Ahh. Ok you have me completely lost now. I don't see where your saying clapping in 9/8 is going to be at any different speed then clapping in 3/4??? Whether I go 1, 2, 3, 1, ... or to 9. I clap each number at the same speed. Trust me, T.S. does not determine speed. That's what tempo is for. The tempo tells you how fast to slap 1, 2,3 ... not the T.S.
Here's the difference in 9/8 and 3/4. Clap the numbers at the same speed.
3/4 : ONE TWO THREE
9/8 : ONE two three FOUR five six SEVEN eight nine.
One in both is slightly stronger. Numbers in small case are not considered beats, they are divisions. Like if you were to put 'and' in between each number in 3/4; ONE and TWO and THREE and. In manic depression beats Two and Three do not have a clear pulse. Only One sounds like a beat, thus two and three are a background of ONE. The difference in 3/4 is you can clearly hear a pulse on ONE, TWO, and THREE. Not just ONE like 3/8 or 9/8. Accept this as true and you will understand.
In compound time signatures the top number doesn't tell you how many beats like a simple time signature does. In a simple time signature like 4/4, we know there's four beats to a measure. In a compound time signature like 9/8, the top numbers tells you how many divided beats. So the top number is always divisable by 3. 3/8, 6/4, 9/8, 12/16. 3/8 has 1 beat, 6/4 has two, and well you can figure out the rest.
As for the triplet, they are not triplets. If your thinking the polyrhythm 3:2. A compound T.S. is not 2 beats divided in 3 per say. You could argue your way to prove it so, but it's a bad way of looking at it. 3/8 sounds alot like 3/4 although when you count two and three there is no pulse in the music. Like manic depression, the only clear pulse is on ONE. WHich is why it's 3/8, or if look at it as all three Da-da-da's as being in one measure, it's 9/8. Although after having the discussion I would recount 9/8 and correct that to be 3/8 instead.
About the feel of 9/8 and 3/4, I would sort of agree. 9/8 does have a softer pace because of the division of three between each beat. 3/4 has more of a bouncy feel, since and subdivision would be like down, up, down, up, down, up. One and Two and Three and sounds bouncy. 9/8 is more dance like, DA ta ta DA ta ta DA ta ta. Fur Elise is in 3/8 and so are several other dance tunes. The Waltz is in 3/4, but the waltz is a particular feel. Since ONE TWO and THREE all have a pulse.
BTW, please accept this as true. NOTE values nor Time Signature define the pace of the music. We have a tempo for that very reason. Time signature only tell you the feel. Note values only tell you the lenght at which you play a note or rhythm. A sixteenth note is NOT faster than an eighth note. A sixteenth note in 12/16 is just as fast as eighth note in 6/8 at 60 bpm. They both last for exactly one second.
"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.