Create a simple drum sequence

[Pedro]

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a drum sequence with different drum patterns and save it all. In the Micro BR, the drums use an independent track of the 4 audio ones, thus it does not occupy any audio track.

When programming a drum sequence with the Micro BR it's better to first record all the audio tracks of the song (guitar, vocals, keys) in a regular tempo (listening to a metronome pattern) and in the end, program the drums. In this tutorial, the whole procedure is covered.

Remember, all the drum patterns in Micro BR are in the 4/4 time signature, so your song has to be in 4/4 as well.


Things you should know

In the first screen, before the tempo BPM, there is a Measure (or Bar) Counter. The first 3 digits are the Measure Number, the next digit is the Beat Number. See the photo below.




Since we are in a 4/4 time signature, a Measure is equal to 4 beats. Every 4 beats, the Measure number is added 1 Bar. When using the Metronome Pattern (314 - Metro 4/4) a beat is a "tick!" sound, like the ticking of a clock. The speed that the "ticks!" are played is the tempo. Every 4 "ticks!" it adds up one measure and sounds a "bing!". This is very important as this is a way of counting time in music and it will help you create your drum sequence.


Definitions

Drum Patterns
The drum pattern is the fundamental piece of the drum sequences, it is usually 2 bars in size and comes in different types, like, rock, blues, jazz, etc... Combining different patterns in a proper sequence creates a drum sequence. To combine them in a proper sequence, Steps have to be used.

Steps
Steps are the parts that make the drum arrangement. Steps contain information about the position of the Pattern on the drum sequence (in which bar it starts), the tempo of the Pattern and the type of Pattern (Rock V1, Blues V2, etc..). Patterns are not Steps, they are a part of the Steps. Each step uses only one Pattern, but this Pattern can be played for as long as you want.

Drum Sequence
A Drum Sequence is a group of Steps. A Drum Sequence can contain up to 50 Steps. The Steps are played in order starting from 0 to 50. Micro BR can store up to 5 different sequences for song.


Important things

When you make a step, it will play infinitely until the measure where the next Step is planned to start.
When you don't want to hear drums, when you want them silenced, you have to choose the pattern 327 (Break).

Procedure:

   1. Create a New Song and then choose Rhythm, press TR1 to tun it ON and then press (-) until you select the Pattern 314 - Metro4/4. Press Exit
   2. Set your tempo and start recording a first guidance track in the first beat of Measure 3. This means you will hear 8 "tacks" and will start to play when you hear the 9th "tack" and "bing!" simultaneously. Make sure you follow the music's tempo.
   3. Press Rhythm and then TR2 (AR)
   4. Press (<) Cursor, then (-) and then press TR4 (EDT)
   5. Press TR1 (STP)
   6. This is the screen where we will edit our Drum Sequence. First make sure the tempo is equal to the one of the first screen, if it isn't, adjust it.
   7. So now let's create a simple drum sequence that goes like this: 1 measure of Silence, 1 measure of Metronome, 2 measures of Rock Verse, 2 measures of Rock fill, 2 measures of Rock Verse and 2 measures of Rock Fill.
   8. Be sure that you are on the Drum Sequence screen. The first two digits number (01) is the number of the Step on the song. The second 3 digits number (001) is the Measure where the Step will start playing. The P314 is the number of the Pattern given by BOSS.
   9. The default Step on the Drum Sequence screen is the first one that starts on Measure 1. In this Step we only need to change the drum pattern P314 (Metronome) to P327 (Break). Select the P314 using the cursor (< or >) and then with + or - change it to 327 (Break).
  10. Now go to the Step 02, by pressing Fast Forward. All the numbers except the pattern number will go null. This is normal, it means this step is empty. Select the Measure number (3 digits number) and change it to 002 Measure by pressing +. Select the pattern rhythm and change it to P314 (Metronome) by using + or -. This will start the Metronome on Bar 2.
  11. Now go to the Step 03 and change it to start playing on the 003 Measure, select the pattern Rock-V1(002).
  12. Go to the Step 04, put it to start playing on the 005 Measure and select the pattern Rock-F1(003)
  13. Go to the Step 05, put it to start playing on the 007 Measure and select the pattern Rock-V1(002)
  14. Go to the Step 06, put it to start playing on the 009 Measure and select the pattern Rock-F1(003)
  15. Without exiting the Drum Sequence screen, rewind to the start and then play it. You can do this at any time to check how the Drum Sequence is sounding. If you don't rewind to the start it will automatically start playing from the Step you are editing.
  16. Pratice this a few times and create a lot of drum sequences and soon you will be able to create some great sounding sequences. Then share your work with the community.

Remember, you don't need a Step for each Drum Pattern you want in the song. A Step can be played for as many bars as you wish.

Also, if you have any doubts, feel free to post them in the Micro BR discussion forum.

Thanks to 64Guitars for helping improve this tutorial. 

[guitarron]

Wow-what a concise job-thanks

[timborocks]

This is really great those demos on youtube were massively helpful. But I want to create my drum track first, and then play that while I record my guitar. How do I put together for example, an intro for 2 measures, 4 measures of a verse, etc. all before hand and then record my guitar while that's running?
The manual is just to piecemeal to figure it out from there.
Thanks.

[Ferryman]

Create a new song, then program the drum patterns in that song. You can then record anything you want over the top of that and even reprogram the drums after you have recorded the instruments.

Cheers,

Nigel

[hardlock]

Anyone know of a "map" of individual drum parts?  Names and numbers are one thing, a description of the part is what would be helpful.

I'm always needing "br-um-bump" or some such riff that I have to search endlessly for.  Some I've never really found (IE: single crash?) so have resorted to taking a double crash and stepping on the second one with a break (just move the measure of the break forward) to cheat at the end of a song.

Another trick is to bounce a song with drums included then rebounce or master using another edit of drum sequence in effect created new and more detailed patterns where they overlap. 

One trick I like is offsetting the time of one pattern slightly dubed over a copy of it to create a "bounce" type echo effect with the late tracks volume reduced some.  Anyway, you get the idea.  Takes some trial and error but you'll find all kinds of fun things you can do. 

[64Guitars]

Anyone know of a "map" of individual drum parts?  Names and numbers are one thing, a description of the part is what would be helpful.

I'm not sure how you'd describe a drum pattern in any meaningful way. You could show each pattern graphically in a list but I think it would be harder to find the pattern you're looking for this way than by listening to the patterns on the BR. But, if you want to have a go at documenting all the patterns, here's my suggestion:

https://songcrafters.org/community/micro-br/micro-br-drum-maps/msg10364/#msg10364

[hardlock]

I forgot about the rhythm editor, thanks for the link!

[cuthbert]

Thanks for this. In my first attempt at an arrangement, I got a bit flustered by the blank measure, poked around and then used Insert...way too much. Didn't get what I was looking for.

Looking forward to trying this out.