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Geek Culture / How would i find out the "Beats per Second" of a song?

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Peter H
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 22:38 Edited at: 17th Dec 2004 22:38
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How would i find out the interval in-between the beats of a mp3 song? (BPS or whatever you want to call it)

i would like a almost exact way of doing it but i can't think of anything...

I would really like to know this for a project of mine...(you'll see it soon if i figure this out)

[edit] and no it's not for a DanceDanceRevolution style game

--Peter

"We make the worst games in the universe."

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bitJericho
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 22:41
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lol^_^

revolution!

.. sorry, I believe someone was talking about doing it through a memblock... look into making memblocks from sound

Then I would recommend finding out how to display the sound wave, and then you should be able to come up with an algorithm on your own.


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Peter H
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 22:45
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:/

i don't want to be able to do this through DarkBasic

i just want to do it

"We make the worst games in the universe."

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bitJericho
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 22:54
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oh -_-, well, no I don't know a formula or anything...

Perhaps look at a sound wave of a song that has a strong beat, and you'll see how the beat can be separated from the rest of the song.. and it'll be at regular intervals...

That may help ya out, I dunno, I've never done it Maybe someone knows more and can go into depth for you^_^


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Van B
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 23:01 Edited at: 17th Dec 2004 23:10
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I made something to do this in VB years ago - I basically had a little beat counter - so if you get something that lets you press a button and it measures the time since you last pressed it - you can turn that into a BPM value. Like 16 bars in a beat, most songs follow that, so if you went tap tap tap tap in time to the music, you would then multiply that by 4 because each tap would usually be 4 bars - and that would give a total time for 16 bars, which you could work out the BPM from really easily.

I tied mine in with the mouse, and it just had a little counter that displayed the BPM, you just play your tune and tap along. I'd suggest you work out your results based on a lot of data though, like 16 taps, then discard the first and last 2, then work out the BPM from those to get it more accurate.


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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 23:11 Edited at: 17th Dec 2004 23:35
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If you can tap along with the 'pulse' which will generally be 1/4 notes, you should be able to use a metronome, click track, sequencer, or (http://www.Dtab.underwaredesign.com) even. To reproduce the pulse and thus the number of beats per minute.

Generally in pop/rock/country music the pulse is considered the 1/4 note. The rate of these notes (per minute) ranges in the 80->120 beats per minute mark.

In other words to play, at 120 quarter notes per minute (120 beats per minute), your playing 2 quarters (beats) per second. At 80bpm, your playing (80bpm/60seconds) 1.333r quarters per second.

Each quarter can intern be subdivided again. The most common forms are binary (divisions of two, or ternary division of 3 triplets) ...

So per quarter (per beat) you can divide this space into

Common
1,2,3,4,6,8

and even,
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12 easily.. (.. 11 has no nature parent.. )

it's also worth noting, that a common recording trick, is to propel a songs chorus by pushing the tempo (beats per minute) up fractionally.



Anyway. To estimate the BPM of a tune manually, you can just count 'up beats' the snare hits, or the 'down beats' bass drum pulse.

Start the tune, tap along with the snare (ignoring any embellishments) for 10 seconds. This effectively gives you the number of 1/2 notes per 10 seconds.

To calc the Beats per second..

BeatsPersecond = (Taps * 2) *6

This assumes you can hold a tempo with wavering, and the music in a common time. aka 4/4

Kevin Picone
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David T
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 23:41
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Dance music is always 4:4 (4 crotchets to a bar), 60bps or 120bps.

Tap along to the beat then compare that to seconds by looking at a watch. You'd get a rough idea.

Although some songs are in very odd time signatures (ie 6:8) with odd things like 1 quaver = 44 or something to a minute.

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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 23:48
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6/8 is even..

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David T
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Posted: 17th Dec 2004 23:54 Edited at: 17th Dec 2004 23:54
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I suppose, although I always prefer crotchet beats to either dotted crothets (ONE two three ONE two three for 6:8).

I once had to perform a piece in 9:8, a duet, with a piano part that just didn't want to give me any sense of the beat. And then I had 20 bars rest at the start. Argh!

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Peter H
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 02:15
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yeah i have a metronome...i guess i could use that and Van B's mouse stuff

Thanks guys! you've given me some ideas at least

--Peter

"We make the worst games in the universe."

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bitJericho
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 02:17
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ohh I get it^_^

what I do is play the song while I'm setting the metronome, after you get it the metronome will keep in time, unless, of course, the song speeds up or slows down


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Benjamin
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 03:25
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Quote: "I suppose, although I always prefer crotchet beats to either dotted crothets (ONE two three ONE two three for 6:8)."

I think anyone does

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DrakeX
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 05:42
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umm... oh man, i didn't know there were differences in note names between the US and the UK!

crochets and quavers?

in any case, i have a song to sing that changes time signature so often.. at one point in the song, it switches to NO time signature, just free bar. and then there's this awesome melody/chorus kind of thing that switches from 5:8 for a measure to 6:8 for a measure, to 2:4 for a measure, with each of the "main" beats accented, like "ONE two three TWO two ONE two three TWO two three ONE two TWO two."

"when it's done" means "we have no idea, we forgot to do that; we were hoping you would all forget we promised <insert exotic promise here>"
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David T
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 06:07 Edited at: 18th Dec 2004 06:07
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Quote: "umm... oh man, i didn't know there were differences in note names between the US and the UK!

crochets and quavers? "


Of course there are

I think ours is based on the romantic languages, where your is mathematical:

BEATS - UK - US
4 SEMIBRIEVE ?
2 MINIM ?
1 CROTCHET QUARTER NOTE
1/2 QUAVER EIGHTH NOTE
1/4 SEMIQUAVER SIXTEENTH?
1/8 DEMISEMIQUAVER ?
1/16 HEMIDEMISEMIQUAVER ?

Yes, it does get rather long but nobody goes beyong demisemiquavers anyway (unless the piece is very slow).

I can see a few french names in there (Crotchet, Brieve?)

Personally, I prefer the continental approch because I find it easier than referencing to things by numbers. One and a half crotchet beats is easier to imagine than 1/4 + 1/8

edit: it seems teh forum isn't showing my nicely laid out table

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Benjamin
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 06:34 Edited at: 18th Dec 2004 06:42
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Put it inside teh code tags.



EDIT: Damn

Quote: "I once had to perform a piece in 9:8, a duet, with a piano part that just didn't want to give me any sense of the beat."

You play the piano?

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empty
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 07:22 Edited at: 18th Dec 2004 07:24
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Quote: "I can see a few french names in there (Crotchet, Brieve?)"

In french it's ronde, blanche, noire (semibreve/whole, minim/half, crotchet/quarter) IIRC.
Although the American terminology is spreading.

Quote: "it's also worth noting, that a common recording trick, is to propel a songs chorus by pushing the tempo (beats per minute) up fractionally."

Yep, and an even more common live trick (or reflex) is to reduce the tempo during the more difficult parts.

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Benjamin
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 07:25
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Quote: "Yep, and an even more common live trick (or reflex) is to reduce the tempo during the more difficult parts."

Boring. I INCREASE the tempo on the difficult parts

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DrakeX
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 07:41
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"One and a half crotchet beats is easier to imagine than 1/4 + 1/8"

whatever floats your boat.

personally i think music should be written on a grid-like piano roll, where notes are rectangles rather than circular blobs with lines all over them. some stuff is rather awkward to write with regular notes.

"when it's done" means "we have no idea, we forgot to do that; we were hoping you would all forget we promised <insert exotic promise here>"
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Ilya
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 08:15
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Notes should be numbered, with the center note being 0. Also, duration should be fraction instead of a note with a line connecting fractions if you want to play 2 at a time or something. Also, Longitude/Latitude should be replaced with UV mapping.

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Benjamin
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 08:46 Edited at: 18th Dec 2004 08:47
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Quote: "personally i think music should be written on a grid-like piano roll, where notes are rectangles rather than circular blobs with lines all over them. some stuff is rather awkward to write with regular notes."

Er, no. The grid would have to be massive, and its just impracital. If you can't read sheet music thats your problem.

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Newbie Brogo
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Posted: 18th Dec 2004 09:32 Edited at: 18th Dec 2004 09:52
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Hey... what would the time signature be of a piece in cut time.. what are thy numbers...?

EDIT:

Ok... 2/4.. that's what I thought... it didn't work at first, now it does. Go away.


WooT!
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