Phrasing and variation
Turn your one-bar loop into an 8-bar phrase that changes in the right places, and let it vary on its own with chance and trig conditions.
Phrases of 4 and 8 bars
Music talks in phrases. A common shape is A B A C, then A B A D: the loop, a small change, the loop, a bigger change. Bar 8 closes the phrase with a fill or an "empty", where something drops out. Listeners feel it coming even if they can't name it.
Variation without effort
Trig conditions decide when a step plays: 1:2 plays the first of every two passes, 2:2 the second, 1:4 the first of every four, 50% is a coin toss, FILL plays only while you hold PAGE. A pass is one time round the pattern.
Chance (the CHANCE knob) gives a whole track a probability, so a shaker can come and go on its own.
Loops of different lengths
Give one track 12 steps while the others have 16. It drifts against the bar and only lines up again every 3 bars. This is called polymeter, and it makes a short loop sound like it keeps changing.
Lesson 4
- Phrasing and variation.
- In this lesson you will turn your one-bar loop into an 8-bar phrase that changes in the right places, and let it vary on its own with chance and trig conditions.
Your loop is one bar.
Music thinks in 4 and 8-bar phrases: A B A C, A B A D. Bar 4 changes a bit more, and bar 8 closes the phrase with a fill or a gap, so the ear knows a new phrase is starting.
Trig conditions let a step play only on some passes through the pattern.
With a 4-bar pattern, 1:2 plays in bars 1–4 but not 5–8, and 2:2 plays only in bars 5–8. That's how one pattern can hold an 8-bar phrase.
The perc loop is 12 steps long and the shaker 7.
Press Play and watch them slide against the kick and snare. Every bar sounds slightly different, though nothing random is happening.
The perc lines up with the kick again only every third bar.
Make B01 four bars long
- Hold FUNC and press PAGE to open the SCALE menu, set LEN to 64 with LEVEL/DATA.
- Then press BACK.
- Your bar is copied onto pages 2, 3 and 4.
Still sounds the same, but now it's 4 bars, A A A A. The four page lights show where you are.
Make bar 2 the B
Press RECORD, press PAGE until the second page light is on, select T2 and add a quiet snare on 16 (hold it, set VEL to about 30).
A small pickup at the end of bar 2.
Make bar 4 the C
Press PAGE until the fourth light is on, and on T2 add snares on 14, 15 and 16 at low velocity.
A little roll that leads back to the top.
- Turn the second time through bar 4 into bar 8, the D: still on page 4, hold 14, 15 and 16 and turn CHANCE until the screen shows 2:2.
- Then select T1, hold the kicks on 9 and 11, and set them to 1:2.
Bar 4 now has its kicks and no roll. Bar 8 drops the kicks and plays the roll: an empty plus a fill.
Add a fill you play by hand
- Select T3, add an extra hat on 1 of page 1, hold it and turn CHANCE to FILL.
- Press RECORD to listen, and hold PAGE whenever you want the fill.
The extra hit only plays while PAGE is held.
Make T4 drift
- Open the SCALE menu (FUNC + PAGE), set MOD to TRACK, select T4 and set its LEN to 12.
- Then BACK.
- Press RECORD, select T4 and place perc on 1, 4, 7 and 10.
A 12-step loop sliding across your 16-step bar, just like the drawing.
Let it breathe
- Press RECORD to leave grid recording, select T4 and turn CHANCE down to about 70%.
- Then save the pattern (hold FUNC, long-press SETTINGS).
Listen to eight bars without touching anything: it never quite repeats.
Your pattern is 4 bars long. Which condition makes a trig play only in bar 8?
Answer
2:2. On a 4-bar pattern it is true on every second pass, and the second pass through bar 4 is bar 8. The kicks set to 1:2 do the opposite and disappear in bar 8.
A phrase needs a beginning and an end. Give bar 4 a small change and bar 8 a big one.
This lesson's challenge
Listen to Bonobo's "Kiara" or Burial's "Archangel" and write down what changes at bars 4, 8 and 16. Copy one of those ideas into your B01 phrase.