Introduction to the BR Rhythm Guide

The Rhythm Guide is the BR's built-in drum machine. It has two basic operating modes.

Pattern Mode

Patterns are drum beats of one or more measures in length. The BR has two types of patterns - Preset and Song. Preset patterns are stored permanently in the BR's internal memory and cannot be changed. Song patterns are saved on the memory card with each song, and you can edit them.

When the BR is in Pattern Mode, you can select any one of the 327 Preset patterns or 100 Song patterns. When you press PLAY, the selected pattern will play repeatedly until you press STOP. Although this is adequate for previewing patterns or perhaps as a simple accompaniment while practicing or jamming, it is too monotonous to be used as the drum track for a song.

Arrangement Mode

Patterns are the building blocks for creating arrangements. An arrangement is a sequence of patterns chained together as a list of steps. Each step specifies the pattern to be played and how long to play it.

For example:

• Step 1:  Play pattern P026 for 8 measures
• Step 2:  Play pattern P032 for 4 measures
• Step 3:  Play pattern P026 for 12 measures

When you enter the steps into the BR, you don't specify the length of the steps directly. Instead, you specify the starting measure of each step and the BR derives the length from that. Each step automatically repeats until the starting measure of the next step. Step 1 always starts at measure 1.

So, the previous example would be entered as:

• Step 1:  Pattern P026   Starting Measure 1
• Step 2:  Pattern P032   Starting Measure 9
• Step 3:  Pattern P026   Starting Measure 13
• Step 4:  Pattern P327   Starting Measure 25

The last step of an arrangement repeats indefinitely (until you press STOP), as there's no starting measure specified in the following step. So, to end the arrangement, set the last step to pattern P327 (BREAK). This pattern produces no sound. So, although it still repeats indefinitely when it's the last step of an arrangement, no sound is made. In the example above, step 3 plays for 12 measures (measures 13 to 24), then the silent pattern P327 (BREAK) is repeated until you press STOP

The BR has two types of arrangements - Preset and Song. Preset arrangements are stored permanently in the BR's internal memory and cannot be changed. Song arrangements are saved on the memory card with each song, and you can edit them.

Preset arrangements can give you an idea of the possibilities but they're not very useful as a drum track for a song as they are quite short and can't be edited. You can copy a Preset arrangement to a Song arrangement and then edit the Song arrangement. However, it's usually easiest just to create your own Song arrangement from scratch.

When the BR is in Arrangement Mode, you can select any one of the 50 Preset arrangements or 5 Song arrangements. When you press PLAY, the pattern specified for step 1 of the arrangement will begin playing and repeat until the starting measure of step 2. Then the pattern specified for step 2 will play and repeat until the starting measure of step 3, and so on. Each step of the arrangement will be played in this manner until a step is reached with no starting measure specified. At that point, the pattern specified in the previous step will repeat until you press STOP.


... to be continued.