2step halfstep

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PinkPunk

Member
I might have a stupid question..

Is 2step and halfstep recognised in different ways?

I can understand halfstep (4/4 that seems like half tempo?) but 2step??? hm..

2step means 4/2 with triplet-syncopations? I guess..

..but that does'nt make sense.. to me :p
 
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Logos

Ghosts of my life
2 step removed two kicks from a bar where normally there were four. It will still seem like 135bpm or whatever.

Half step is often only one or two kicks a bar...but its more a feeling. In fact its less about the kicks and more about the surrounding percussive elements, and the bassline. The half-step style (in dubstep) is expressed as a unity of elements.
 
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Dubquixote

Submariner
at its simplest half step is just the snare on the 3rd beat of the measure, rather than the 2nd and 4th, so the beat reads at half tempo. this was common in dub reggae.
 
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PinkPunk

Member
hm, a track can be both 2step and halfstep at the same time? if the snare goes like halfstep, with a 2step kick :

..but, ehh, alot of 2step tracks seems like the kick is just syncopated and not redused to 2 kicks.. maybe 3 kicks..
 
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DJ PIMP

Well-known member
PinkPunk said:
hm, a track can be both 2step and halfstep at the same time?
Click to expand...
The classic 2step kick snare pattern from jungle, ukg, dnb and beyond goes...

k---s-----k-s---

Whereas the half step is simply...

k-------s-------

Which as much as dub/reggae reminds me of the classic house pattern at half the tempo...

k---k---k---k---
----s-------s---

where the snares or claps are on every second kick.

i get a buzz out of the dubstep tunes that switch up from halfstep to that pattern because all of a sudden its like... double time!
 
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Logos

Ghosts of my life
PinkPunk said:
hm, a track can be both 2step and halfstep at the same time? if the snare goes like halfstep, with a 2step kick :

..but, ehh, alot of 2step tracks seems like the kick is just syncopated and not redused to 2 kicks.. maybe 3 kicks..
Click to expand...

Look...its not like this is a mathematical forumula! ;) the difference in feeling between a track which emphasises the half-time (which is all half-step is) and a track which has the bumpy feel of classic 2-step is in what they emphasise rhythmically. In fact, comparing '2-step' and half-step is misleading because you aren't comparing like with like.

This reminds me of debates about what makes music 'jungle' and what makes is 'drum and bass'...absolutely, pointlessly missing-the-point trival.
 
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