Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

[stargroup100]

Preface: I've been working on this project for quite some time now, spending many hours researching, thinking, writing, and revising. This was initially supposed to be a library database for KBO, but it will be a while before it is released there, so I modified it a bit for general usage to the public.

Hopefully, this guide will help people better understand rhythm simulation as a genre, but the core focus is notecharting. Optimally, the bulk of this will be a notecharting guide that will help explain all of the modern techniques and help artists understand and learn them faster.

This is an ongoing work in progress. Any sort of input, suggestions, contributions, etc. are greatly appreciated.

http://www.cosmovibe.com/ncguide/

[Mollocephalus]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Looks great good job, Bufang

[TheSilentLord]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

All heil the king.

Really good stuff here, read about 30% and already learned new stuff. Sticky, anyone? (at least when it's finished)

[Xx{Midnight}xX]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

I only majorly disagree with one thing I read

Limiting your pattern choices by avoiding jacks severely limits your work, especially for 4-key, where you don't have a lot of room to begin with. By incorporating jacks into your patterns, you not only have more options, but these jacks will add a lot of expression into your work.

There's a lot that can be done while avoiding misc jacks and such.

Still a great guide either way.

[TC_Halogen]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Huge respect for adding a section on chart connotation -- it's something that more stepartists need to learn.

Typically, a song will be split into 4 measure phrases, but of course, every song is different, and should be treated case by case.

I personally would revise this to 8 measure phrases, as a theme changing every four measures in a 4/4 song might sound a bit strange. I know you mention case-by-case, but it's still worth mentioning.

Limiting your pattern choices by avoiding jacks severely limits your work, especially for 4-key, where you don't have a lot of room to begin with. By incorporating jacks into your patterns, you not only have more options, but these jacks will add a lot of expression into your work. Mastery of jack theory will put a lot of personality into your charts, as well as making your patterns stronger and more dynamic.

This is correct, but it needs to be refined a bit. For one, jacks use should be limited in proportion to the BPM of the song -- you don't want to incorporate properly represented jacks for a bass drum in a 250 BPM speedcore song when a synth riff decides to come in (obviously, this is an extenuating and quite stupid circumstance). In addition to this, simfile artists might be trying to avoid a level of rigidity. While obviously a joke, you made a chart for Amber Shores (if I remember correctly) that illustrates a great counter-example to this theory, despite being rather unrealistic. Also, a simfile artist might be working on a file that is intended to be mid-level in difficulty, with intentions to represent the song with a high number of notes with a high amount of pattern fluency (therefore, an easier file, despite the increased density).

I'm not noting that the jack theory is incorrect, but it should be used stringently.

Streams can be tricky because without enough experience, it can be very difficult to create streams that flow properly, and do not contain any awkward pattern choices. There are some general guidelines to follow to create stream patterns that will not be problematic. Keep in mind that these are still just general guidelines. If a concept requires that some of these guidelines are broken, then it could be justified.

Thank you for adding the bolded area.

3.3.3.1: Advanced Pitch Relevancy/Counterpoint

Fantastic section.

3.3.6: Grace Notes

Also a fantastic section with great examples.

3.3.8: Mine Usage

This has something I would like to address:

You mention:

Because the player needs to avoid the mines, they are perfect for most situations where it is preferable to force the player to release a key. These can be placed at abrupt changes in the music, such as silences in the music or wherever particular instrument tracks stop. This is the most literal usage of mines.

and:

In addition, because mines will activate as long as the key is held down, care must be taken not to place them too close to the notes, making them feel very tight and forcing good accuracy and absurdly quick lifts for those notes.

When you mention wherever particular instrument tracks stop, could we possibly incorporate staccatos? Staccatos are excellent ways to utilize mines because a player literally has to do a motion that is cut off/intended to be fast. While they don't provide the best visual stimuli, one can argue that a staccato using mines is the most appropriate way to do it; a mini-hold would imply that the note should be sustained for an extremely short period, which well... isn't possible. If you're hitting a staccato, you have no intentions on sustaining the note at all.

That's all I have. This is a really good guide, Bufang.

[stargroup100]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Updated the sentence about not using jacks limiting pattern choices. Hopefully this is an improvement.

As for the phrase length, here's an analogy:
"TC_Halogen's definition of a phrase was slightly off, so I clarified what I meant."
Each clause is a phrase, which is usually 4 measures. The whole sentence is usually the 8 measures you're talking about.

Musical example: here you can see that the melody doesn't really reach "completion" until the authentic cadence at the end, a total of 12 measures. However, this isn't a single phrase, it's more like a sentence. This excerpt is actually 3 four-measure phrases.

And one last note:

(at least when it's finished)

This is an ongoing project that will keep updating as more techniques and tricks are discovered, and there's always room for improvement through revising or expanding existing articles. So it'll never be "finished". It's sorta like the Wikipedia of notecharting.

Updated the added comment about staccato notes with mine usage.

[TC_Halogen]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Updated the sentence about not using jacks limiting pattern choices. Hopefully this is an improvement.

As for the phrase length, here's an analogy:
"TC_Halogen's definition of a phrase was slightly off, so I clarified what I meant."
Each clause is a phrase, which is usually 4 measures. The whole sentence is usually the 8 measures you're talking about.

Musical example: here you can see that the melody doesn't really reach "completion" until the authentic cadence at the end, a total of 12 measures. However, this isn't a single phrase, it's more like a sentence. This excerpt is actually 3 four-measure phrases.

Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification, haha.

[stargroup100]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Added an article.

[Choofers]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

I only majorly disagree with one thing I read

Limiting your pattern choices by avoiding jacks severely limits your work, especially for 4-key, where you don't have a lot of room to begin with. By incorporating jacks into your patterns, you not only have more options, but these jacks will add a lot of expression into your work.

There's a lot that can be done while avoiding misc jacks and such.

Still a great guide either way.

have you heard of jack theory

reading through this now, this is awesome.

[Xx{Midnight}xX]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Updated the sentence about not using jacks limiting pattern choices. Hopefully this is an improvement.

Very much like this rephrase better because it feels 100% more accurate.

have you heard of jack theory

I've done a good deal of reading. Just because I'm not "well versed" or making frequent use of it doesn't mean that much given it's a theory (Which aside from sync most everything else chart-wise is just a theory.) I usually just try to emulate the music in an ideal I came up with by listening to it several dozen times.

I'm very much going to read the rest of this completely. It's got a lot of things answered I've been curious about from a very strong point of view.

A few other things I might add:

Maybe add a section discussing the types of rhythm games?

Sections could include:

KBO
SM (4K and 6K)
FFR
Osu! (Taiko and Standard would make great mentions)

Tips and tricks could have some subsections:

AntiSplitting Techniques if there aren't any
Cheating patterns such as rolls
Key Setups?

For charting a section on appealing to a specific difficulty would be outright amazing.

But what's here so far, outright sexy. Thanks for the guide.

[stargroup100]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

Maybe add a section discussing the types of rhythm games?

Sections could include:

KBO
SM (4K and 6K)
FFR
Osu! (Taiko and Standard would make great mentions)

Eventually going to add this section, yes. Still a lot of work to do though. This section is much harder because I actually have to do a lot of research and get my facts straight and be neutral about discussing them in addition to figuring what exactly to talk about them. The guide doesn't need a history lesson; sites like Wikipedia have already got that covered.

Tips and tricks could have some subsections:

AntiSplitting Techniques if there aren't any
Cheating patterns such as rolls
Key Setups?

I suppose this could be split into more sections, but I haven't found enough topics to warrant that. I'm not sure if anything there is worth mentioning. The key setup thing is relevant, but that's more related to keyboard tech than rhythm gaming, so I don't think it's appropriate for this. I'll look into more topics here and see what I can come up with.

For charting a section on appealing to a specific difficulty would be outright amazing.

This seems strangely specific for a guide that's supposed to be general. I suppose I could add it in if I can find an appropriate place to stick it, but for now that will left out, as there should be plenty of basic information to indirectly address this issue at the moment.

[robertsona]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

bufang

hows college

[Coolboyrulez0]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

he dropped out of college to become a professional writer of guides on stepping, a fleeting musician and a pro LoL player

[Razor]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

great guide, tons of stuff for newbies to read and learn about.

[stargroup100]

Re: Rhythm Simulation Guide - 4k/6k Notecharting

bufang

hows college

we do not talk about this