Which time signature is used for this short, simple piece?

[Nystul]

By itself, the pattern is pretty ambiguous. You need 12 equal ticks, and there are many ways to represent that depending on what the other instruments do. I suppose I offered 12/8 as a flexible option rather than a correct one. It would be a generic framework for planetearth to choose what to do with. In a DAW, as long as the math works and you don't confuse yourself, things will be OK.

The devilish thing about the rhythm is that there can be an underlying idea of 4 steady beats. If you listen to jazz with Afro-Cuban drummer or Latin percussion sometimes you hear this feel, and it's really hard to follow what's going on. Maybe one of these years I'll get back to drums and learn how to actually play it. Anyway, in that specific case, making the pattern 1 measure of 6/8 would be incorrect. The choices would be: 4/4 with triplets, 2 bars of 6/8 (dotted quarter as beat), or 1 bar of 12/8 (dotted quarter as beat).

[ulfboy]

No no. You are all wrong!! It's 5/4!! The melody repeats after 5 beats!