Simfile/Step Terminology

[Jubo]

Ya, I'm simfile marker and I don't know many of the terminology of steps like:

Tri-step or Overlap or Cross-Overs and many things...

So, I created this thread for those (including me) that don't know any the terms of these...

useful? Ya, post if you guys know any terms <.< (I sound like a noob, hehe... I'm still learning at least.)
- Basically, want to know more ways of avoiding or knowledge what style of steps are difficult on pad or likeable to play on. (Just got on pad play this year <.<)

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Gameplay

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Mods

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Note Colors

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Groove Radar

Stream

* Stream represents the average step density of the step pattern, or the number of quarter notes.

Originally Posted by Xythar

is the overall density of the steps, voltage is the peak density of the steps. They're not based on just counting 4ths/8ths.

Voltage

* Voltage represents the maximum combo of the song, or the number of eighth notes.

Originally Posted by Patashu

voltage has a peculiar quality; it does not look at BPM stops when calculating. So, if I put in 64th bursts but also add stops so that they are hit at the rate of 8th notes, voltage would still max out.

Chaos

* Chaos tells the general unpredictability of the song, or the number of sixteenth notes.

Originally Posted by Jubo

not only 16th notes(yellow), can be any other notes exception of 4th(red) and 8th(blue) notes

Originally Posted by MegamanZ

chaos can include 8th notes. just look at paranoia survivor on DDR.

chaos always includes the following: 16ths, 12ths, 32nds. chaos on certain songs will include 8ths (paranoia survivor and holic seem to be the major ones here, max 300 has a bit of chaos as well)

Air

* Air represents the amount of jump-steps within the song. Jump-steps are when two arrows are present, requiring you to jump in order to hit them both successfully.

Freeze

* Freeze represents the number of freezes (requiring the player to hold a note after it has been pressed initially) in the song.

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Step Patterns


Triples - Triplets - Tristeps

Originally Posted by Patashu

A tristep would be a triplepress, a hand where you hit three notes at once.

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

triplets/hands/tristep: this is when you have a step with more than two arrows in it and you can't just jump to hit it (unless you're a PiU player and have the right sized foot). This is when there are three arrows and you have to use your hands to hit them all.

Originally Posted by Xythar

Triples, not triplets. Triplets is three arrows in a row, often on one arrow, then another, then on the first again. To be 100% pedantically correct, a triplet should only be 12th arrows, but people use 'triplet' generally to refer to three arrows in a row of any kind (16ths, often).

Quads - Drop notes

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

quads: like the above, but with all four arrows instead. Easy enough (^^)V

Originally Posted by UndeadMushroom

a note with three or four arrows [Anubis Another, Delirium Another]

Overlap

Originally Posted by Patashu

Overlap...layering? It's where you put steps to two rhythms at once and jumps come when they 'collide'.

Crossover - Twists

Originally Posted by Patashu

Crossovers are like LDRDL, where you have to hit the right panel with the left foot or the left panel with the right foot to not have to use the same foot twice in a row.

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

cross-overs/twists: this is when in a stepchart the arrows flow in a way where you have to turn away from the screen and twist your body to hit certain patters, an example would be U-L-D-R-D-L-U

Jacks - JackHammers

Originally Posted by Kitty Army

Jackhammers: same arrow repeatedly
ex: The Privateer, K8107, Jackhammer Madness

Drills - Trills

Originally Posted by Kitty Army

Drills (I'm guessing you mean trills) : two arrows alternating repeatedly, LRLRLRLRLR
ex: M, Eruption
Sidenote: A trill in musical terms is the rapid alternation of two notes, in stepmania it is the rapid alternation of two arrows

Originally Posted by Patashu

One-handed trills are LDLDLDLD and RURURURURURU. The terminology only applies to keyboard files and is so-named because, when playing spread, you'll be alternating between the two fingers of one hand to hit them. If they're long and fast they're tricky to stay on-beat with.

Originally Posted by Xythar

I've seen 'drills' used to refer to both jackhammers and 2-arrow runs. Really depends on the context.

Staircases - Rolls

Originally Posted by Patashu

Staircases/rolls are patterns that go LDURLDUR, RUDLRUDLRUDL or LDURUDLDURUDL. Rolls also refer to a note type in ITG2/ITG3 which are freezes that, instead of being held, have to be hit upwards of three times a row per second to be kept (with no particular rhythm/timing neccesary).

JumpJacks

Originally Posted by Patashu

Jumpjacks are either jacks where the same two arrows are hit over and over again, or when one arrow is hit as a jack and other arrows go all over the place. Toph's Bring Her Down has examples of both, Yesssss's Trisection Oni is also an example of the later.

Jumptrills

Originally Posted by Patashu

Jumptrills are, well, trills of jumps. (LD)(UR)(LD)(UR) for example. (Those, in fact, are the most spread-biased of them all since they're totally effortless for a spreader. The other two configurations are like hitting double one-handed trills for a spreader, and they're all painful for an indexer.) The end of Eggman's One More Lovely Heavy is an example of this.

Double-Step

Originally Posted by Xythar

Double steps refers to hitting two consecutive arrows with the same foot. A pattern like LDULRLDU would force you to double step the LR part unless you wanted to turn away from the screen. Not all double stepping is bad (Konami uses it frequently) but if it's in the middle of a 16th stream or something it can kill the enjoyment of your steps. If you make a pad file by just putting arrows down randomly you'll get complaints about the double stepping.

[Patashu]

A tristep would be a triplepress, a hand where you hit three notes at once.

Overlap...layering? It's where you put steps to two rhythms at once and jumps come when they 'collide'.

Crossovers are like LDRDL, where you have to hit the right panel with the left foot or the left panel with the right foot to not have to use the same foot twice in a row.

[a.sawa]

Originally Posted by Patashu

A tristep would be a triplepress, a hand where you hit three notes at once.

Overlap...layering? It's where you put steps to two rhythms at once and jumps come when they 'collide'.

Crossovers are like LDRDL, where you have to hit the right panel with the left foot or the left panel with the right foot to not have to use the same foot twice in a row.

aren't tristeps just called hands? That's what I've heard.

[TougaKiryuu]

Originally Posted by Jubo

Tri-step or Overlap or Cross-Overs and many things...

So, I created this thread for those (including me) that don't know any the terms of these...

useful? Ya, post if you guys know any terms <.< (I sound like a noob, hehe... I'm still learning at least.)

Let's see:

triplets/hands/tristep: this is when you have a step with more than two arrows in it and you can't just jump to hit it (unless you're a PiU player and have the right sized foot). This is when there are three arrows and you have to use your hands to hit them all.

quads: like the above, but with all four arrows instead. Easy enough (^^)V

cross-overs/twists: this is when in a stepchart the arrows flow in a way where you have to turn away from the screen and twist your body to hit certain patters, an example would be U-L-D-R-D-L-U

jackhammers - this is when you have a section of a song that streams and has jumps galore (see: Waka Laka/ DXY)

drills/doublesteps - this is when you have to repetatively hit the same arrow over and over again. example:
U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U (see: CSFILSM or Can't Stop Falling in Love Speed Mix)

[Kitty Army]

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

Let's see:

jackhammers - this is when you have a section of a song that streams and has jumps galore (see: Waka Laka/ DXY)

drills/doublesteps - this is when you have to repetatively hit the same arrow over and over again. example:
U-U-U-U-U-U-U-U (see: CSFILSM or Can't Stop Falling in Love Speed Mix)

Wrong

Jackhammers: same arrow repeatedly
ex: The Privateer, K8107, Jackhammer Madness

Drills (I'm guessing you mean trills) : two arrows alternating repeatedly, LRLRLRLRLR
ex: M, Eruption

[TougaKiryuu]

Originally Posted by Kitty Army

Wrong

Jackhammers: same arrow repeatedly
ex: The Privateer, K8107, Jackhammer Madness

Drills (I'm guessing you mean trills) : two arrows alternating repeatedly, LRLRLRLRLR
ex: M, Eruption

someone's got that backwards.. also a trill is something you do with a woodwind instrument

[a.sawa]

Originally Posted by Kitty Army

Wrong

Jackhammers: same arrow repeatedly
ex: The Privateer, K8107, Jackhammer Madness

Drills (I'm guessing you mean trills) : two arrows alternating repeatedly, LRLRLRLRLR
ex: M, Eruption

The term where same arrows repeatedly are just called jacks.

[Kitty Army]

A trill in musical terms is the rapid alternation of two notes, in stepmania it is the rapid alternation of two arrows

Where do you think "jack" came from? Its short for JACKhammer
I just said jackhammer because the previous post used that term

[errorrrr]

how do you efficiently do jack-hammers??? >_> I can do trill just fine... but jack-hammers are so hard... lol... i can get all notes in a trill, and with the same speed, but with just one repeated arrow, I miss some.... how do you time these jack hammers ON PAD? (like 16+)

[Patashu]

Originally Posted by errorrrr

how do you efficiently do jack-hammers??? >_> I can do trill just fine... but jack-hammers are so hard... lol... i can get all notes in a trill, and with the same speed, but with just one repeated arrow, I miss some.... how do you time these jack hammers ON PAD? (like 16+)

Try treating them as trills twice the speed. I don't know if it would help but it's something to try.

Failing that, when you've got nothing better to do practice vibrating your foot up and down as fast as you can. Can't hurt, right? XP

Anyway, some more terminology:

Staircases/rolls are patterns that go LDURLDUR, RUDLRUDLRUDL or LDURUDLDURUDL. Rolls also refer to a note type in ITG2/ITG3 which are freezes that, instead of being held, have to be hit upwards of three times a row per second to be kept (with no particular rhythm/timing neccesary).

One-handed trills are LDLDLDLD and RURURURURURU. The terminology only applies to keyboard files and is so-named because, when playing spread, you'll be alternating between the two fingers of one hand to hit them. If they're long and fast they're tricky to stay on-beat with.

Jumpjacks are either jacks where the same two arrows are hit over and over again, or when one arrow is hit as a jack and other arrows go all over the place. Toph's Bring Her Down has examples of both, Yesssss's Trisection Oni is also an example of the later.

Jumptrills are, well, trills of jumps. (LD)(UR)(LD)(UR) for example. (Those, in fact, are the most spread-biased of them all since they're totally effortless for a spreader. The other two configurations are like hitting double one-handed trills for a spreader, and they're all painful for an indexer.) The end of Eggman's One More Lovely Heavy is an example of this.

'BS' arrows don't go to anything in the music and are just there to make it harder.

[Xythar]

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

Let's see:

triplets/hands/tristep: this is when you have a step with more than two arrows in it and you can't just jump to hit it (unless you're a PiU player and have the right sized foot). This is when there are three arrows and you have to use your hands to hit them all.

Triples, not triplets. Triplets is three arrows in a row, often on one arrow, then another, then on the first again. To be 100% pedantically correct, a triplet should only be 12th arrows, but people use 'triplet' generally to refer to three arrows in a row of any kind (16ths, often).

Originally Posted by TougaKiryuu

jackhammers - this is when you have a section of a song that streams and has jumps galore (see: Waka Laka/ DXY)

Those are stepjumps. Jackhammers are multiple fast steps on the same arrow.

I've seen 'drills' used to refer to both jackhammers and 2-arrow runs. Really depends on the context.

Double steps refers to hitting two consecutive arrows with the same foot. A pattern like LDULRLDU would force you to double step the LR part unless you wanted to turn away from the screen. Not all double stepping is bad (Konami uses it frequently) but if it's in the middle of a 16th stream or something it can kill the enjoyment of your steps. If you make a pad file by just putting arrows down randomly you'll get complaints about the double stepping.

Originally Posted by Patashu

Staircases/rolls are patterns that go LDURLDUR, RUDLRUDLRUDL or LDURUDLDURUDL. Rolls also refer to a note type in ITG2/ITG3 which are freezes that, instead of being held, have to be hit upwards of three times a row per second to be kept (with no particular rhythm/timing neccesary).

Do people actually use 'rolls' to refer to patterns that go LDURUDL? Why? I've always seen it used to refer to trills in keyboard files (or IIDX, where it originated) since that's a common way to write steps/notes for drumrolls. In IIDX generally the only difference between calling something a 'trill' or a 'roll' is an implication as to the kind of instrument that note sequence plays. For instance, whether it's a drumroll or an actual flute trill (e.g. on I Can Fly I've Got Reason)

[Patashu]

Originally Posted by Xythar

Do people actually use 'rolls' to refer to patterns that go LDURUDL?

Occasionally.

Why?

Because they are, indeed, rolling.

I've always seen it used to refer to trills in keyboard files (or IIDX, where it originated) since that's a common way to write steps/notes for drumrolls.

Drumrolls for rolling steps, drumtrills for trilling steps. Much simpler like that IMHO. That's how I've always thought about it anyway.

[UndeadMushroom]

I had a light argument with a few friends where we came to conclude eventually that DDR and other Dancing Games do have 'Ladders' like the terminology from IIDX. The argument wasnt so much that it had ladders, more about what exactly ladders were.

the notestream in Pandemonium Another or Fleadth Uncut Another in general to me qualifies as ladders. But in the latter beginning of Agent Blatent Another, I'm sure some of you would agree more heavily that those are 'stairs' as opposed to 'ladders'. 0_o

terminology that I have experienced before is fairly consistent with what is here.

Drop notes - a note with three or four arrows [Anubis Another, Delirium Another]
Minefield - pretty obvious [Rome0 & Juli8 Another]
EDIT
In stepmania, when the BPM is either negative or an INCREDIBLY high value causing the measure to skip foward, i've heard it called a teleport or skip mod.
I dont know why, but I'm hearing people calling some stepmania patterns 'Double Streams', even though its referenced to a regular streaming pattern where only every other note is a double.

[Xythar]

Are you sure about the "terminology from IIDX" part? I have never heard anyone refer to "ladders" in IIDX.

[UndeadMushroom]

I'm pretty sure its not called that internationally, but I do hear it alot when Im around friends. Ladders like the patterns in Quasar and V Hyper, Stairs like the Piano Stream in Nageki No Ki