Metronome volume behavior not consistent across different time signatures

• Jan 24, 2021 - 03:57

When listening to metronome volume across a measure, I notice when time signature is 4/4 there is a percieved volume for each quarter note. I get it. The 1 is a "thump", and for 2, 3 and 4 it's a "tock". However you want to describe it. Note I hear the 2, 3 and 4 beats as having mostly the same volume or "oomph".

However, when I listen to metronome using 6/4 time signature, I notice that the 2 and 3 beats have less "oopmh" as they did for 4/4, and the sound on the 4th beat seems a bit more accented. Also if you notice in the waveforms.png file for 4/4, the 3 beat is a bit more accented than 2 and 4.

Overall, with 6/4 I percieve more powerful sound on 1 and 4. Is this by design? I guess these differences do provide a structure.

Attachment Size
Test_Metronome_volume_levels.mscz 4.33 KB
waveforms.png 6.39 KB

Comments

I don't know the code or design of MuseScore but having tick 1 and 4 set as beats in 6/4 is exactly what's 6/4 means musically.
So MuseScore behaviour here seems exactly what's expected.

@drippingnotes
Ciao,
il 6/4 è un tempo composto che deriva dal 2/2; essendo un tempo composto ha suddivisione ternaria
(ovvero 3 suddivisioni per movimento) e, derivando dal 2/2, ha 2 movimenti : uno in battere ed uno in levare :
1 2 3 (in battere ) e 4 5 6 (in levare ). Detto questo, il metronomo di Muse Score funziona bene.
Nel caso che il 6/4 sia preceduto o seguito da un altro tempo semplice (es.: 4/4, 2/4, ecc.) ed abbia un'indicazione metronometrica come questa: (1/4) = (1/4) non sarà più considerato tempo composto ma tempo semplice e verrà eseguito in 3 movimenti con 2 suddivisioni per movimento: 1 2 3 4 5 6. In questo caso il metronomo di MuseScore non suona correttamente.
Buona musica.

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