Is there a workaround to accent quarter note triplets?

[Brother_Fats]

Is there a way to get Jamstix to accent quarter note triplets? From reading the forums I am assuming there is not. But perhaps there's a workaround?

What I am looking to do is 2 sets of quarter note triplets in a 4/4 bar. IOW, the top line of this:
[img:0782104efe]http://imageshack.com/a/img923/6223/hi3VoP.gif[/img:0782104efe]

[Ralph @ Rayzoon]

Triplets are done via the shuffle mode but it only works for 8th and 16th notes.

[Brother_Fats]

Triplets are done via the shuffle mode but it only works for 8th and 16th notes.

OK, thanks.

[jas_lan]

Will 6/8 work?

[non_drummer (Archive)]

I've been scratching my head about this issue as well, but a solution sprang to mind as soon as I looked at the picture in the original post. If you want quarter note triplets (you want to hear some kind of drum sound 6 times in a 4/4 measure), notate it using eighth note triplets, and turn the volume off for every even numbered eighth note. The 6 "quarter note" sounds you want to hear line up with eighth notes 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, & 11 as you can see in the picture.

Edit: I tried this with the hi-hat sound but I could still hear the even numbered 'notes' because I could only turn the power level down to 8%. I found 2 solutions:

1. Right-click in the 'beat' area of the Bar Editor (the 1 - - - 2 - - - 3 - - - 4 - - - area) above each even numbered eighth note and choose 'keep beat silent.' This works, but isn't a good choice if you have other sounds on that beat as well.

2. Just delete every even numbered eighth note. I tried this and it worked perfectly.

To notate the eight notes you place a note on beat 1 and the 2 boxes next to it. Then select notes 2 & 3, right-click, and select "Shuffle > Forced"

Some extra info...

This is a much better solution than the other I tried, which was converting the 3 or 6 quarter note triplets in a 4/4 measure to 6/8 time. This is a pain for 2 reasons. One, every time you change the time sig. you need to create a new part in the Song Sheet. Two, you need to increase the tempo of the 6/8 measure to make it play at the same speed as the 4/4 measure, and I wasn't quite sure what the formula was for doing that. I figured that 6/8 was 75% of 4/4. Then I thought, if something is 75% of something else, how much does it need to be increased to make it equal? Well, 75 is 75% of 100, so it needs to be increased by 25 to make it 100 as well. 25/75 is 33 1/3%, so I increased my tempo by 33 1/3%. It sounded close, but still a hair too slow. My math skills were tapped out at that point, so I searched the forum about quarter note triplets and found this post. The picture at the top triggered the solution in my brain.

Edit: I stand by solution #2 above for deleting every even numbered eighth note, but I did figure out the math for converting the tempo of 4/4 triplets to 6/8 time. 3 quarter notes fill up an entire measure of 6/8, but as triplets they only fill half a measure of 4/4. I increased the tempo of the 6/8 measure by 50% and it was spot on.

[jas_lan]

I also wonder if 6/4 would work... I have used it before and it has a quarter note triplet feel.

[Brother_Fats]

Thanks, ND! Cool solution. I will try that.