It has a rolling, moiré pattern-esque type feel where everything lines up on the beat, but within a beat the elements flam and rub against each other to make an indeterminately subdivided wash of rhythm. This creates a unique type of polyrhythm that I call “polysubdivision”. Some use multiple subdivisions simultaneously, as in the Slynk septuplet example above where the hi-hat is playing a septuplet swing, the kick is hitting on 32nd notes, and the synth is playing triplets. In the real world, most Dilla-feel groves don’t fit neatly into one subdivision. This corresponds to a swing ratio of 2:1, or 66.6% The first note has a length of two parts and the second swung note has a length of one part. Triplet swing refers to breaking the beat into three parts. Swing, used without qualifier, is synonymous with triplet swing. The benefit to this percentage system is that it allows us to easily quantify and discuss any swing ratio without having to relate it to western notational note values which, as we’ll see later, can quickly become cumbersome. 66.6% is a triplet swing where the first note is twice as long as the second. For example, 50% corresponds to perfectly straight time where both notes have an equal duration. It describes the percentage of the beat that is taken up by the first note. The MPC swing system provides a good way to talk about different swing feels. Triplet swing is just one of many possible ways that subdivisions can be swung. The most common type of swing is a triplet swing in which the first note has twice the length of the second note. In jazz it’s typical for 8th notes to be swung and rock and hip-hop sometimes feature swung 16th notes.
Swing refers to a type of rhythm where alternating subdivisions are given unequal durations, creating a long-short-long-short pattern.