Is 4/4 duple time?

[1piano4joe]

I've been doing some research and seem to be getting contradictory information.

2/4 is simple duple. Right?
3/4 is simple triple. Right?
4/4 is simple quadruple. Seems to be, depending on who I ask?

The book, "Music, a Comprehensive Introduction" by Steven Porter lists 4/4 as simple duple. There is no mention of quadruple. It just doesn't exist. There is ONLY duple or triple. This is what I was taught many years ago. Doesn't this reasoning make 8/4 and 10/4 simple duple?

Simple must have a top number of 2,3 or 4. Right? According to musictheory.net lesson 15, this is true. This website uses quadruple. So, it DOES exist! 8/4 and 10/4 can't be simple according to this website since the top number is not 2,3 or 4 which seems to contradict the other guy. Yet, they don't fit the definition of compound. So, what are they then?

Simple states that each of these beats can be divided by 2. Right?

Compound means beats can be divided by 3.

6/4 compound duple.
9/4 compound triple.
12/4 compound quadruple.

Any thoughts on this?

Thank you, Joe.

P.S. I'm going with "YES" 4/4 is duple time. Do you agree?

[tommichie321]

I would call 4/4 simple quadruple time.
I haven't done a lot of research, this is just my 2 cents, but could it be possible that in some schools of thought, such as the the book you mentioned, quadruple isn't a 'thing'? I.e. what we call quadruple could be seen as just twice as much duple as they both divide by two?

Similarly, I would call 8/4 simple because it divides into 2. However, 10/4 to me sounds more like a 'complex' time signature, like 5/4.

Again, just my thoughts.

[anima55]

The only way 4/4 would be duple time and not quadruple time, as far as I'm concerned, is if it was played as 2/2, which is actually duple time.  It's like the difference between the foxtrot and the quickstep.  Both may be written as 4/4 ie, with four crotchets or quarter notes in a bar, but the foxtrot will have a 1 2 3 4 feel (4/4) and the quickstep will have a 1 2 1 2 feel (2/2)

For me, duple time is a feeling of 1 2 1 2 which you would find in 2/4 and 2/2.  Quadruple time is when there is a feeling of 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 as found in 4/4 or 12/8