Note lengths
Beatbox 9 writes a step length as a fraction of a semibreve, a whole note. 1/16 semibreve is a sixteenth note. The tick counts divide 15360 by that fraction.
A semibreve is a whole note: four quarter notes, one bar in 4/4. Beatbox 9 sets its sequencer grid with Scale, and the labels are fractions of that whole note.
| Label | Steps in one quarter note | Each step |
|---|---|---|
| 1/12 semibreve | 3 | eighth-note triplet |
| 1/16 semibreve | 4 | sixteenth note |
| 1/24 semibreve | 6 | sixteenth-note triplet |
| 1/32 semibreve | 8 | thirty-second note |
1/16 is four steps per beat, sixteen steps in a 4/4 bar. 1/12 is three steps on each beat. 1/24 and 1/32 are the finer grids, for rolls and busy hats.
The same menu also prints a tick length: 1280, 960, 640, and 480 ticks per step. A semibreve is 15360 ticks, and those four numbers are 15360 divided by 12, 16, 24, and 32. The MIDI editor grid uses the names 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16, and follows the project tempo. A 1/16 step there and a 1/16 semibreve step on Beatbox 9 are the same musical length.