Up until now, the rhythm feels a bit loose and random, right? A bit jazz? What I want is a big old snare to strike on every 5 quarter-beats of 8. Regular, expected, satisfying.
I have three snare samples, each striking slightly different parts of the skin. These are played at random, using the ? cipher from previous examples.
<track-blam to="#snare" override="kickTrack">
<bar-blam s="0 0 0 0 ? 0 0 0"></bar-blam>
</track-blam>
Given the polymetric nature of the pattern thus far, we have a problem. Sometimes the snare sound and the kick sound will coincide. As covered in the Sequencing guide, this can be avoided using the override prop. With this in place, every time a snare and a kick are scheduled to play, the kick will be silenced.
Makes sense, because drummers rarely play a snare and a kick at the same time. Now it sounds like a drummer actively choosing their kick and snare placement as they improvise.
In this example, I’ve introduce probably my favorite HYPERBLAM sequencing feature: swing. Start the pattern playing, then switch swing on at the bottom there. Hear the difference? See the Humanization guide for a breakdown of that algorithm.