# which is the 'note division' of 4/4 compass?



## Day

Hello! and sorry for my misspelling, I'm from spain, and I have a song in 4/4 beat and 120 bpm.

*What is the "note division to convert" of a song which is 4/4 its compas?*

I need to know the "note division" because a web* which provides me the "delay time generator" asks me de bpm and the "note division", in spain I never hear about note division: 1/1...1/4...1/16...1/32...
I only know that my song it is 4/4 (about the beat)

(I even not sure if it's called "note division" to theses or any othe tecnic-official name: 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8,









* Here the web for the tempo calculation's delay:
http://www.thewhippinpost.co.uk/tools/delay-time-calculator.htm

Thanks a lot, and sorry for my unknowing


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## Taggart

No idea why you're using this tool. What is does is to convert notes to milliseconds depending on the beats per minute measure in crotchets.

The note divisions are the American version of notes; 1 = full note or breve; 1/2 = half note or semi-breve; 1/4 = quarter note or crotchet; 1/8 = eighth note or quaver; 1/16 = sixteenth note or semi-quaver; 1/32 = thirty second note or demi-semi-quaver. There are also the dotted versions of these notes.

If you crank in 120 bpm - that means that there are 120 crotchets per minute and each crotchet or 1/4 or quarter note lasts for 500 ms or half a second. This in turn means that a bar - American measure - of 4/4 - four crotchets or 4 quarter notes will last for 2 seconds.

That's what the program is doing. The delay time is the time a particular note should last.


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## Day

Good morning Taggart! Thanks!

I'm want to be sure, (because of my bad english), sure you say that beat 4/4 = 1/4 note division?
4/4 corresponds to 1/4, correct?
_____________________________________________

I do a mix to the song: and to apply the effect of reverb and the effects of delay to the voice of the singer, I must match the time duration (ms) of the efefct delay and the effect reverb, match to the correspond time of the all that which is 120 bpm and 4/4 beat, but in order to match both "times" I must tell to the "automatic calculator time for the effects delay and reverb" whic American note division has the song, and I don't know hoy to convert a beat (for example 4/4) into a American note division


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## Taggart

Yes. 4/4 beat is 4 x 1/4 beats per bar.


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## Day

Sorry, I wanted to say 4/4 Time signature, not 4/4 beat (or it is the same? I mean 4/4 beats and 4/4 time signature are synonymous??)

_______________

Then if I have a song with:
120 bpm
and with 4/4 Time signature
Here, to know the duration of the effects od the reverb and the delay, in the dropdown of this web I must put:

120 bpm
1/4 (without dotted?)

___________________

Can exist one song with 120 bpm, and with 4/4 Time signature and to be 1/8, or another "note division /note value" that it is not 1/4? Or for ever and ever a song with 4/4 Time signature in the lenguage of "note division /note value" will be only 1/4?

Thousands thanks!


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## Taggart

The time signature is irrelevant. The metronome mark is based on the beat unit. When you talk about beats per minute, you have to say what a beat represents. Usually bpm is given as a crotchet or quarter note. In older music you can get bpm given as a dotted minim (usually for 6/8 to avoid an 1/8 note unit). 120 beats per minute mean that you get a beat every half second. If that is a quarter note or crotchet that means that a crotchet lasts half a second or 500ms or that the interval between crotchets is 500ms. The calculator allows you to calculate the interval between any note down to 1/32 note. So if you have the sheet music, you can calculate when each note should be sounding or the interval between any two notes based on the note value.


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## Day

I thought that "time signature" was the clue to know which that I must choose "note division /note value" I must choose here:
http://www.thewhippinpost.co.uk/tools/delay-time-calculator.htm

I very sorry and thankful for your help sir, then I only have the certainly that the song has 120 beats per minut, but thenn... in this page:
http://www.thewhippinpost.co.uk/tools/delay-time-calculator.htm
which "note division" I must choose? any "note division" in the dropdown menu of the web will be useful for my song of 120 bmp?

How to know which "note division" is the best for my song of 120 bmp? any "note division" will be correct? (in order to know the time duration of the delay and reverb effect)

*Asking the same question in other way:*
For example: To my song of 120 bpm: 
a) if I choose a "note division" of 1/4 -- this means the time duration of the effect will be 500 ms
b) if I choose a "note division" of 1/8 -- this means the time duration of the effect will be 250 ms
c) if I choose a "note division" of 1/16 -- this means the time duration of the effect will be 125 ms
d) if I choose a "note division" of 1/32 -- this means the time duration of the effect will be 63 ms

Whatever "note division" I choose is correct? I mean... How do I know WHICH "note division" I must choose? 
please, please


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## Taggart

If it's 120 bpm in 4/4, then chose 1/4 for 500ms duration.


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## millionrainbows

4/4 is 4 beats a measure (top number), with quarter note (bottom number) as the note division.

The key word here is* "beats."* 120 beats per minute could expressed by any *note division* (the number on bottom): 1(whole note), 2 (half note),4 (quarter note),8 (eighth note),16 (sixteenth note), 32 (thirty-second note), 64 (sixty-fourth note).

Notice: note values (divisions) go by* 2's:* 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32.

How many "beats" is the top number. 4/4 has 4 beats, 4/8 has four beats, 4/16 has four beats, 4/32 has four beats, etc.
3/4 has three beats, 3/8 has three beats, 3/16 has three beats, etc.

The trick is, if you want to divide a "pulse beat" into three. This is common in most blues & r&b songs.

The note values go by 2's, so if you want a "3" note, you must use a dot: dotted quarter equals 1-1/2 quarter notes (or three eighth notes), dotted eighth note equals 1-1/2 eighth notes (or three sixteenth notes), etc.

We cannot put this "3" into the bottom number of a time signature. There is no "3/3" or "4/3."

We have to write it this way: 6/8 or 12/8.
_________________________________________________________________________
*
6/8 *means "six beats in a measure, eighth note gets one beat." *1*23/*4*56, *1*23/*4*56, *1*23/*4*56, *1*23/*4*56, etc.

Notice how there are *2 "main pulses"* not able to be written into our signature system: on* 1* and *4.* Each main pulse is divided into three: *1*23/*4*56, with* two main pulses* in each measure. This is usually the bass pulse, and bass drum pulse.
_____________________________________________________________________________
*
12/8* means "12 beats in a measure, eighth note gets one beat." *1*23/*4*56/*7*89/*10* 11 12.

Notice how there are 4 "main pulses" not able to be written into our time signature system: on *1**, 4**, 7**, *and*10*. Each main pulse is divided into three: *1*23/*4*56/*7*89/*10* 11 12, with *four main pulses* per measure. This is the 'walking bass' heard in blues: 1,4,7,10. 1-2-3-4. Boom boom boom boom.


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## rumleymusic

To be perfectly accurate. The "Beat Note" is the correct term for a quarter note in 4/4.

Note division usually refers to compound vs. simple meter in simple meters like 4/4, the division of the beat is an eighth note. 

In compound meters like 6/8 the beat note is a dotted quarter while the division is an eighth note as well.


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## millionrainbows

rumleymusic said:


> To be perfectly accurate. The "Beat Note" is the correct term for a quarter note in 4/4.
> 
> Note division usually refers to compound vs. simple meter in simple meters like 4/4, the division of the beat is an eighth note.
> 
> In compound meters like 6/8 the beat note is a dotted quarter while the division is an eighth note as well.


To be even more accurate, the "beat" note is written into compound time signatures as if it were a simple meter; for example, 12/8 is written as "12 beats" in the top number, although the "real beat" is a dotted quarter.


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## rumleymusic

millionrainbows said:


> To be even more accurate, the "beat" note is written into compound time signatures as if it were a simple meter; for example, 12/8 is written as "12 beats" in the top number, although the "real beat" is a dotted quarter.


Ehh, I don't know if that clarify's anything. It is rare, except in very slow movements that the bottom number will get the beat in a compound meter. I am sure you are aware that all traditional non-mixed meters are classified as duple, triple or quadruple. Referring to the beat note quantity. 2,3,4 for simple meters, and 6,9,12 for compound. So the "beats" themselves are not directly defined by the time signature in compound meters, which cannot be written in simple terms, just the duration of the measure. It is not 12 'beats' in 12/8, it is 12 eighth notes total with four beats of dotted quarters. Just to split hairs, which is what theory is all about, right?

It is most important for a composer to be aware of the groupings of beat notes, in order to make the music readable and not confusing.


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## millionrainbows

rumleymusic said:


> Ehh, I don't know if that clarify's anything. It is rare, except in very slow movements that the bottom number will get the beat in a compound meter. I am sure you are aware that all traditional non-mixed meters are classified as duple, triple or quadruple. Referring to the beat note quantity. 2,3,4 for simple meters, and 6,9,12 for compound.


Yes, I am aware of that. I call it "beat unit," not "beat note quantity."



rumleymusic said:


> So the "beats" themselves are not directly defined by the time signature in compound meters, which cannot be written in simple terms, just the duration of the measure. It is not 12 'beats' in 12/8, it is 12 eighth notes total with four beats of dotted quarters. Just to split hairs, which is what theory is all about, right?


Since eighth notes are the "beat division," then four beats of dotted quarters should be called the "beat unit."

The 'main felt beat' or pulse itself is not directly defined (or represented) by the time signature in compound meters. So why refer to them as beats? Shouldn't you use the term 'pulse' or "beat unit" if the 'beat' is not literal but implied?

From WIK: In music and music theory, the *pulse* consists of beats in a (repeating) series of identical yet distinct periodic short-duration stimuli perceived as points in time occurring at the mensural level.

"This _*pulse*_ is typically what listeners entrain to as they tap their foot or dance along with a piece of music, and *is also colloquially termed the 'beat,'* or more technically the 'tactus.'

...The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a piece of music, or the numbers a musician counts while performing, *though in practice this may be technically incorrect *(often the first multiple level).

In popular use, _beat_ can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, specific rhythms, and groove.

In compound meter, *subdivisions of the main beat (the upper number) split into three, not two, equal parts,* so that a dotted note (half again longer than a regular note) becomes the beat unit.

Compound time signatures are named *as if they were simple time signatures, *in which the one-third part of the beat unit is the beat, so the top number is commonly 6, 9 or 12 (multiples of 3). The lower number is most commonly an 8 (an eighth-note): as in 9/8 or 12/8. (end WIK quote)

Yes, it is inherently counter-intuitive. In 12/8, the "beat division" is an eighth note, but the actual pulse (or felt beat) or "beat unit" is a dotted eighth, or three eighth notes.


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