MUDKYP'S TUTORIAL: Stutters and Wave Gimmicks

[mudkyp]

I've had three or four people ask me to do this, and I think it will be a little more thorough than what's already available here, so yeah, here ya go.


with your host, Professor Mudkyp

To Calculate Stutters:

While the "magic number 15" is nice and all, I don't really like referring to that. For one, it just throws a number at me and doesn't tell me why it works. For the logical mind, I wanted to know what the math is behind stop values and how would I be able to create a formula that anyone can use, for any distance of two arrows at any BPM.

Here is that formula:

[60/(BPM*Q)*(1-1/m)]

BPM = Beats per minute
Q = desired quantization of stutters per beat. So if you're doing 16th stutters, multiply the BPM by 4. 32nds? By 8.
m = Rate of stutter. 1.5 is surefire awesomeness, but for harsher sounds, go with 2.0. With subtle appearing stutters, go with 1.25, or sometimes 1.33

Confused? Understandable. It's a lot to think about, but if you go about this approach, you'll get the perfect number every single time, as well as develop a real understanding as to why this math works. I find it really fun to play around with, and it has helped me develop a lot of the highly entertaining gimmicks that I have implemented in my charts while still keeping a comfortable amount of legibility intact, which is now a minimum requirement for "fun factor" in our community. Playing things like Silikon after learning these numbers will make you vomit in disgust, btw.

Anways, let's say your BPM is 130 and you want to do 16th note stutters using a 1.5x rate. This is the most common gimmick, and is found in many simfiles.



So let's work this out. 60/ (130 * 4) = 0.115384615

Honestly, this is the hardest part. It's not even that hard, is it?

Then you multiply that by [1 - (1/1.5)], which is 0.3333333
(This is the easy part. If you do a lot of stepping, you can remember this value and keep it in the back of your head, as well as the values for 1.25 and 2.0 and you're basically golden. Just remember what to do on the left side, and what number to multiply it by from the right side, and you'll start doing this from memory with a simple calculator)

1.5 stutters? multiply it by 0.3333333
2.0 stutters? multiply it by 0.5
1.25 stutters? multiply it by 0.2

These are the numbers to know for the right side.

It makes a lot of sense once you figure it out.)

So what's your stop value for 16ths? 0.038461538

but you're not done...

NOTICE: You must account for rounding issues. Stepmania only rounds to the nearest thousandth, so if you have a stop value that is 0.0085, you need to alternate stop values of 0.009 and 0.008. If the stop value is 0.503333, you obviously need to have two stops at .500 and one stop at .510. Use your brain, and figure out a way to keep the syncing as consistent as possible.

So you have 0.0385 basically. I tend to round to the nearest ten-thousandth, and then alternate those to get the thousandth that is being forcefully rounded by SM. That way, you can keep the sync correct. So here I would want to have my stop values be 0.038 and 0.039. And obviously if I have 20 of them, I would want to do 9 of them at 0.039 and then 11 of them at 0.038, since 0.03846 is a lot closer to 0.03845, and I hope it's obvious as to why I would want to do that. (you'll average 0.03845 exactly, which is even closer to your perfect sync while being realistic)

Also, you don't want to cram all of your higher stop values in one section and your lower ones in the other. Keep alternating so the sync flip flops from going ever so slightly late to every so slightly early. If you lump values from one group in one section of the chart, it may drift by a few milliseconds, and yes, that's noticeable (to me anyway)

Example of "Cannibal" from Mudkyp Mini Pack 2


(notice, it's rather obvious that the stop values have doubled consistently with the distance between the mines. It went from being a 16th apart with 0.040 stop values to being an 8th apart with 0.080 stop values (not actual stop values, the real ones are in the .sm)

Well, that concludes the stutter tutorial. Now on to what everybody really wants, the bounces and waves (cue the dubstep?)

Waves and Bounce Gimmicks

Like stutter gimmicks you have a ton of options here with your BPM's. If you plan on stepping dubstep charts, wave gimmicks are much better than stutters, as they are much more legible and accent the wobbly bass sounds of the genre a lot better. These kinds of gimmicks are heavily noticeable in my chart for "Call Your Girlfriend (Feed Me Remix)" by Robin. They are also found in zimlord's "Hey Sexy Lady" by iSquare and "Alejandro (Skrillex Remix)" by Lady Gaga. These are three of the top dubstep charts that come to mind when executing a variety of wave and bounce gimmicks that are legible and appropriate (in my own modest and completely humble opinion). Look to these files for reference points and examples as to what to do. mute also does this all over his files (Last Burning, Lament Configuration, etc)

So what are your options? Let's start with my personal favorite. I call it the quarter-slice. It's tacky, I know, but the idea is that you're going to have a sliver of the gimmick be a quarter of the distance between the two notes (with the other portion obviously being three quarters). This gimmick, using 1.5x BPM and .5x BPM is one of the most efficient and useful wave gimmicks ever. I find it extremely easy on the eyes, and very good for accenting those "woosh" sounds.

So, here's how you do it...

Note: When I say "distance of the gimmick" I mean how long your "woosh" is, as in the time it takes for you to go off the base BPM and then return to it. If you want it to be an 8th note long, then divide that into quarters and you know to use the 32nd quantization to place your BPM's

If you want to have your wave gimmick start slow and then "woosh" up:
Drop the base BPM in half for the first 1/4th of the distance of the gimmick, and then multiply it by 1.5 for the other 3/4ths.

If you want to have your wave gimmick "woosh" up and then brake:
Multiply the base BPM by 1.5 for the first 3/4ths of the distance of the gimmick, and then drop it in half for the last 1/4th.

Example from "Dirty Harry" from Mudkyp Mini Pack 2

These wave gimmicks are littered throughout this file, and with an easy and whole BPM like this, it's a very good image to show that gets the point right across.

Hopefully from the instructions, and the photo, it is blatantly obvious what I've done.

The next one is the half-slice, and is used in Alejandro (Skrillex Mix).

Basically, it's like the quarter-slice method, except the BPM changes that occur in either rush-brake or brake-rush methods are both going to occur at the mid-point. (oh so you're slicing it in half! That would make sense!)

If you want it to rush and then brake:
Multiply the base BPM by 1.5 and then at the halfway point, drop it to .75

If you want it to brake and then rush:
Drop the base BPM to 0.75 and then at the halfway point, multiply it by 1.5[/b]

Example from "Alejandro (Skrillex Remix)" from The Legend of Zim 4


So there's two examples of what you can do with these BPM's to create wave gimmicks.



You can experiment and play with other values that are higher or lower, just think about what kind of effect you want and then play with it. If it's super harsh, go with some wave gimmicks that would make Printer Jam look like it's cmodded. Go crazy, just do your absolute best to keep things legible and fun. As an aside, there is a threshold where it becomes pointless to increase the value of BPM stutters in order to achieve a desired effect. Having the BPM be ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND with a bunch of 32nd stop values is pointless when you could achieve the same effect staying under 8x BPM gimmicks. "Licky" from the MWOK and Jimbo's pack comes to mind here. In fact, it gives me a migraine. Don't do that, ever.

PROTIP: There are some instances when the arrows are simply too far apart for any wave or stutter gimmick to be fun. Try having a stutter gimmick cover only half of the distance between the two arrows, and then at the halfway point, have it return to base BPM and scroll as it would normally. I do this in my Programmed Sun file and it works out great while keeping things smooth scrolling.

Example from "Programmed Sun" from Mudkyp Mini Pack


Remember, gimmicks are like art, they must be done tastefully in order to be enjoyed to the fullest.

[Gazebo]

Ooh, awesome guide, glad you post this.

I'll use this opportunity to present my extension to the stutter method that eliminates the need for alternating stop values. This is most useful in songs with a lot of stops, but I am also finding it easier even in things with just a moderate amount of stops.

Basically you want to start off with the stop value you found using Charles's formula. If the value doesn't go past three decimal points, then you don't even need to deal with drift anyway, so you can stop here. Otherwise, round off the stop value to the nearest thousandth. Now if you keep using this value, drift will accumulate (hence why the alternating method is commonly used). However, you can also just keep the rounded value and instead make an adjustment to the BPM.

Here is the formula for the adjusted BPM:

60/(60/BPM - Q*L)

where BPM is your base BPM, Q is the quantization factor, and L is the rounded stutter value. You can then round the result to three decimal points. Note that the error in the BPM only creates negligible drift, even if your entire song is filled with stutters.

Using this method, I just write down the adjusted BPM values and the corresponding stop lengths and just use those for the whole song.

[mudkyp]

Ah, that does seem like a quick and easy fix that makes plugging in stop values a lot easier, especially since you only have to change one number.

I personally wouldn't use it because I manually type in all of the gimmicks and waves for a gigantic section into the .sm, so it's a matter of hitting the 2 key instead of the 1 key anyway haha, but I can definitely see people using this.

[Xythar]

Thanks, this is handy. One question -

Say, rather than a stutter gimmick per se, I have something like this that's not as evenly spaced:



So I've got three jumps (let's say) that I want to accent by speeding up the BPM and having an appropriate length stop on each one to retain the sync. What's the best method for working this out? In this particular case I just worked out all the stop values by hand, one by one (by writing down the time values of the three steps beforehand, adding my BPM change, and then adding the necessary length stops to return those time values to normal) but it took a pretty long time and if there's a quicker way to work out the numbers I'd love to hear it.

edit: Actually I guess you'd just calculate for 16ths then multiply by 3 for the first two arrows and 2 for the last?

[NotChaosUnown]

Coul

[Xythar]

Wow, I never thought I'd see such a simple concept be taken to such an overcomplicated level. Not that I don't appreciate the time you put into this tutorial, this is just way different from how I input gimmicks.

What do you do?

[NotChaosUnown]

I'd rather not explain. Because I'm too lazy at the moment, and this is Mudkyp's thread.

[Xythar]

Would you be able to post another topic about it sometime? It's kind of a tease to just show up, say that you have a way easier method then not actually tell anyone what it is :/

[NotChaosUnown]

It's called expressing an opinion.... oh, I guess freethinking isn't allowed? I apologize.

[Xythar]

Well yeah, it's an opinion but it's not a constructive one. I was actually interested in what your method was (if it's better, I'll use it!) but I won't drag it out of you.

[TheCosmicPope]

And here comes the shit.

Nice guide, Charles

[mudkyp]

I'm not going to argue with you ChaosUnown, so I don't know why you're acting so hostile in this thread. If you have suggestions and additions to this thread, feel free to contribute. I can post alternative methods for other stepartists to use. I am certainly not claiming that this is the "end all, be all" of these methods to find gimmick values. I am merely trying to help those that are less informed become more proficient at a popular new approach to step artistry. I will gladly take any advice or critiques you have to offer that can help improve this thread.

Anyway, to Xythar, if you're wanting that gimmick to stutter, try looking at it in 16th note intervals. Your Q is still 4 since you're using 16th note values. Once you get your stop value, multiply it by 3 and that's your stop value for the first two stutters (since they're both three 16ths long), and then multiply the original stop value by 2 and that's your stop value for the third one (since it's two 16ths long). Now if you were doing waves, you would just need to divide that three-16th note long section into four equals parts and do the quarter-slice, or two equal parts and do the half-slice.

[Xythar]

Thanks, I thought that might be it.

[mudkyp]

Xythar, you're also edging into that dangerous territory where those jumps become difficult/annoying to read. You could try the suggestion I made about Programmed Sun, and make the stutter gimmicks half as big, and returning to your base BPM for the other half. It depends on the sound though.

[TYLR]

Yeah, it's hard to say without hearing the actual song, but going just by that screenshot alone, I'd suggest the Programmed Sun style gimmicks.

And Chaos Unown, why are you being such a grooving stupid cunt lately? We could all get along no problem if you weren't such a shit all the time.