Product Description

This book is a supplement to the first volume of Drum Machine Patterns. In it you will find over 260 rhythm patterns and breaks. These are original patterns that can be programmed easily on any drum machine. This book contains the rhythms most often used in contemporary music, and many patterns incorporate flams, to be used on the latest generation of drum machines.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137909 in Books
• Published on: 1987-11-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Oldie but Goodie
I bought this book years (decades?) ago. The copyright year says 1987; I probably bought it a couple of years later back when I had an Alesis HR-16 drum machine.

I remember programming in a few drum patterns from the book and being pleased with the results, it's just that back then I didn't have the recording equipment, synthesizers and so on to suplement the drums (plus, I wasn't as good of a musican as I am now, at least I like to think I've improved a lot since then). So I put the book on the shelf and forgot about it.

I remembered this book tonight, and on a whim I took it down off of the shelf, dusted it off, and began programming some of the "R&B" patterns into Sonar. Unlike those days in the late 80s, I have the means now to do the drum patterns justice. The advent of today's DAWs make it easy for "bedroom" musicans like me to realize their musical dreams.

Anyway, I've found that these patterns to be really good (so far). I'm hearing them in a way I couldn't originally. I'm looking forward to programming in many of the other patterns, especially the Rock and Funk patterns.

Some tips:

1) When programming in the drum parts, be sure to play around with the dynamics (MIDI note velocity). The book has accent marks for some of the notes, but really to get more realistic results you need to go farther. As a general rule, try emphasizing the downbeats. But let your ears be your guide.

2) The drum patterns use a small subset of the drums found in today's General MIDI drum map. Back then your typical drum machine didn't have a large set of drum samples to choose from. So be sure to take advantage of the GM drum map to add realism to the patterns. For example, if a drum pattern calls for a cymbal crash two notes in a row, use the first cymbal crash (note 49) for the first crash and the second cymbal crash (note 57) for the second crash. That way you're not hearing the same crash sample so close together. Even better if you have a drum machine (something like EZDrummer) that has some kind of humanizing algorithm for mixing up the samples.

3) You may want to play around with the note placements to change the characteristic of the beats. For example, moving the snare drum on beat 2 and 4 slightly ahead of the beat for a more driven feel.

4) Instead of using the same pattern over and over again, alternate between two patterns that complement each other. The book's introduction talks about this. Also, when repeating the same pattern, go in and make a small change so that it has some variation. This will add to the realism of the performance.

That's about it. I'm glad I've rediscovered this book. There are tons of prefab drum MIDI files out there (Groove Monkee comes to mind). These are great, but I gotta say, it's fun traveling a bit back in time and doing things the old fashion way. For one thing you really get inside a pattern by entering it by hand one note at a time. If you have the patience, it's very rewarding.

Maybe a little dated but still helped me
I am not very musically inclined, but I love making it. I use only a computer, no drums, so these beat patterns have been wonderful. I would never be original enough to come up interesting beats on my own. It's also helped me learn about rhythm.

Skyemac8
Well, I just got a Roland tr-808. It a lot of antiquated features I wish
newer ones had. This book provides ideas for fills, intros, and basic patterns. Good stuff!!!