We should have 6/8ths & 12/8ths provided in theory tab because Hooktheory now provides songs in those meters. 6/8ths include Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo, Hero by Nickelback, I’m With You by Avril Lavigne & Failing by Alicia Keys. 12/8ths imcludes So What by P!nk, Womanizer by Britney Spears & I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry.
They are supported, although they may not be easy to find. When you select a meter that is divisible by 3, an option to select a ‘Beat Unit’ of 1 or 3 appears:
If you set this to 3, the meter will be x/8 rather than x/4 – although I think that for 9 and 12, a beat unit of 3 should be set as default, as 9/4 or 12/4 time signatures are very uncommon.
Please also keep in mind that setting the beat unit to 3 will disable the ‘Make Triplet’ option. So, no nested triplet tomfoolery for us.
Some of those songs, like ‘I Kissed A Girl’ do have a kind of lopsided beat, but do not use all three subdivisions that 12/8 provides. In this case, one may also keep 4/4 and enable ‘Swing Timing’, found under the BPM options. Songs with this 2:1 swing ratio (66% Swing Timing) may be notated as either 4/4 or 12/8.
Usually, 12/8 is used when the song also has elements which make use of all three subdivisions, like ‘So What’ by P!nk or ‘If U Seek Amy’ and ‘Ooh Ooh Baby’ by Britney Spears do, to avoid clutter by all the triplets if notated in 4/4.
PS: this type of notation is only supported by Hookpad up to and including 4 beats per measure. Songs with 5 beats, like this one by Primus, are in 15/8 but have to be entered using 5/4 and the triplet method.
PPS: this system may also be what makes it difficult, if not impossible, to add really odd time signatures, like 7/8, 11/8 or 13/8 to Hookpad. A somewhat patchy solution is to double the intended BPM and use measures of alternating length to make “compound measures” of 7/4, 11/4 and so on. This limits the original tempo to 150 BPM, as 300 is the maximum Hookpad allows.
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