Broken-beat drum pattern with a turnaround

What to listen for

The main snare anchors beats 2 and 4. Quiet snare notes sit around those accents. Different kick placements in the second bar create a turnaround without adding a separate fill lane.

Change one thing

Turn one quiet snare into a strong hit and listen to the new accent. If it competes with the backbeat, lower it again instead of changing every note.

Try an eight-bar arrangement

The MIDI download contains the two bars shown above. Repeat the clip four times in your DAW, then make these changes to build an eight-bar phrase:

1. Bars 1–2: leave out all quiet snare notes.
2. Bars 3–4: add the hats at a low level.
3. Bars 5–6: introduce the quiet snare notes.
4. Bars 7–8: use the second-bar kick response, then leave the final hat silent.

Import the notes into monody

In a test with monody 0.9.2, the house offbeat example retained its 21 notes and velocities after MIDI import, but received a pitched Techno Stab preset. That test covered the house offbeat file, not a separate native import of every exercise. It does not automatically create a drum kit. Use the browser preview to hear the rhythm here; importing alone will not reproduce those drum sounds.

1. Download the original MIDI, or edit the grid and choose Download this MIDI.
2. In monody, choose Project → Import MIDI file… and select the downloaded .mid file. Import creates a new MIDI track.
3. Set the project tempo to the BPM you chose here; importing does not set it for you.
4. Inspect or edit the notes in the piano roll. To hear them as drums, they need a drum-kit track with matching note assignments. A DAW with a General MIDI drum instrument can also use this file.

MIDI carries note numbers and velocities; it does not carry the browser’s synthesized sounds. This file uses channel 10 and the note map below. Remap notes if your drum instrument uses a different map.

• Kick: MIDI note 36
• Snare: MIDI note 38
• Closed hat: MIDI note 42
• Open hat: MIDI note 46

Download monody for macOS to continue with local editing and export. Free supports up to eight tracks. The built-in assistant requires an account and internet access; this exercise does not require the assistant.

About this pattern

This is an original practice exercise, not a transcription of a particular artist or recording, and not a definition of an entire genre. Use and adapt the MIDI in your own music, including commercial tracks, without attribution. No third-party sample audio is included.

Swing here delays every second sixteenth within an eighth-note pair. 50% is straight; the downloaded note timing includes the selected swing. Changing a DAW’s groove again after import can change that timing further.

For more on rhythmic placement, see Ableton’s linear-drumming lesson. File-format reference: the MIDI Association’s Standard MIDI Files overview. These are background references, not sources of the downloadable note data.

Try a different rhythm

• Half-time drum pattern with space
• Two-step drum pattern with skipped kicks
• Develop a loop into a track
• All drum patterns