Minimal drum pattern

125 BPM · 57% swing · 16 steps · MM-RYTM

Minimal house and techno, in the line of Raresh, Rhadoo or Villalobos, is all about space: short sounds, a heavy swing and small percussion parts that answer each other.

The pattern

Minimal drum pattern at 125 BPM, 16 steps. Each number is the velocity of the step, 9 the loudest and 3 a ghost note; an empty cell is a rest.

Voice	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Kick (BD)	9				9				9				9
Snare (SD)								2
Closed hat (CH)	6	3	8	5	6	3	8	5	6	3	8	5	6	3		5
Open hat (OH)															5
Clap (CP)					7								7
Low tom (TOM)							4									4
High tom (HT)				5						5

The sounds in MM-RYTM: kick VNTM, snare Psy 12, hats 808, clap 808.

Why it works

A short, round kick on every beat and a soft clap on 2 and 4. Nothing else sits on the beat: the closed hat plays a shaker line with uneven dynamics (6, 3, 8, 5), the snare whispers once on step 8, the open hat once on step 15, and tuned toms answer each other, low on steps 7 and 16, high on steps 4 and 10. The swing is heavy (57%) and the delay fills the space.

Two variations

Shift the high tom by one step every eight bars: the groove moves without changing.
Take the clap out and let the ghost snare carry the backbeat.

Program it on any drum machine

Set the tempo to 125 BPM and the swing to 57% (50% is straight).
Program one voice at a time from the grid, starting with the kick, then the snare and clap, then the hats.
Use the numbers as velocities: on a machine with only accents, accent the 8s and 9s and leave the 3s and 4s as soft notes.
Or skip all that: open the beat below in MM-RYTM, every step, sound and effect is already set.

Play it, download it

General MIDI drum notes: kick 36, snare 38, clap 39, closed hat 42, open hat 46, low tom 45, high tom 50, cymbal 49. One bar, swing included.

Change it, then press SHARE in the header of MM-STUDIO: you get a link to your own version.

From Maudite Machine

More drum patterns

Play this beat