Rhythms

8 examples. Each block is the grid as the app loads it (a . is an empty cell). Open in Chipgrid opens it ready to play; or pick it from the app’s EXAMPLES menu.

Four on the floor

A kick on every beat, a hat between them, a clap on 2 and 4: dance music in three lines. Read each row as 16 steps, one bar. A kick is just a triangle falling fast: B3C2o drops 24 semitones in 2 ticks. On the screen, the same beat kicks a zoom +0.

# FOUR ON THE FLOOR #
.
1Cg
..S*000*000*000*000.# kick #
.J.B3C2o
..S00*000*000*000*0.# hat #
.J.N010
..S0000*0000000*000.# clap #
...N530
.
1D4
.
.+0
Qgc27
T2

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 126 BPM

Breakbeat

The same three lines as Four on the floor, but the kick and snare no longer sit on the beat: the snares land just before or after where you expect them. That tension is the whole style. The noise channel plays one sound at a time, so a snare cuts off the hat under it, just like on a real NES.

# BREAKBEAT #
.
1Cg
..S*0*0000000**0000.# kick #
.J.B3C2o
..S*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0.# hat #
.J.N010
..S0000*00*0*00*00*.# snare #
...N530

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 150 BPM

Clave

The clave: five hits over 16 steps, 3 on one side and 2 on the other. It is the rhythm much Latin music is built around. A very short, very high pulse P6E01 makes the wood block. Try swapping the two halves of the pattern to get the 2-3 clave.

# SON CLAVE #
.
1Cg
..S*00*00*000*0*000.# clave #
.J.P6E01
..S*00000*0*00000*0.# kick #
.J.B3C2o
..S*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0.# shaker #
...N010

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 108 BPM

Waltz

Nothing forces a bar to have 16 steps. The clock 1Cc counts to 12 (c = 12), which makes three beats of 4 ticks: oom-pah-pah. Change it to 1Ce with 14 steps and it limps in 7, the rhythm of much Balkan dance music.

# WALTZ #
.
1Cc.............# 12 steps, not 16 #
..S*00000000000
.J.B3C2o
..S0000*000*000
...G4C22

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 96 BPM

Three against four

The smallest polyrhythm: a kick every 4 ticks, a beep every 3. They meet only every 12 ticks, when the screen flash lines up with the kick. Your ear keeps switching which one is “the” beat. Change 1D3 to 1D5: now they meet every 20.

# THREE AGAINST FOUR #
.
1D4
..B3C2o
.
1D3
..P5G02
.F7

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 120 BPM

Dice drums

A steady kick, with everything else left to chance. 0R7 rolls a number from 0 to 7 on every tick, and that number picks a step of S. With 3 * in 8 steps, the hat has a 3-in-8 chance on each tick. It never repeats, but it always keeps the same density. Add or remove * to change the odds.

# DICE DRUMS #
.
1D4
..B3C2o
.
.0R7
...S*0*00*00
....N010
.
.0R7
...S*0000000
....P5G01

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 124 BPM

Stop and drop

The whole band stops together. -48 cuts all sound for the last 4 of every 8 beats, without touching the program: the clocks keep counting in silence, so the music comes back exactly in time. Try -18 for a short gasp, or -14 for a stutter on every bar.

# STOP AND DROP #
.
1Cg
..S*000*000*000*000
.J.B3C2o
..S00*000*000*000*0
.J.N010
..S0000*0000000*000
...N530
.
..2Cg
1D2.SAlAlFhFhCbCbGjGj
..P3.12
.
-48.# 4 beats of silence every 8 beats... try -18 #

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 126 BPM

Bang railway

One stream of arrows, two voices. 8E sends an arrow along the lane every 8 ticks. : sends each one up to P or down to B, and the sequence S^v decides which, changing every 8 ticks: beep, kick, beep, kick. Y52 carries the arrow character from the sequence to the switch’s input. Add steps to the sequence (S^^v) for another pattern, or put a 0Rv style random in charge.

# BANG RAILWAY #
.
8C2
..S^v..P5C02..# the sequence sets the switch #
...Y52
.
8E.....:
.
.
.......B3C2o

Open in Chipgrid ↗ · 120 BPM