In SpectraLyers in View > Time Unit > Tempo, when setting the bpm two parameters have to be set as well : Bar and Beat. I noticed this:
Bar: Works perfectly. If I set it to 4, the bar splits into 4 beats. If I set it to 3, I get 3 beats. Simple and clear.
Beat: This is where I cant understand what does this paramter do. I thought this would divide each beat into smaller parts (like 3,4,5 etc…). But instead, I kindoff not sure what it does…
For example:
Beats= 4 → I get 1 beat split into 4
Beat = 2 → The beat is divided into 2 equal parts (this makes sense ).
Beat = 3 → I expect the beat to be split into three portions, instead it got split to 4.
Beats= 5 → Is also making 1 beat split into 4.
I’m not entirely sure how this parameter works. Could someone explain what the ‘beat’ parameter is supposed to do exactly? It feels like I might be misunderstanding its purpose
Thanks
Hi @cubasened This is not so much a SpectraLayers question than a music theory question, bars and beats are definable in every DAW, including Cubase (in Cubase, it’s through Project > Track > Signature).
You can read more about it here for instance:
I’m not a musician, nor do I have extensive knowledge about musical theory. But as far as I understand, when setting Beats as time unit, the setting for Bar is actually how many beats (or notes of a certain kind/length) form together to 1 Bar, so it is the numerator of the musical signature.
The setting for Beat therefore is the denominator of the signature, or the kind/length of note. Using mainly WaveLab and having looked a tiny bit into Cubase, there seems to be only valid values of 2, 4, 8 and 16 (for half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes). Maybe it would make sense to also limit the values for Beat in SpectraLayers to avoid some weird settings when using this time unit?
Also, even if it is probably not the most used time unit in SpectraLayers, it would be nice to have just 1 window where you can set all 3 settings at once (Tempo, Bar, Beat). Just some streamlining.