Reshaping Time - Exploring grid interfaces for ansiorhythmic patterns

Grid layouts are popular in music controllers. While they are excellent for many tasks, they usually require a predefinition of a single subdivision to be represented. In this paper we explore techniques for visually representing rhythmic phrases that have multiple subdivisions and tuplet groupings within a grid interface. The paper proposes an ansiorhythmic grid notation system for expressing rhythms that may vary their length, subdivision or phase within a grid structure that has historically been limited to one subdivision per sequence. A proof-of-concept Max/MSP demonstrates a tactile interface for a polyrhythmic, polymetric, and polyphasic sequencer.