Feature Request - Velocity Edits | Irrational Time Signatures | Polyrhythmic/meter Improvements | Tied Notes

Velocity Edits

It would be awesome to have the ability to adjust the velocity of ALL slices on a single beat in tandem. This would be applied relative to the current values of a beat. For instance, if a beat has 4 slices with velocities (where 'x' represents a silent beat);

| 80 | x | 50 | 20 | and you were to adjust all of the velocities in tandem to increase by say 20, you would end up with;

| 100 | x | 70 | 40 |

Note that this would be a different behavior than a filled beat of;

| 80 | 0 | 50 | 20 | -> [increase by 20] resulting in -> | 100 | 20 | 70 | 40 |

I envision that this can be accomplished with the usual [ALT] modifier and a click+drag. However, rather than performing the operation on a single slice, the click+drag would occur somewhere withing the lightly outlined square frame of the beat itself. This visual feedback shows that 'oh, I am operating on the entire circular beat within this box rather than hovering over a single slice.'

This would be a huge workflow improvement and would only add to the musicality and creative potential in BS.

Irrational Time Signatures

Add the ability to create 'irrational time signatures.'

See; https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Time_signature#Irrational_meters

The world has gone on for too long in a 'power of two' monopoly as far as rhythmic divisions go. As found in the Schillinger System of Musical Composition (SSMC) Book One Chapter 12a [pg.70], Schillinger proposes a method and a move toward non-power-of-two rhythmic divisions.

Think a measure of 2/3 where you have two third-parts of a bar in the prevailing tempo. This would amount to a bar length of two 'triplet quarter notes'. Another example; 3/4 followed by a measure of 3/7. You would calculate this by taking the prevailing tempo's whole note and dividing it into the denominator of the listed signature (in this case, a 7). Then, that length of seven in multiplied by the numerator (a 3) to give the total temporal length of a bar.

This is a somewhat more obscure musical tool, but it is being used more and more by composers and performers even outside of academic music. Imagine a bar of 4/4 followed by a bar of 5 8th-note triplets. The grooves can be awesome and wild! Ex; ||: One-and two-and three-and four-and | one-la-li two-la :||

Of course, this could be accomplished with tempo changes or metric modulation - but Beat Scholar is setup with this incredibly intuitive interface and I believe this would help add another layer of potential learning and exploration.

Polyrhythmic/meter Improvements

There currently exists no easy way (that I could find) to produce a groove consisting of quarter notes over quarter note triplets. This can however be done on a per beat level - four 8th-notes against three 8th-note triplets.

An expansion of the polyrhythmic aspects - that have been requested here before (see; feature-request-ability-to-divide-each-lane-individually-for-polyrhythm-madness) - would greatly enhance the ability for Beat Scholar to create and replicate rhythmic structures and cycles from Ghanaian music, Balinese music, and South Indian cyclical rhythms.

Tied Notes

This may be a controversial and somewhat difficult to implement item, but some sort of note tie function would greatly help readability in Beat Scholar. For me, when I read music or midi notation I intuitively interpret the blank space as a silence. I know this is not the case when you have something like a crash cymbal with a long decay, but it is a bit disorienting in Beat Scholar Currently. Notes currently have nothing the resembles a 'choke' feature. For instance if I have a long decay booming kick that rings out for say 5 beats, and I have it play the following rhythm;

|x - x - | X - - - ||

When the third impulse is triggered (the capital X), there are already two currently ringing beats that are now being added to and creating a distorted/muddy sound.

As I write this, I'm becoming aware that a 'choke' function (or mono) function is something different than a tie function but the two are related!

The tie function would allow for an explicit silence vs sustain compositional choice from the composer rather than having to take the 'set it and accept it' approach of using a sustained vs short sample.