PATCHPADAll synth patchesAll drum patterns

Experimental Polyrhythm Click FX

Sounds like: A tiny, pitchless tick, like a metronome click for stacking rhythms.

Sound type: fx · Genre: Experimental · Style: rhythmic clicking/ticking texture for layering complex polyrhythms

A minimal, very short clicking tone with no pitch content to speak of — designed to be sequenced into complex, shifting polyrhythmic patterns as a rhythmic 'click track' element rather than a melodic voice.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: Very short click with no pitch content

SYN page 1

SYN page 2 · Operators A & B

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

AMP page

ALGO 1 keeps Operator C a plain, unmodulated carrier (no brightness modulator needed for a click this short and simple) -- RATIO C set high (4.00) pushes the carrier's effective pitch up for a thin, ticky tone. AMP page's DEC/REL are both near the bottom of the 0-127 range for an all-but-instant decay -- there's no true millisecond readout on this page, so dial by ear against a click track until it feels like 10-20ms. ALGO 1 routes operator A (and B) into carrier C, so LEV (A) and LEV (B) are set to 0 on SYN page 2 and MIX is -64 (the X output, C only): that leaves C a plain, unmodulated carrier.

Syntakt

Exact match: Very short click with no pitch content

SYN — SY RAW

FLTR PAGE 1

AMP PAGE 1

SY RAW's single square wave (WAV1 only, WAV2 left off) with TUNE pushed up gives a plain, thin carrier -- no need for SY SWARM's animated detune stack on a click this minimal. FLTR PAGE 1's TYPE is set to Highpass (a real per-track filter type on Syntakt's digital-voice tracks 1-8) to strip low-end weight. AMP PAGE 1's DEC/REL sit near the bottom of the 0-127 raw range for a near-instant decay; MODE on AMP PAGE 2 can be AHD since this patch never needs to sustain.

Novation Summit

Exact match: Very short click with no pitch content

OSCILLATOR 1

FILTER

AMP ENVELOPE

RANGE set to 2' (two octaves up from concert pitch) keeps this thin and high without needing a separate FM/noise source. FILTER's SHAPE is set directly to HP -- Summit's highpass mode is a real, always-available filter shape, no approximation needed. AMP ENVELOPE values sit near the bottom of the 0-127 exponential time curve for a near-instant decay.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: Very short click with no pitch content

OSCILLATOR

ANALOG FILTER

ENVELOPE

Osc 1 is Noise: Wave is the noise Type (particle through white to metallic), Timbre is the Rate and Shape is the Balance with a tonal wave. Noise is the most direct real match for a click with 'no pitch content to speak of' -- a high-pitched tuned oscillator would carry more tonal identity than the brief calls for. High Pass Cutoff strips the low-end weight, leaving a thin click. Envelope Decay/Release sit near the bottom of the 0-100 scale for a 10-20ms-feeling decay; ENV/VELO on the filter stays at 0 since a click this short doesn't need extra cutoff movement. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Exact match: FX1 high-pass filter

FRONT PANEL

AMP ADSR

FX1

Typhon's own filter is a low-pass, left wide open, but FX1 has a real resonant 2-pole high-pass filter (its CUTOFF runs 20 Hz to 20 kHz, set to 0 to bypass it) which strips the low-end weight for the click. AMP TIME on the front panel is set fast so the ADSR's short decay isn't scaled back down.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Very short click with no pitch content

MIXER

FILTER 1

ENVELOPE 2

Hydrasynth's MIXER has a real dedicated Noise generator, a more direct match for a click with no pitch content than any oscillator waveform -- OSC 1 is left at 0 level, unused rather than absent. FILTER 1's HP MS20 is a real highpass filter type on this synth. ENVELOPE 2 (pre-wired to the Amp) is set for a near-instant, ~15ms decay with zero sustain.

How the synths compare

The sound design here is intentionally minimal — the interesting part of this patch is how it's sequenced (against odd time divisions relative to the main pattern), not the timbre itself.

Patchpad is a free reference of drum patterns and synth patches written for real hardware: Digitakt II, Digitone II, Syntakt, Novation Summit, Arturia MiniFreak, Dreadbox Typhon and ASM Hydrasynth Desktop.