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How do I insert meter change for just one or more measures, not the whole project?


Christian Jones

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For a mixed meter project that might have some 4/4 and some 3/4, how do I insert a meter change on just measure two for example w/o it changing the entire project from that point on? Like if I want measure one to be 4/4 and then measure two to be 3/4, right now when I do it using the "Set Measure/Beat at Now" command it changes it for the entire project from that point on. How can I confine the meter change to just one or more select measures?

Edited by Christian Jones
don't know
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24 minutes ago, Blacksymphony said:

You can change it back at next measure.:P

Lol. Yeah I got a song going that's like 4/4, 3/4, 4/4, 3/4, 4/4 - and this goes on for a while. Is there really no way to highlight just a measure and change only *its* meter? If you're just starting out building the song you'll manually map it, but if after you've built the song w/ a bunch of measures and you want to go back and change just measure two e.g. then doing so will change the entire project from that point on..

Edited by Christian Jones
why?
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Set now time where you want the change, and Project > Insert Meter/Key Change. The new meter persists until you enter another one to change it back. If you have  long series of regularly alternating meters you can copy/paste special  with repeats. Or you can use the Meter/Key view.

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37 minutes ago, David Baay said:

Set now time where you want the change, and Project > Insert Meter/Key Change. The new meter persists until you enter another one to change it back. If you have  long series of regularly alternating meters you can copy/paste special  with repeats. Or you can use the Meter/Key view.

Right, but what if I've got a song that's got a bunch of measures w/ intro, verse, chorus, verse etc and I later decide I want to change the 2nd measure of the intro to a different meter.. doing so will change/undo the entire song from that point on.. Is there no way to prevent that in that scenario? 

I could've have sworn some time ago I was able to  just highlight on the ruler the measures I wanted to do this for and only those measures were affected  

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Frequent time changes/meter key changes can be made using the meter key view.

Personally when I have a song with only a few of them, I use the Project > Insert Meter/Key Change that I have stored in my Custom module.

- Say you start out in 4/4 time.

- Put the Nowtime where you want to make the change (example from 4/4 to 3/4).

- Open the meter key and change it to 3/4.

- Now move the Nowtime (example 4 bars ahead) and change the meter key back to 4/4.

Meter key is used very similar to Tempo change/Inset new tempo.

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1 hour ago, Chuck E Baby said:

Say you start out in 4/4 time.

- Put the Nowtime where you want to make the change (example from 4/4 to 3/4).

- Open the meter key and change it to 3/4.

- Now move the Nowtime (example 4 bars ahead) and change the meter key back to 4/4.

Meter key is used very similar to Tempo change/Inset new tempo.

Well it's not that I don't know how to do that, it's that when I *do* insert a new meter it changes the rest of the song from that insert point on to that new meter you just inserted. So say if I've got a 3-minute song going and I retroactively go back and make a meter change somewhere in the intro - and if down the line of the song I've got all kinds of mixed meters, what I do to the intro is going to change the entire song from that point on to that new meter I just inserted in the intro, and thus would undo all those mixed meters. I'd then have to go down the whole song and reinsert those odd meters and then change it back after that, reinsert another odd meter, change it back after that etc. Am I missing something? 

Edited by Christian Jones
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35 minutes ago, Christian Jones said:

what I do to the intro is going to change the entire song from that point on to that new meter I just inserted in the intro, and thus would undo all those mixed meters.

Not necessarily. If you go back and want to change the intro for say.. 4 bars. then go back and change the intro for 4 bars. just remember to place the Nowtime after the 4 bars and change it back to 4/4.

Those meter changes you made previously (down the timeline) wont be affected. Its similar to ripple editing in the fact you are Inserting a meter change. Except your previous meter key changes don't get pushed down the timeline to new locations.

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Here's a more defined explanation...

Your meter key changes are Timeline dependent. They don't move just because you change 1 instance at the beginning of a song.

You must however, change the meter key back to the original timing (4/4, 3/4, exc).

Example- If you have all these meter key changes going on after 1:09:00 but want to insert a meter key change from 1:01:00 thru 1:09:00

Place the Nowtime at 1:01:00 Change it to 3/4. Then place the Nowtime head at 1:09:00 and change the meter key to 4/4.

No Meter key changes will be affected down stream.

There are instances in which you want to insert new data into the project and this will indeed throw off all meter key changes. This is the perfect time to reach into your tool box and grab Ripple editing. RE ALL will move all tempo and meter key changes.

 

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Hi, @Chuck E Baby 

It's cool this tip about Ripple Editing as it changes meter/key, tempo, etc. Thank you!

But I didn't get when you suggest changing meter key before some point won't affect what is ahead that point!
I just made a test and meters will rolll back if you lower the number of beats (*)! If I understood your point one should add a measure to compensate the lack of beats, or maybe tweak with tempo.

EDIT: (*) if you lower the number of beats/time signature

Edited by mgustavo
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16 minutes ago, mgustavo said:

Hi, @Chuck E Baby 

It's cool this tip about Ripple Editing as it changes meter/key, tempo, etc. Thank you!

But I didn't get when you suggest changing meter key before some point won't affect what is ahead that point!
I just made a test and meters will rolll back if you lower the number of beats (*)! If I understood your point one should add a measure to compensate the lack of beats, or maybe tweak with tempo.

EDIT: (*) if you lower the number of beats/time signature

Thanks for the response.

I did a few tests as well before commenting on this because I wanted to make fully sure I wasn't confusing the OP.

The timeline will indeed change when you use a meter key adjustment, but once you correct the meter key change, Timeline will go back to normal.

this is all about time, IE- Beat per measure. If there is existing material and time signatures need to be adjusted meter key works as intended. If however, you are adding parts, new material to existing mater key changes, this will throw everything off. that's why I suggest using ripple editing.

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Example : I hope this clears things up because I've already explained this to death ;)

Song starts out at 4/4 time.

- Measures 5 thru10 are in 2/4 time.

- I insert a meter key change from Measure 3 thru 5

- As you can see clearly in this video, I changed Measures 3 thru 5 to 3/4

Nothing changed with existing meter keys. they are still 2/4 from 5 thru 10 and still 4/4 from beginning thru 3

h3bTxgm.gif

 

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