build a set
curate a playlist of patterns. share the URL with a producer, save it locally, or render each one through nick's gear.
- 01chicago house · Frankie Knuckles + Jamie Principle · 1986
the foundation — chicago 4×4 909 only, no bass, no chords. learn to sit the kick at 122 first. plate on for the room.
- 028-bit / chiptune · Rob Hubbard / Martin Galway · 1985
140bpm 16th-note pentatonic lead through the C64 SID chip. fast, repetitive, in-your-face — Rob Hubbard / Martin Galway video-game-soundtrack DNA. no FX by default — the SID's own character is the texture.
- 03p-funk · Parliament · 1977
moog-only bass pattern walking root-5-b7-root in Bb minor — bernie worrell's expressive monosynth phrasing. add drive to taste.
- 04berlin school / cosmic · Klaus Schulze / Tangerine Dream · 1975
100bpm 8th-note hypnotic sequence through the modular pulse-pad program in C minor. Klaus Schulze / Tangerine Dream / late-70s Berlin school DNA. delay + plate on by default — the FX are half the genre.
- 0580s pop r&b · Quincy Jones / Whitney Houston era · 1985
80bpm electric piano arpeggio walking i-VI-III-VII in C minor + a bell stab on the top of every bar. Whitney / Quincy Jones / patch-11 territory — the sound of every TV theme from 1984 to 1991. tape on for warmth, plate on for the room.
starter sets
- chicago → detroit · the midwest spine →3 patterns
house was born in chicago, mutated into techno in detroit. 3-pattern walkthrough.
- the hip-hop drum machine timeline →4 patterns
DMX (1983) → 808 (1985) → SP-1200 (1987) → 808 redux (2011). 4-pattern history.
- the slow + the wide →3 patterns
70-95bpm, three records that built the slow lane in three different decades.
- the 80s drum machine workshop →5 patterns
5 different drum machines, 5 different scenes, 5 different eras. one decade.
full catalog · click to add
clicking a pattern below appends it to the current set in the URL. share that URL after, or save locally.
- phuture · acid territory125 bpm · chicago acid house
- parliament · flash light bass110 bpm · p-funk
- frankie knuckles · warehouse floor122 bpm · chicago house
- boom-bap · sp-1200 kit92 bpm · golden era hip-hop
- detroit · model 500 territory130 bpm · detroit techno
- footwork · chicago 160160 bpm · chicago footwork / juke
- dub · lee scratch territory76 bpm · jamaican dub / roots reggae
- trap · 808 sub + half-time140 bpm · atlanta trap
- DX7 · quincy '85 territory80 bpm · 80s pop r&b
- C64 SID · rob hubbard territory140 bpm · 8-bit / chiptune
- TR-606 · Sheffield industrial130 bpm · industrial / post-punk electronic
- DMX · sucker MCs96 bpm · golden era hip-hop / boom-bap origin
- Linn LM-1 · when doves cry109 bpm · minneapolis funk / pop
- 707 · voodoo ray acid house122 bpm · uk acid house
- 808 · planet rock electro116 bpm · electro / electro-funk
- 808 · sexual healing ballad95 bpm · quiet storm / 808 r&b
- modular · berlin school territory100 bpm · berlin school / cosmic
- grandmother · dub jam78 bpm · kingston dub
- grandmother · 16th arp112 bpm · italo / proto-house