Drums & grooves

The GM kit, inst aliases, fills

% The General MIDI kit is built-in vocabulary — kick snare rim clap,
% hat phat ohat, crash ride bell, tom1 to tom6, and a hand cabinet:
% clave shaker conga bongo tamb cowbell agogo triangle. Sixteen units
% to the bar, so one symbol is a sixteenth. Cabinet asks, heads answer.
 
bpm 120
meter 4
unit 1/4
 
Cabinet ::= clave - shaker - conga - shaker - clave - shaker - bongo bongo shaker -
Heads   ::= kick - tom5 - snare - tom4 - kick - tom2 - snare tom1 tom1 crash
 
Cabinet Heads
 
 
% A kit is limbs, and limbs are parallel fields. Hats keep eighths,
% open on beat 4, and close the bar with two sixteenths; Back puts the
% snare on 2 and 4 with a ghosted rim just ahead of 4; Feet play 1, the
% 'a' of 2 and the 'and' of 3. Added one at a time, then all three.
 
Hats   ::= hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 ohat _2 hat hat
Back   ::= -*4 snare -*6 rim snare -*3
Feet   ::= kick -*6 kick -*2 kick -*5
Groove ::= {Hats, Back, Feet}
 
assert Groove*2 == Groove Groove
 
Hats
{Hats, Feet}
Groove*3
 
 
% The bass is a limb too. In E minor it states the root on 1, again
% on the kick's 'a' of 2, and takes the 'and' of 3 on the fifth with
% the third kick — three attacks, three kicks — then walks 3 4 5 over
% the last three sixteenths back to the top of the bar.
 
key e2 min
 
Bass ::= 1 _7 1 _3 5 _3 3 4 5
 
Bass
{Groove, Bass}*4
 
 
% 'inst' names a sound the built-ins missed: GM 58, 64 and 68 have no
% name of their own. Give them one and the cabinet grows a Latin
% section — son clave, a tumbao needing all three congas (mute, low,
% open), agogo high and low — which the kit's feet and snare then join.
 
inst vibraslap = 58
inst conga3 = 64
inst agogo2 = 68
 
Son    ::= clave -*2 clave -*2 clave -*3 clave - clave -*3
Tumbao ::= conga2 - conga3 - conga -*3 conga2 - conga3 - conga conga - -
Bells  ::= agogo -*3 agogo2 -*3 agogo - agogo2 - agogo -*3
 
{Son, Tumbao, Bells}*2
{Son, Tumbao, Bells, Feet, Back}*2
{Son, Tumbao, Bells, Feet, Back, vibraslap -*15}
 
 
% Alternatives make a fill LIBRARY — one rule, three bars, '=' between
% them: toms walking down tom1 to tom6, a sixteenth snare roll off the
% halfway point, and a hand fill landing on the crash. 'enum' auditions
% all three; '#n' pins one, so a chart calls a fill by number.
 
Fill ::= tom1 -*3 tom1 tom2 -*2 tom2 tom4 -*2 tom4 tom5 tom5 tom6
       = -*8 snare*8
       = clap -*3 clap -*3 rim rim -*2 crash -*3
 
enum Fill
 
{Groove, Bass}*3
Fill#1
{Groove, Bass}*3
Fill#2
 
 
% The set. Two bars of count-in, then six four-bar phrases, one per
% line: the kit assembled over the bass, the Latin section given a
% phrase of its own, the three fills in order, and a crash held over
% the tonic for the whole last bar.
 
Cabinet Heads
Groove*2 {Groove, Bass}*2
{Groove, Bass}*3 Fill#1
{Groove, Bass}*3 Fill#2
{Son, Tumbao, Bells, Feet, Back}*4
{Groove, Bass, Son}*3 Fill#3
{Groove, Bass, Son}*3 {crash _16, kick _16, 1 _16}

% The General MIDI kit is built-in vocabulary — kick snare rim clap,
% hat phat ohat, crash ride bell, tom1 to tom6, and a hand cabinet:
% clave shaker conga bongo tamb cowbell agogo triangle. Sixteen units
% to the bar, so one symbol is a sixteenth. Cabinet asks, heads answer.

bpm 120
meter 4
unit 1/4

Cabinet ::= clave - shaker - conga - shaker - clave - shaker - bongo bongo shaker -
Heads   ::= kick - tom5 - snare - tom4 - kick - tom2 - snare tom1 tom1 crash

Cabinet Heads

% A kit is limbs, and limbs are parallel fields. Hats keep eighths,
% open on beat 4, and close the bar with two sixteenths; Back puts the
% snare on 2 and 4 with a ghosted rim just ahead of 4; Feet play 1, the
% 'a' of 2 and the 'and' of 3. Added one at a time, then all three.

Hats   ::= hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 hat _2 ohat _2 hat hat
Back   ::= -*4 snare -*6 rim snare -*3
Feet   ::= kick -*6 kick -*2 kick -*5
Groove ::= {Hats, Back, Feet}

assert Groove*2 == Groove Groove

Hats
{Hats, Feet}
Groove*3

% The bass is a limb too. In E minor it states the root on 1, again
% on the kick's 'a' of 2, and takes the 'and' of 3 on the fifth with
% the third kick — three attacks, three kicks — then walks 3 4 5 over
% the last three sixteenths back to the top of the bar.

key e2 min

Bass ::= 1 _7 1 _3 5 _3 3 4 5

Bass
{Groove, Bass}*4

% 'inst' names a sound the built-ins missed: GM 58, 64 and 68 have no
% name of their own. Give them one and the cabinet grows a Latin
% section — son clave, a tumbao needing all three congas (mute, low,
% open), agogo high and low — which the kit's feet and snare then join.

inst vibraslap = 58
inst conga3 = 64
inst agogo2 = 68

Son    ::= clave -*2 clave -*2 clave -*3 clave - clave -*3
Tumbao ::= conga2 - conga3 - conga -*3 conga2 - conga3 - conga conga - -
Bells  ::= agogo -*3 agogo2 -*3 agogo - agogo2 - agogo -*3

{Son, Tumbao, Bells}*2
{Son, Tumbao, Bells, Feet, Back}*2
{Son, Tumbao, Bells, Feet, Back, vibraslap -*15}

% Alternatives make a fill LIBRARY — one rule, three bars, '=' between
% them: toms walking down tom1 to tom6, a sixteenth snare roll off the
% halfway point, and a hand fill landing on the crash. 'enum' auditions
% all three; '#n' pins one, so a chart calls a fill by number.

Fill ::= tom1 -*3 tom1 tom2 -*2 tom2 tom4 -*2 tom4 tom5 tom5 tom6
       = -*8 snare*8
       = clap -*3 clap -*3 rim rim -*2 crash -*3

enum Fill

{Groove, Bass}*3
Fill#1
{Groove, Bass}*3
Fill#2

% The set. Two bars of count-in, then six four-bar phrases, one per
% line: the kit assembled over the bass, the Latin section given a
% phrase of its own, the three fills in order, and a crash held over
% the tonic for the whole last bar.

Cabinet Heads
Groove*2 {Groove, Bass}*2
{Groove, Bass}*3 Fill#1
{Groove, Bass}*3 Fill#2
{Son, Tumbao, Bells, Feet, Back}*4
{Groove, Bass, Son}*3 Fill#3
{Groove, Bass, Son}*3 {crash _16, kick _16, 1 _16}

running…edit it — it re-runs as you type

Opening…

Drums & grooves · Pattern Engine