Polymetric Rhythmic Feel for a Cognitive Drum Computer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a preference rule system for a cognitive drum computer that infers and generates polymetric rhythmic structures, integrating binary and ternary feels based on micro-timing analysis of West African percussion.

Contribution

It presents a novel rule-based system for inferring local polymetric structures and implements it into a drum computer that adapts rhythmic feel accordingly.

Findings

Discovered a six-pulse timing pattern combining binary and ternary rhythms.

Implemented a drum computer that adjusts swing based on input sequence.

Validated the system's ability to produce polymetric rhythmic feels.

Abstract

This paper addresses a question about music cognition: how do we derive polymetric structures. A preference rule system is presented which is implemented into a drum computer. The preference rule system allows inferring local polymetric structures, like two-over-three and three-over-two. By analyzing the micro-timing of West African percussion music a timing pattern consisting of six pulses was discovered. It integrates binary and ternary rhythmic feels. The presented drum computer integrates the discovered superimposed polymetric swing (timing and velocity) appropriate to the rhythmic sequence the user inputs. For binary sequences, the amount of binary swing is increased and for ternary sequences, the ternary swing is increased.