Timing Divisions - .025

[zman]

I snooped around for a few minutes to see if there was any other questions that asked this before. None arose, and I am sure it has been asked before, but here goes:

Is there reason why you can not sub-divide a .1 second into 4 equal parts of .025?

This has been a lingering question for me for a few years now, and I just thought I would see what the exact reason was.

This thread skirts the subject somewhat:
http://lightorama.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=15989&forum_id=74&highlight=eighth

My comment is; it seems to me that most users if they use a consistent grid, stay with .1 or .05. If that is true, and we want an even division, it makes sense to be able to subdivide down to .025 unless there is a resolution issue with the data base that does not allow 3 decimal places, I suspect this is the reason. Musically it might not make sense, but I fully admit I am a music neophyte with minimal understanding of timing, beats, measures, yada-yada.

So it's late, and I have been sequencing for a few hours, am I whacked here?

[cmoore60]

Mark,

I can think of one reason. The reason being. If you were to turn on a single timing event of that size...the chances are you would never see it in the lights. The lights would not have enough time to react to the on, before the off command.

Chuck

[Dale W]

I do not think the human eye is quick enough to see that kind of flash. I would not go less than 0.05 seconds.

[rwertz]

0.01 is an acceptable value. It must have something to do with the resolution of the number you can specify.

(Not that I use this resolution)

[Steven]

Sequence files have event times specified in "centiseconds". This means that .01 seconds is the smallest possible event time. If you subdivide a .1 second cell into 4, you will get timings at .00, .03, .05, .08, and .10. This is probably not what you want.

[Tim Fischer]

Steven wrote:

Sequence files have event times specified in "centiseconds". This means that .01 seconds is the smallest possible event time. If you subdivide a .1 second cell into 4, you will get timings at .00, .03, .05, .08, and .10. This is probably not what you want.

Really? I challenge someone to see the difference between that and .00, .025, .5, .075, and .10

We're talking 5 thousands of a second difference here!

-Tim

[Steven]

Tim Fischer wrote:

Really? I challenge someone to see the difference between that and .00, .025, .5, .075, and .10

When I said "This is probably not what you want." I was referring to the original desire to divide the timing so it looks even in the sequence editor window.

The human eye can't distinguish events faster than about 20 per second (which is why movie projectors are 24 frames per second), so it doesn't make sense to use timing events faster than .05.

... in most cases.

[Tim Fischer]

Steven wrote:

Tim Fischer wrote:

Really? I challenge someone to see the difference between that and .00, .025, .5, .075, and .10

When I said "This is probably not what you want." I was referring to the original desire to divide the timing so it looks even in the sequence editor window.

OIC

I usually use a .1 grid, except on very fast songs I sometimes switch to .05. I find if I use .05 in general, I end up making the sequence look way to busy/blinky.

-Tim

[zman]

Tim Fischer wrote:

Steven wrote:

Tim Fischer wrote:

Really? I challenge someone to see the difference between that and .00, .025, .5, .075, and .10

When I said "This is probably not what you want." I was referring to the original desire to divide the timing so it looks even in the sequence editor window.

OIC

I usually use a .1 grid, except on very fast songs I sometimes switch to .05. I find if I use .05 in general, I end up making the sequence look way to busy/blinky.

-Tim

Thanks all for the input. I was mainly looking at areas like LLA's and light fans for very quick sections. Ramps and fades over a short period when you have 14 or 15 channels. It would not meant to be a flash on/off. I guess I should have been a bit more descriptive as to why I was asking. Otherwise I agree with Tim, it is way to blinky.