KVR Audio

Karlatin · Post by **Karlatin** » Tue Jan 04, 2022 9:54 pm

Hello, got a noob Music Theory question here. I understand the basics of music theory but I don't understand what people mean when they use the terms 'Groove' or 'Swing'.

The context is I have seen a request, often, for a 'groove pool' for Bitwig and I've seen Polarity's video for a 'groove machine' preset. So, I'm asking with regards to the use of those concepts in DAWs like Live or Bitwig, and in the production of Electronic music, but I think this is maybe too general to be just a Bitwig subforum question.

Thanks in advance.

excuse me please · Post by **excuse me please** » Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:19 pm

Usually "groove" means that you make the downbeat a little longer than the upbeat. When the downbeat is significantly longer (like 2:1) than the upbeat we speak of "swing"

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Tue Jan 04, 2022 10:32 pm

Groove is very much about timing and feel, playing ahead of or behind the beat, sometimes including accents and emphasis, and is not well defined because it's very contextual. It's very much about playing with feel, rather than playing the notes "straight"/as written/hard quantized. Swing is generally more well defined as pushing the offbeat eighth notes (in 4/4 time) slightly behind the beat to give the rhythm more of a triplet feel and a bit more "push" from one beat to the next.

Karlatin · Post by **Karlatin** » Tue Jan 04, 2022 11:05 pm

Thanks a lot Cryophonik and Excuse Me Please!

N 4 LIFE · Post by **N 4 LIFE** » Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:49 am

Hello Karlatin!
There are 2 basic kinds of 8th notes in the world: straight 8ths and swung 8ths. A good example of straight 8ths is the bass part from "Every Breath You Take" where all the notes are equally spaced. A good example of swinging 8th notes is the melody of the Mickey Mouse theme.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:51 am

N 4 LIFE wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:49 am Hello Karlatin!
There are 2 basic kinds of 8th notes in the world: straight 8ths and swung 8ths. A good example of straight 8ths is the bass part from "Every Breath You Take" where all the notes are equally spaced. A good example of swinging 8th notes is the melody of the Mickey Mouse theme.

Sooooo, in other words….

It must be from Sting if it ain’t got that swing?

shawshawraw · Post by **shawshawraw** » Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:51 pm

N 4 LIFE wrote: ↑Wed Jan 12, 2022 6:49 am Hello Karlatin!
There are 2 basic kinds of 8th notes in the world: straight 8ths and swung 8ths. A good example of straight 8ths is the bass part from "Every Breath You Take" where all the notes are equally spaced. A good example of swinging 8th notes is the melody of the Mickey Mouse theme.

"Swing" does not have anything particularly to do with 8th notes. Also in OP's context, we're talking about a swing control that DAWs commonly offer (for example it's 50% to 78% in Logic) for the purpose of customizing the feel.

Your wording sounds like "there are 2 basic genders in the world"

Groove and Swing