Need help with time converting time signatures

[The F]

OK,
Time for the stupid question of the day.
I am new here and new to music theory.
I play the keyboard by ear and have no music theory background.
I work a lot with sample loops and use Reaper as my DAW.
I am currently working on a song with a loop that I just found out is in 6/8 time in the key of Dm, which I really like.
I am trying to use other samples that are in the same key but have the time signature that is in 4/4.
Is it possible to change the time signature of the new samples to the 6/8 format or vice-versa?
I guess what I am trying to ask is, is there an easy way to convert the 4/4 samples to fit the 6/8 signature?
Thank you in advance
The Fishman

[Jean-Michel G]

Hi,
I’m afraid this is is mission impossible… You can’t simply “convert” a 4:4 meter into a 6:8 meter.
The 4:4 time signature means that the quarter note gets the beat and there are four such beats per bar. The pulse however is on beat one and 3.
1 2 3 4
P P

The 6:8 time signature (a compound meter) means that the eighth note gets the beat and there are six such beats in a bar; The pulse is binary on beats 1 and 4.
1 2 3 4 5 6
P P

If each bar takes the same amount of time, it doesn’t take advanced calculus to understand that the beats will never align in the bars!

In fact, if you superpose them you get what is called a polyrhythm. It’s groovy, but it’s not what you want.

[The F]

Thank you for the reply.
What about combining them instead of converting them in the section as you said
“In fact, if you superpose them you get what is called a polyrhythm”
Would that be difficult to do?
Thanx again

[sunjamr]

Try it. If sounds good, it is good. If it sounds bad, it is bad.

Sunjamr Steve

[Jean-Michel G]

Yep… and let us know.
My bet is that it will be rhythmically interesting, but harmonically you’ll get a big mess.

If you want to better understand polyrhythms, I suggest you look up the topic on YouTube. Some videos are very good (others are very bad, as usually on YouTube).

[Mark H]

Hey, if it’s folk music it’s totally possible and to be encouraged. My wife and I were jamming tonight, accordion & guitar, trying stuff we like but had never played together before. We managed to segue from Moby Grape’s “Right Before My Eyes” with a key change via the secondary dominant into Gram Parson’s “Big Mouth Blues”. It’s the folk process folks!

So yes, music is plastic, malleable. I have made arrangements in 5/4 of 4/4 compositions. That’s time, but melody could be different. If it doesn’t work it’ll still be a lot of fun trying.

[Jean-Michel G]

Errr… OK, but I can’t see what this has to do with polyrhythms??

A polyrhythm is when you superpose in the same time period (bar) two beat subdivisions that are not multiples, such as 12 triplets over 8 eighth notes in 4:4; this would be referred to as “3 over 2” or “2 over 3” (it’s all called a “hermiola”).

“Right Before My eyes” is in 4:4 and so is “Big Mouth Blues”. That’s obviously rhythmically straightforward.
Rearranging 4:4 compositions into 5:4 is also not polyrhythmic since you don’t superpose anything.

The OP wanted to superpose two samples with incompatible meters; that may work rhythmically, but since the two samples are harmonically completely independent, the result is probably not going to be pleasant.

Yes, polyrhythms are extremely frequent in folk music all over the world, and yes, experimenting is part of the fun in music. I’ll certainly grant you that!

[Mark H]

I really should read more carefully, sorry about that.

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