The groove machine and dub desk
A 16-step drum machine with bass and chord tracks, a key and progression for the harmony, and a dub mixing desk for live performance. The colors follow the classic Roland TR-808: each color block is one beat.
- Drum steps cycle through loud, soft (ghost) and off as you click them.
- Bass steps cycle through chord tones: R (root), 3, 5, 7, 8 (octave) and 5↓ (the 5th below). The bass follows each chord of the progression automatically, which is how real bass players think.
- Chord steps play the current chord of the progression with the chord sound. The lit chord above the grid is the one playing now.
- A track's name mutes it instantly. The echo sends under the desk set how much of each track goes into the echo.
- Hold Echo throw, Tape spin or Siren, and tap Spring crash. Drag the filter left for low-pass and right for high-pass.
When a beat works, open it in the drum machine with the link under the desk: the drum tracks carry over, so you can give each track its own length and export a WAV.
Jam: everything on one clock
The minimal drums, a polymeter perc, Latin percussion, the bass synth from lesson 2 and dub chords, all on one clock. Each layer has three variations. Play it like a mixer: cut layers in and out on the phrase, sweep the filter, throw the delay.
Changes wait for the next bar by default, so a mute can't land off the grid. Auto-arrange runs a 32-bar structure (intro, build, full groove, breakdown with a delay throw, return) so you can hear how few moves a minimal arrangement actually needs.