Most Complex Time Signature ever!?

Maybe:

I don't know...13,000/16.  It's limitless...

Edited by Yukorin - September 14 2006 at 07:16

I'm unable to read many of Meshuggah's time signatures. They win!

Black Page : Frank Zappa
Red Shift: Anders Johansson
Alex Mahacek: most tracks from his forthcoming album [SIC]  or from his earlier album Featuring Ourselves - check out the merging of Charlie Parker's Donna Lee with Zappa's Black Page.

Joe Morello's Castillian Drums (ex. Dave Brubeck Quartet's Carnegie Hall Live album) is reckoned to go through several dozen time signature changes

Some More:

Complex time signatures can often be broken down into groupings of two three and four beats. In modern classical music the groupings are given in what looks like an alegbra equation over the beat value something like this: 3+2+3 / 4. That would be the equal of 8/4 but tells the player how to "feel" the note groupings. The potential for this type of time signature, as noted, is limitless, but there does need to be a repeat of the basic pattern of groupings. For example, Supper's Ready's Apocalypse in 9/8 would be grouped 3+2+4 / 8., both because that totals 9 and because the pattern repeats over and over. Looked at in this way none of them are really all that complex. It's more about feel than it is about counting.
    
    

Edited by composer - August 13 2006 at 23:04

Empathy wrote: I agree with Dick. Zappa's "Black Page".

the black page is in 4/4 common time

There really is no such thing as 17/16. Time sigs like this get written on occasion but it is mostly for shock effect (or out of ignorance on the part of the composer. Zappa was by no means ignorant and shock value was something he placed a high priority on so...) and it appears to be working well on many of you.

Our rhythmic brain wiring will simply not accept the reality of a time sig like that. We understand it mathematicaly but in reality we break all rhythmic information down into groupings of 1, 2, 3 and maybe 4 (four can be felt in 2 + 2 or 3 + 1), pulses. See my breakdown of the Apocalypse above.

So as I explained above a meter like 17/16 is in reality a repeating pattern of smaller pulse groupings such as 4+3+4+3+3 or 3+2+3+3+4+2 etc

The trick to learning to play and to listen to these pieces is to detect and "feel" the smaller patterns within the larger structure of the measure. Otherwise you'l completely lose your sanity trying to count to 17 over and over again. Trust me no trained musician will EVER do that.
    
    

Edited by composer - August 13 2006 at 23:59

Hierophant wrote: Empathy wrote: I agree with Dick. Zappa's "Black Page".  the black page is in 4/4 common time

Hmm... not sure I buy that.