Theory of N]

But you can count 15 quarter notes throughout the whole thing. It actually works, but it's a bit tricky.

At the second half of the piece (00:3) your quarter note will be on the off beat for a few bars. The last 3 bars are back on the beat.

Well first, there's an eighth at the end as opposed to a quarter so if you WERE to put the entire thing in 4, it would come out to 14.5/4.

But

I hate to be overly critical, but... time signatures don't work that way. They're not mathematical fractions where the numerator and denominator can be multiplied and divided to achieve an equivalent result. They can only be reduced depending upon whether it's compound time or simple time.

On top of that, phrasing and accented beats are pretty important when determining time. If you have two measures of 7/8, you can't call it one measure of 7/4 where the last half is off the beat.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Theory of N

[WarpstarRider]

Skimmed through the thread and didn't see "Summoned Beast Battle" from FFX mentioned, which is in 5/4.

Also I recall "Gnosis" from Xenosaga Episode I being at least partially in 5/4, but I'm not entirely sure.

There was also a dungeon theme from the first Star Ocean that was in 7/8 or something, but I can't remember which.

[timaeus222]

What in the world are the first four time signatures for Nippius?!

I'm thinking 6/8, 6/8, 15/8 or 6/8, 6/8, 4/4, 7/8, but other than that I can't think of anything.

[Gario]

12/16, 4/4, 12/16, 4/4, 6/16 (gotta be consistent with the last number, there - that's how the beats work), 4/4. It then proceeds to repeat that pattern throughout. Due to the accents of the song it makes more sense to think of it as a series of simpler time signatures than it does to combine them into larger time signatures.

6/8 doesn't work, since that would mean you'd literally be doubling the tempo of the music once you got to the 4/4 portions - a 16th subdivision makes more sense. Even in the more complicated sections it still works as combinations of 12/16 + 4/4; it just sounds more complicated because of the lead above the drums.

Edited June 3, 2013 by Gario

[timaeus222]

12/16, 4/4, 12/16, 4/4, 6/16 (gotta be consistent with the last number, there - that's how the beats work), 4/4. It then proceeds to repeat that pattern throughout. Due to the accents of the song it makes more sense to think of it as a series of simpler time signatures than it does to combine them into larger time signatures.

Wow. Haha, I think the weird drumwork made me lose count. I wasn't sure whether I could subdivide by 15, 16, or 17, but it turns out to be 16 since I'm thinking of when it reached the weird syncopated version of 4/4. I wouldn't have thought of counting in 16ths though.