Polyrhythm vs. Polymeter!

I really wanted to make a song that depicted the differences between polymeters and polyrhythms since I recently started reading into them a bit. I tried to do it last week but it ended up sounding really messy so I did a different song instead and decided to try again this week. I definitely think this piece came out a lot stronger than the first try and I learned a lot!

Diving into this I knew I preferred polymeters because I've used them before (and there is math involved when working with them which makes it more fun for me ). However after doing this song I've definitely noticed the appeal of polyrhythms and plan on finding ways to incorporate them into future pieces!

The song is written in 2/4, but incorporates 5/8 and 6/8 (or 3/4) during the polymeter sections.

Here is a breakdown of when the polyrhythms and polymeters occur (notice the polyrhythms resolve and repeat every measure, while the polymeters take 15 measures in 2/4 to resolve and repeat):

0:00-0:21 Polyrhythm
0:21-1:22 Polymeter
1:22-1:58 Polyrhythm
1:58-3:06 Polymeter

For those wondering the differences, here is a very useful reference:
http://music.stackexchange.com/questions/10488/polymeter-vs-polyrhythm

Basically it's the difference between layering different time signatures (polymeters) or tuplets (polyrhythms).

Tags: 16bit, chiptune, dance, edm, electronic, experimental, fakebit, game, math, meter, music, odd, poly, rhythm, time, vgm, video, vopm, week 16 2014, View by:A Thorny Succulent