When people talk about 4:3 or 5:2 polyrhythm, this is what they mean. Finally, the ratio of the number of onsets in each loop is not a whole number (otherwise one loop would just be an even subdivision of the other). The loops contain different numbers of onsets, meaning that the subdivisions of each loop are not the same length. Each loop consists of a set of evenly-spaced subdivisions or rhythmic onsets. Polyrhythm is two or more concurrent loops of equal duration.Tyler’s thesis contains the clearest definition of the terms that I know of, which I paraphrase here. The words “polyrhythm” and “polymeter” are frequently used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. This means that you can use the Groove Pizzeria to make polyrhythm and polymeter. The Groove Pizzeria gives you two sets of concentric rhythm necklaces, each of which can have its own time duration and subdivisions. The Groove Pizza is a set of three concentric rhythm necklaces, each of which controls one drum sound, e.g. Like the Groove Pizza, the Groove Pizzeria is based on the idea of the rhythm necklace, a circular representation of musical rhythm. You can also record the Groove Pizzeria’s output using Audio Hijack. However, you can send MIDI via the IAC bus to the DAW of your choice (Mac OS Chrome only). As of this writing, there are no presets, saving, or exporting of audio or MIDI.
Note that the Groove Pizzeria is still a prototype, and it doesn’t yet have the full feature set that the Groove Pizza does. Here’s what the above rhythm sounds like: Hear some side-by-side comparisons between polymeter and polyrhythm here:įor his NYU music technology masters thesis, Tyler Bisson created a web app called Groove Pizzeria, a polyrhythmic/polymetric extension of the Groove Pizza.