# Why does this polymeter sound this way? **URL:** \ **Category:** TidalCycles\ **Tags:** questions\ **Created:** [28 January 2022 08:06 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840 "2022-01-28T08:06:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/user_avatar/uzu.lurk.org/mmmoth/32/2185_2.png) [@mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/mmmoth)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2022 08:06 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/1 "2022-01-28T08:06:17Z")
Ok i'm doing d1$"bd ~ ~ ~ ~ , hh hh [hh hh sn]}" I was expecting bd on the first beat, but instead it's a bunch of hh before. I'm trying to do something like this [bd ~ ~ ~, hh hh hh hh sn] === hh and sn in 5 beats polymetric. together with something like hh in 7/12 over 2 bars long. Or something arbitrary of that sort. Is that possible? ---
**Author:** ![mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/user_avatar/uzu.lurk.org/mmmoth/32/2185_2.png) [@mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/mmmoth)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2022 08:30 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/2 "2022-01-28T08:30:13Z")
Maybe it isn't as clear as it can be: bd ~ ~ ~ ~ === 4 beats hh hh hh hh sn === 5 beats, so the snare wraps around so the output should be (bd,hh) (~,hh) (~,hh) (~,hh) (bd,sn) (~,hh) (~,hh) (~,hh) (bd,hh) (~,sn) Also i want to pair it with something arbitrary like a 7/12 over 2 bars long ---
**Author:** ![jwaldmann](https://uzu.lurk.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/977dab/32.png) [@jwaldmann](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/jwaldmann)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2022 12:17 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/3 "2022-01-28T12:17:11Z")
from first principles (using only stack `[,]`, cat `<>`, fast `*4`): ```haskell d1 $ s "[, ]*4" ``` there may be other (shorter) syntax for this in mininotation. [EDIT] yes: ```haskell d1 $ s "{bd ~ ~ ~, hh hh hh hh sn}" ``` [technical remark] Semantics of `{ }` notation seems a bit tricky: it's implemented in the parser ([Tidal/ParseBP.hs at main · tidalcycles/Tidal · GitHub](https://github.com/tidalcycles/Tidal/blob/main/src/Sound/Tidal/ParseBP.hs#L126)) as it's not purely semantical: it cannot be defined of type `[Pattern a] -> Pattern a` (the type of `stack` and `cat`) . The implementation of `{ ... }` needs syntactical properties of its arguments: `resolve_size` is a property of `TPat a`, not of `Pattern a`. ---
**Author:** ![mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/user_avatar/uzu.lurk.org/mmmoth/32/2185_2.png) [@mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/mmmoth)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2022 17:30 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/4 "2022-01-28T17:30:15Z")
I guess i was wrong about > [@jwaldmann](#): > > `d1 $ s "{bd ~ ~ ~, hh hh hh hh sn}"` It turns out that once tidal is started, when i reevaluate the sequence, it starts from where it left off. So it isn't (bd,hh ) as the first output, even if i use the panic or hush command before reevaluating. Is there anyway of evaluating a 13/3 ? How would this look? ---
**Author:** ![jwaldmann](https://uzu.lurk.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/977dab/32.png) [@jwaldmann](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/jwaldmann)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2022 17:44 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/5 "2022-01-28T17:44:00Z")
> starts from where it left off. it starts from where the clock currently is (it keeps ticking). try with ```haskell d1 $ s "numbers/2" >| n (slow 2 $ run 4) ``` (evaluate this and `hush`, in random order) What do you mean by "evaluating a 13/3" (Can you write it in classical music notation)? Perhaps this? ```haskell d1 $ s "{bd ~ ~ , sn hh hh hh sn hh hh hh sn hh hh hh sn}" ``` ---
**Author:** ![mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/user_avatar/uzu.lurk.org/mmmoth/32/2185_2.png) [@mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/mmmoth)\ **Post date:** [28 January 2022 17:53 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/6 "2022-01-28T17:53:31Z")
> [@jwaldmann](#): > > `d1 $ s "{bd ~ ~ , sn hh hh hh sn hh hh hh sn hh hh hh sn}" ` Yes that would be correct, but what if it was played against a 4/4 pattern? ---
**Author:** ![mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/user_avatar/uzu.lurk.org/mmmoth/32/2185_2.png) [@mmmoth](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/mmmoth)\ **Post date:** [29 January 2022 04:18 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/7 "2022-01-29T04:18:59Z")
After looking through t he documentation it's probably something like this ## d1$n"0 1 1 1"#s"arpy" ===== 4/4 d2$n"0 1 1 1 1"#s"casio" ======= 5:4 5 beat against a 4 beat d1 ## d1$n"0 1 1 1 1"#s"arpy" ===== 5/4 ## d1$n"0 1 1 1"#s"arpy" === 4/4 d2$n"{0 1 1 1 1}%4"#s"casio" ==== 5/4 but is polymetric with d1 ---
**Author:** ![nicasi](https://uzu.lurk.org/user_avatar/uzu.lurk.org/nicasi/32/2400_2.png) [@nicasi](https://uzu.lurk.org/u/nicasi)\ **Post date:** [8 February 2022 11:17 UTC](https://uzu.lurk.org/t/why-does-this-polymeter-sound-this-way/3840/8 "2022-02-08T11:17:03Z")
Good question. Tidal is very good in creating polyrythms. I'm quite new to Tidal. For polymeters you found out to use the modulo operator, interesting. I have one tip that helped me and might help you: if you want to visualize patterns you can use the drawLine command For example your patterns ( I simplified them a bit): ```haskell d1 $ s "bd ~ ~ ~" d2 $ s "{hh hh hh hh sn}%4" ``` can be drawn like this (changed the sound names to numbers for readability): ```haskell drawLine "0 ~ ~ ~" drawLine "{1 1 1 1 2}%4" ``` It will display this in the console: ```haskell |0 |0 |0 |0 |0 ... |1111|2111|1211|1121|1112 ... ``` Perfect polymeter! When I read your question I thought about the iter (and iter') command (which shifts the pattern every cycle), it does something which looks a bit similar (compare measures 2, 3, 4 and 5 with the same measures above): ```haskell drawLine (iter' 4 $ "1 1 1 2") |1112|2111|1211|1121|1112|2111 ``` But it is not a real polymeter. Happy coding!