Techno drum pattern

132 BPM · 51% swing · 16 steps · MM-RYTM

Warehouse techno, the Berlin way (Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann): a long, low kick, the open hat on every off-beat and saturation on everything.

The pattern

Techno drum pattern at 132 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)	7	5		7	7	5		7	7	5		7	7	5		7
Open hat (OH)			9				9				9				9
Clap (CP)					7								7
Low tom (TOM)										4				4

The sounds in MM-RYTM: kick Engelhardt, snare Psy 02, hats 909, clap 909.

Why it works

The kick is long and low with plenty of drive, the open hat lands on every off-beat with closed sixteenths under it (7, 5, 0, 7), a discreet clap marks 2 and 4, a ghost snare sits on step 15 and two low toms on steps 10 and 14 add movement, their echoes delayed. 51% swing, heavy drive.

Two variations

Open the delay on the toms only: their echoes become a second percussion line.
Remove the clap and let the kick and the open hat do the work, for a darker intro.

Program it on any drum machine

Set the tempo to 132 BPM and the swing to 51% (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