What's "a tick"?

T

TekMonki

New member
I've been reading various production materials and they say sometimes . . move the beat ahead (or behind) "a tick". What exactly is "a tick" in sequencer terms? Like 1/16? 1/512? Is it arbitrary?

Someone said that there are 480 ticks per beat, but I did some googling and have read different things regarding that.

Any insight on this?
 
Depending on what sequencer you're using, there should be a delay function on every track that allows you to slide the timing of the track foward or backwards by ticks. I use cubase and every track has a delay slider where you can adjust the timing. It's great to change up the feel of a track. I don't use it the whole track but on individual instruments like the hi-hat or snares.
 
Right. I used to use Cubase, but have been into Live a lot more lately. If I remember right, Cubase goes up to 128ths? Is that a tick? Or is a tick whatever you have it set to quantize to? So if it was 1/16ths, that would be a tick too?

Or are "ticks" seperate from quantize values?
 
Ticks are seperate from your quantize value. Ticks have more to do with your sequencer recording and editing resolution. Sometimes they're refered to as PPQ(pulses per quarter note). For example, 480ppq or 960ppq. I believe Cubase's precision is 960ppq. Obviously higher is better especially if you're playing rubato or are not quantizing your tracks.
 
or and this is a maybe he was usign it as a slang for a lil bit like move that couch to the left a tick
 
That's what I would have thought it mean, like move it to the right a bit.
 
TekMonki said:
I've been reading various production materials and they say sometimes . . move the beat ahead (or behind) "a tick". What exactly is "a tick" in sequencer terms? Like 1/16? 1/512? Is it arbitrary?

Someone said that there are 480 ticks per beat, but I did some googling and have read different things regarding that.

Any insight on this?
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?? are you sure your not referring to the metronome tick/click ???
 
JimbaFrosty said:
move that couch to the left a tick
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nnaahh move it back to the left i cant see the tv from there lmao

spam.gif
 
I'm *pretty* sure that this refers to the sequencer resolution as well (re: what roymaya said). I'm not completely sure, but then again, I can always resort to that english isn't my native language ;)
 
Example quote:

More importantly, though, house more than any other genre relies on plenty of drive. This can be applied in a variety of ways, but the most commonly used technique is to employ a slight timing difference in the rhythm to create a push in the beat. Typicaly, this involves keeping the kick sat firmly on all the beats but moving the snares forward in time by [sic] tick or two. Then, once the bass line is laid down, it's timing is matched to these snares using a sequencer's match quantize function.
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the term tick. is usally used in tracker sequencers.

in a tracker u may have 64 rows. which equal 2 bars. eachrow can contain a certain amount of ticks for timing issues. moving somethign a tick just means 2 the right or left a little to create shuffle.
 
jnxe said:
the term tick. is usally used in tracker sequencers.

in a tracker u may have 64 rows. which equal 2 bars. eachrow can contain a certain amount of ticks for timing issues. moving somethign a tick just means 2 the right or left a little to create shuffle.
Click to expand...

^^^ good post .. i think your right
 
Ok, looked it up a bit. It's what roymaya said originally - the measuring unit of sequencer resolution (PPQN).
 
krushing said:
Ok, looked it up a bit. It's what roymaya said originally - the measuring unit of sequencer resolution (PPQN).
Click to expand...

cool we all learned something
love on that krushing
 
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