The Secret To Inserting Perfect Stops in Stepmania-Magic Num

[MasterWok]

The Magic Number Is 15!!!---please stay with me, I explain everything

READ DOWN TO SEE WHY YOU MAY NEED TO USE THIS INSTEAD OF DREAM STUDIO

Alright, you don't need ddream studio to insert you stops for you - all you need is the magic number- This can get a little complicated, and I will go into it for players who want to make advanced stepfiles with a ton of stops. Do not question how I came up with this because it is not worth it (LOL).

Here's the most basic form of the Magic Number Method. You take the number 15 and divide it by your BPM --and that's basically it. (Huh)? This number that you have just calculated will always land on a beat. You can double or cut this number in half as many times as you want in order to place the correct stops (Multiplying or dividing this number by a number . 5 (ex. 1.5) seems to work sometimes, but I am not yet convinced).

EXAMPLE - If you haven't seen dancing box in the R21 12 pack, you should download it... But anyway here's an application of it. The bpm of that song is 125. To get perfect stops, you simply divide 15 by 125. I get .12 on my half retarded burger king calculator--from there you can "play your stops by ear", and use numbers such as .06, .03, .24,.48 (ect) for your stops. **But make sure your stops add up to MULTIPLES of .12. For example, you shuld not put 1 ".06" stop. This MAY (once again, still questioning) produce an offbeat stop- you need to put in 2 .06 sec stops, or 4 .03 sec stops to add up to .12.

HERES WHY YOU COULD NEED THIS INSTEAD OF DDR DREAM STUDIO

Unfortunately, this is a rare and simple case, where 15/125 = a perfect .12. If you are just entering one stop in your song, by all means, use dream studio (or the magic # still works!!!). Dream Studio rounds your stop to the nearest hundredth, so if you have many stops and your
stop (15/BPM) is not perfectly out to two decimal places, your song will slowly drift out of sync--here's an example (my song Hasir, which is coming soon) and what you would do about it.

EXAMPLE: My song has a bpm of 115.2 , so when I do 15/115.2, I get .1302--OH NO!

Dream studio will simply round this number to .13 every time. BUT, for every stop that is .13, not .1302, the arrows will speed ahead of the music by .0002 sec. That means for every 49 (Don't ask why its not 50, just subtract one--see final instructions at bottom) stops (which I have way more than 49--look down to final instructions) the arrows will speed ahead of the music by .01 sec. But this is easily fixed!! All that you need to to to neutralize, or even out, this .01 off Sync problem is insert 1 ".14" sec stop for every 49 ".13" sec stops. This "Slow extra .01" will completely counteract the .01 sec off beat "speedup". Try it yourself on a calc...add 49 .13 stops (or 49 x .13), add .14, and divide by 50 to get the average stop time-I get .1302.

I realize that this is not the best example because .0002 sec is so slight. However, if (15/BPM) turns out to be a number such as .1325, and you want to put in lots of stops, you must then put one .14 stop for every 3 .13 stops. Otherwise, you will notice your song drift slowly out of sync.

FINAL INSTURCTIONS

15/BPM = correct stop time

LONG STOPS ARE WHEN YOU GO UP TO THE NEXT DECIMAL INTEGER INTEGER FROM CORRECT STOP TIME (Ex. .1302, long stop is .14), AND SHORT STOPS ARE WHEN YOU GO DOWN TO THE NEXT "DECIMAL INTEGER" FROM THE CORRECT STOP TIME (Ex. .1302, Short Stop is .13)

FOR REMAINDERS OF UNDER .0050 (Ex. 15/BPM = .1302) To counteract stop offset - take thousandths and ten thousandths places,
multiply by 10,000 (ex. .0002 x 10,000 = 2) divide 100 by this number. Subtract 1- that's your ratio of "Short Stops to Long Stops" (in this case, 49 .13 stops to every one .14 stop)

FOR REMAINDERS OF OVER .0050 (Ex, say 15/BPM = .1375)
To counteract stop offset - take thousandths and ten thousandths places,
multiply by 10,000 (ex. .0075 x 10,000 = 75). Do 100 - That Number (Ex 100 - 75 = 25) divide 100 by this number. Subtract 1. This Is your Ratio of "Long Stops to Short Stops"

[XOR-SYS]

Hey, that's pretty cool.

The method I use is to start normally without any stops, then listen to the music, and place an arrow where the stop will begin, and then place the arrow that will occur right after the stop. This results in two random arrows and a huge gap, normally. Then I'll scroll down to the arrow that occurs after the stop and look at the "current second" to see exactly when it occurs. I'll make a note of that number, and then move that arrow to where I want it on the actual chart when the stop is in place. Then I'll add the stop where the first arrow is, and remove that one. I'll keep adjusting the stop until the "current second" of the arrow after it matches that of what it was before. This method works with even completely off-beat stops, and also works on BPM changes or slowdowns.

Not to steal the show or anything, just I thought I'd contribute.
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2MB = tomb?

[MasterWok]

[XOR-SYS]

[ʎɐb sı ʞ01ɹǝɥs]

This method is a nice little algorithm that really does work. For people like me who are anal about timing, it's perfect. This isn't too dificult to understand, and it really does produce ideal results. And if somebody can't understand this, then...well, maybe they shouldn't be making stepfiles in the first place.

I just started a new stepfile that is stop-heavy, and this method has been working flawlessly.