I was reading an article about Jay Postones and he mentioned using his DAW to input polyrhythmic patters in order to "hear" them, and how that helps for learning and practicing.  That sounds like a great idea to me.  
 
Best I can figure is to break down the rhythms to the lowest common denominator, like when doing it on paper, and use that as the time signature.  So a 5 over 4 would have a LCD of 20, and using eighth notes we could create a time signature of 20/8.  Then just plot the two rhythms accordingly, press play and hear what it sounds like, slow it down, all that.
 
But is that how you guys would approach it?  Is there a better, smarter way to do this?  
 
 

Since we can place MIDI notes or samples with millisecond accuracy there's no absolute need to work out a time signature.

It does make things easier if the notes/samples can be laid out by a grid though, and a time signature helps a lot with that.

Not sure I understand the purpose of thinking of 5 over 4 as 20/4 time signature? 
 
Cakewalk is great for many things, but sucks in the polyrythmic department imo. Sure itsmidi and you can steprecord , but you have to revert to ticks rather than normal notation. Which works but takes more time than it should if only they included the entire alphabet of notation rather than stop short with triplets or whatever it is. 
 
Best way to learn polyrythms is to expose yourself to them constantly, so they become as natural as four on the floor. 

That's a great idea Voda. That would come in handy teaching my kids. Thanks for posting.

Sonar has helped me immensely. I buy loops from groove monkey. I keep it simple.

You can use multiples of your time signature. Bounce to clip. Change your signature.

This is definitely not hard.

When you want to go back and forth, lock Tracks, buses and clips to absolute time rather than musical.

So imagine this...
Drop in 3.4 drum loop.
Bounce to track.
Lock.
Change time to 4.4
Drop in a 4.4 loop.
Bounce to track.
Lock.

Easy right?

tobiaslindahl
Not sure I understand the purpose of thinking of 5 over 4 as 20/4 time signature? 
 
 

So that you have, essentially, 20 clicks, or hash marks, however you want to think of them.  The 5/4 rhythm will start on 1, 5, 9, 13 and 17, while the 4/4 rhythm will start on 1, 6, 11, and 16.  This is the same as writing it out on paper, only doing it in the DAW allows you to hit "play" and actually hear what it should sound like, and you can slow it down and speed it up.  One problem though is that there is nowhere to number the ticks, which I find very helpful when learning a particular polyrhythm.  
 

tobiaslindahl
 
Best way to learn polyrythms is to expose yourself to them constantly, so they become as natural as four on the floor. 

 
Right, like exposing yourself to them using your DAW.  It's just an interesting technique I hadn't thought of that came from an awesome polyrhythmic drummer.  
 

gswitz
Sonar has helped me immensely. I buy loops from groove monkey. I keep it simple.

You can use multiples of your time signature. Bounce to clip. Change your signature.

This is definitely not hard.

When you want to go back and forth, lock Tracks, buses and clips to absolute time rather than musical.

So imagine this...
Drop in 3.4 drum loop.
Bounce to track.
Lock.
Change time to 4.4
Drop in a 4.4 loop.
Bounce to track.
Lock.

Easy right?

Hmm...that's an interesting way of doing it.  I'm going to try that tonight.  Thanks for the tip.  

Voda La Void
Right, like exposing yourself to them using your DAW.  It's just an interesting technique I hadn't thought of that came from an awesome polyrhythmic drummer.  

 
 
Ineed, I was agreeing with you but maybe it came off as something else :)   

Voda La Void

tobiaslindahl
Not sure I understand the purpose of thinking of 5 over 4 as 20/4 time signature? 
 
 

So that you have, essentially, 20 clicks, or hash marks, however you want to think of them.  The 5/4 rhythm will start on 1, 5, 9, 13 and 17, while the 4/4 rhythm will start on 1, 6, 11, and 16.  This is the same as writing it out on paper, only doing it in the DAW allows you to hit "play" and actually hear what it should sound like, and you can slow it down and speed it up.  One problem though is that there is nowhere to number the ticks, which I find very helpful when learning a particular polyrhythm.  
 

tobiaslindahl
 
Best way to learn polyrythms is to expose yourself to them constantly, so they become as natural as four on the floor. 

 
Right, like exposing yourself to them using your DAW.  It's just an interesting technique I hadn't thought of that came from an awesome polyrhythmic drummer.  
 

gswitz
Sonar has helped me immensely. I buy loops from groove monkey. I keep it simple.

You can use multiples of your time signature. Bounce to clip. Change your signature.

This is definitely not hard.

When you want to go back and forth, lock Tracks, buses and clips to absolute time rather than musical.

So imagine this...
Drop in 3.4 drum loop.
Bounce to track.
Lock.
Change time to 4.4
Drop in a 4.4 loop.
Bounce to track.
Lock.

Easy right?

Hmm...that's an interesting way of doing it.  I'm going to try that tonight.  Thanks for the tip.  

Should work.
 
And if you layer a 21/16 with a 19/16 and a 4/4 you end up with a Keep It Greasy from Joe's Garage
 
Of course, Zappa's musicians did the whole thing in one take in the studio - but don't let that stop you!

Bristol_Jonesey
 
Should work.
 
And if you layer a 21/16 with a 19/16 and a 4/4 you end up with a Keep It Greasy from Joe's Garage
 
Of course, Zappa's musicians did the whole thing in one take in the studio - but don't let that stop you!

Yeah, I'll get right on that!  
 

tobiaslindahl

Voda La Void
Right, like exposing yourself to them using your DAW.  It's just an interesting technique I hadn't thought of that came from an awesome polyrhythmic drummer.  

 
 
Ineed, I was agreeing with you but maybe it came off as something else :)   

It did.  My apologies.  
 
 

 

tobiaslindahl 
Best way to learn polyrythms is to expose yourself to them constantly, so they become as natural as four on the floor. 

I think that's essential to grasp the style of any genre or tradition of music, other perhaps than the formal "classical" style which was largely created within the limitations of western musical notation.