Ideal Stream patterns

[Dynam0]

LONG POST BUT WORTH THE READ

Streams really should be broken down into each hand and what's expected of them...concerted actions between both hands isn't the difficult part (except in special cases), quite often it's what type of stress you place on a certain hand. My approach to streams follows a --for lack of a better term-- 'inside' and 'outside' pattern theory.

The various techniques you use on one hand are below (a lot of these will overlap when you consider what the other hand does but lets focus on the left hand):
I'm not using 16th jacks since that technically wouldn't be a pure stream anymore.



Outside-biased Patterns

Repeated 8th notes on the outer finger: This implies that you are doing a trill or running man where the outer finger is anchoring 8ths notes only. (ex. 13131314141414 or 1314131314 etc.)

-These patterns are quite friendly at most bpms although they are much more tiring. Use them for shorter durations at any bpm

Two-note gallops starting on the outer finger: 12341234 rolls for example or 12431243 (spins). Combinations of the two apply as well, Razor used a lot of these in his sexy stream and for good reason. These are probably your most smooth type of patterns, even for transitions. Remember these are outside-biased gallops which I find much easier. Any good smooth stream, even at high bpms will have these placed strategically throughout it.

Spaced mini-trills that start on the outer finger: Disregard has a lot of smaller patterns like this, another really good example is Vertex Beta but the spacing is much closer. (ex. 12142341214323121) Note how the outer finger (1) is emphasizing the 4th/8th notes here.


-Patterns are friendly if spacing is sufficient and bpm is not insanely high. Eruption uses these patterns in the beginning and they can be tedious since you must alternate between these and repeated 8ths with the outside finger. A very smooth example of this is in Aperson's Tranzport where he uses 121434121434 for a couple 24th bursts. I would call that special case an inverted staircase, sadly not many people use them.

Repeated mini-trills that start on the outer-finger: Straightforward, you'll be doing an outer-finger running man pattern. (12131214121312131214 etc.) #est has running men like this and so does Gaussian Mist (although it has all kinds of other running men as well).

-These patterns are quite difficult at any bpms exceeding 250 for most players. Use sparingly and for short durations.

4-note trills that start on the outer finger: Patterns like 1212 and 4343 etc. Blur has these, as does Shind Bad.

-Higher spacing of these patterns will make them more smooth, however it is not required!

-These patterns when repeated are actually easier than outer-finger running men at higher bpms since in order to start the pattern on the outside finger again, it must be separated by two 16th notes instead of one.

5-note trills and higher starting on the outside finger: Self-explanatory, you're decreasing the spacing of trill motions until the point of making that pattern repeating. Any one-handed trills longer than 5 notes become much more difficult at high bpms so use them sparingly.


Inside-biased Patterns

Every pattern listed above is inverted in these cases. Just start all of the patterns above with the inner finger (2 or 3) instead. I won't go over these, just the one special case.

Staircases (34321234321) are an example of spaced mini-trills using the inside finger to start. As you can probably tell, these are quite friendly even at super high bpm...probably because you don't have to be good at reading to understand a staircase. They transition quite well with other pattern-types too.



Patterns with no finger bias: The only possible patterns here are alternating 8th notes on either hand (so 1324142313241423 or 4231413242314132 etc.)

These patterns are by far the most manageable, even at ridiculous bpms (400+) for obvious reasons. I recommend using them for lower or high range bpms. Medium-high speeds like 250-280bpm make these patterns a little more awkward to hit since the speeds are in between wrist-jacks and super-slow one handed trills).



Those are the individual tools. My experience has been that outside-biased patterns are much more fluid. Perhaps because I find emphasizing with my middle fingers a lot easier. I also find 12 and 43 gallops a lot easier than 21 and 34, especially in transitions. Also, alternating between outside-biased and inside-biased patterns can make the stream really choppy in most situations. Razor's example alternates between both types but he almost exclusively uses gallops which are not physically demanding. However, at really high bpm (340+) even this pattern becomes awkward (for example the streams in The Goddamn Power Rangers use this type of form and they are awkward as hell to keep time to). For really high bpm, stick to one of the finger-biases imo. Another thing you'll want to do is spread the density between both hands.

[buizel8888]

Runningmen is still probably the only index-friendly stream pattern that feels awkward on spread at higher speeds. Other than that I agree. Index friendly will be spread friendly. If you have to use a finger twice in a row and it's not a jack in some way, check and make sure it isn't awkward.

[dAnceguy117]

lots of quality posts itt. I'll largely echo what others have already said.

index patterns (minus one-hand trills and minitrills) are supremely comfortable. I've never seen or heard anyone disagree. sticking strictly to indexable streams may be playing it safe, but in the same vein, you simply can't go wrong.

I personally like to lay out an indexable stream and then make a bunch of tweaks. sub-patterns like 1243 don't fit the index mold at all but can be totally playable on spread. ...123412432132... stuff like that can flow very nicely. still, I think indexable patterns are like a "common vocabulary" for everyone.

[popsicle_3000]

what makes a pattern index?

[dAnceguy117]

index patterns allow for indexers to hit all keys without ever having to use the same finger twice in a row.

1234, 1423, and 1324 are all indexable. 1243, 1342, and 2134 are not. 432342 is indexable; 421321 is (basically) not indexable.

a possible extension of index patterns comes from what are known as "crossovers," based on pad play. you can twist and turn a little bit to avoid having to use the same finger twice in a row. 13431 and similar patterns are indexable in this sense. crossovers can be tough to pull off at high speeds, though.

if you play pad (4-panel) for a while, these ideas will come extremely naturally.

[hi19hi19]

I was writing a guide about this. I should finish that...

[Izzy]

Index must be a lost art. Nobody understands it anymore. =(

[Staiain]

Originally Posted by buizel8888

Runningmen is still probably the only index-friendly stream pattern that feels awkward on spread at higher speeds.

You guys haven't played shind bad on 2.0 rate so you wouldn't know how awkward it is

[kommisar]

Originally Posted by Izzy

Index must be a lost art. Nobody understands it anymore. =(

I'm literally the only person who has made index files since 2010



also I refuse to play shind bad because it has a double step in it

[popsicle_3000]

vid plz

[alloyus]

Index friendly might look spread friendly, but it can be a lot more stamina draining (see vertex gamma true version)

[Leo137]

Trilling in index is lot more easier compared when playing spread, that's probably why it feels akward

[Xx{Midnight}xX]

So yeah I finally sat down and read everything here, and I must say I think I understand this to a good degree now. I'm gonna be experimenting with these patterns a bit and let you all know how this turns out.

[Patashu]

When you ask 'what pattern do I make this stream?' The first question to ask is 'given the bpm and how abrasive I want the file/this part to be, how hard do I want it?'

Hard spread patterns are things that (from easiest to hardest):
-Are not evenly balanced over 3-4 fingers (the less evenly the harder, if it's perfectly even you just jumptrill it)
-Tend to have minitrill patterns in them, the more often the harder (for pad it's the opposite), minitrills that link only one column at a time count too e.g. 12324232123234323132323432 (notice the long run of alternate 2s and then 3s)
-Tend to have one handed minitrill patterns in them, something like 12123432123434 or 12321232123232123 is really hard spread especially if it has 24ths/32nds in it that also follow the one-handed minitrillishness of it instead of being your typical hits-all-four-columns burst

These also apply to jumpstream patterning, just look at any icyworld file and you'll see 99% of his js is set out to be easy to hit (even over the columns, tends to keep trills on opposite hands, etc)
So if you want to make hard stream just do the opposite

also, the reason why index patterns minus dumb trill stuff are highly comfortable is because it restricts you to a subset of all possible streams, meaning the stream hitter has to decode less information per note, it also tends to hit middle fingers more often than the outside fingers but I'm not sure if that's related or not

[dAnceguy117]

Originally Posted by kommisar

also I refuse to play shind bad because it has a double step in it

lmfao that owns

Originally Posted by Xx{Midnight}xX

So yeah I finally sat down and read everything here, and I must say I think I understand this to a good degree now. I'm gonna be experimenting with these patterns a bit and let you all know how this turns out.

\o/

Originally Posted by Patashu

When you ask 'what pattern do I make this stream?' The first question to ask is 'given the bpm and how abrasive I want the file/this part to be, how hard do I want it?'

word. good call.

I think the initial question here was basically "all my stream patterns end up being vry difficult. how i make easy?" and everyone was like "index patternzzz"