Acid House 303
Genre: Acid House, House · Tempo: 125 BPM · Time signature: 4/4 · Length: 16 steps · Style: classic Roland TB-303-driven acid house drum programming
Open this pattern in the interactive Patchpad (with playback)
The pattern
| Instrument | Steps (1 = start of the bar) | Velocity | Timing and chance |
|---|
| kick | 1, 5, 9, 13 | 115 | on the grid, always plays |
| perc1 | 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 | 30-35 | step 2: plays 80% of the time; step 4: plays 75% of the time; step 6: plays 80% of the time; step 8: plays 75% of the time; step 10: plays 80% of the time; step 12: plays 75% of the time; step 14: plays 80% of the time; step 16: plays 75% of the time |
| hat-open | 3, 7, 11, 15 | 70 | step 3: plays 90% of the time; step 7: plays 90% of the time; step 11: plays 90% of the time; step 15: plays 90% of the time |
| clap | 5, 13 | 90 | on the grid, always plays |
Digitakt II
Tracks
- T1: kick
- T2: clap
- T3: hat-open
- T4: perc1 (placeholder pulse, see notes)
Settings
- AMP page DEC on hat-open (T3) set to 110 (near the top of its 0-126 range) so the open hat rings well into the next 16th — the washy, continuous character this pattern is built around comes from that long decay, not from anything in the sequencer
- FLTR page 1 on perc1 (T4): machine LEGACY with TYPE Lowpass (2-pole) and FREQ around 60 keeps this placeholder pulse dull and out of the way — it's a sync marker for an external 303-style bassline on the same 16th grid, not a lead sound (see top-level notes)
- Step 9 (kick, T1): FX page OVER locked to 30 (up from the base sound's 0) — a touch of overdrive grit on bar 3's kick only, echoing the way acid records often push the kick harder mid-pattern
Digitone II
Tracks
- T1: kick (ALGO 8, FM click-into-boom)
- T2: clap (high-FDBK FM noise)
- T3: hat-open (high-FDBK FM noise, long ring)
- T4: perc1 (ALGO 1 plain carrier, placeholder pulse, see notes)
Settings
- Kick (T1): SYN page 1 ALGO 8, RATIO C 0.25 for the low fundamental; SYN page 2 Operator A ATK 0, DEC 20, LEV 100 for the click transient that decays almost instantly into C's boom. AMP page ATK 0, DEC 40, SUS 0, REL 25
- Clap (T2): SYN page 1 FDBK 100 for the noisy, buzzy FM texture. AMP page ATK 0, DEC 35, SUS 0, REL 30 — a single sharp crack, no MOD-page multi-hit needed for this pattern's simple clap role
- Hat-open (T3): SYN page 1 FDBK 110 for the same FM-noise mechanism as the clap, but FLTR page 1 TYPE set toward HP (~100) to thin the low end. AMP page DEC 110 (near the top of its 0-127 range) with MODE ADSR and REL 90 so it rings well into the next 16th — the washy, continuous character this pattern is built around comes from that long decay/release, not from anything in the sequencer
- Perc1 (T4): SYN page 1 ALGO 1, RATIO C 2.00, kept at low AMP page VOL (~40) — this is a placeholder pulse marking where a TB-303-style acid bassline would run its own continuous 16th-note sequence, not a lead sound (see top-level notes)
- Step 9 (kick, T1): AMP page REL locked to 40 (up from the base sound's 25) — a slightly longer tail on bar 3's kick only, the same mid-pattern variation Digitakt and Syntakt apply via their own OVER parameter
Syntakt
Tracks
- T9: kick (BD Classic)
- T2: clap (CP Vintage)
- T12: hat-open (OH Classic)
- T1: perc1 (SY Chip, placeholder pulse, see notes)
Settings
- SYN page DEC on hat-open (T12, OH Classic) set to 100 for the same washy ring-into-next-16th character as the other two devices — OH Classic's own DEC parameter, not an AMP-page envelope
- This app's drum pattern schema has no dedicated melodic/bassline track — if this Syntakt unit has a free track, route an acid-style 303 patch there on perc1 (T1)'s same 16th grid; T1's SY Chip here is only a placeholder pulse, not the real bassline voice
- Step 9 (kick, T9, BD Classic): SYN page OVER locked to 30 — the same mid-pattern overdrive grit as Digitakt's kick p-lock
- Hat-open and any crash/ride share Syntakt's one Analog Cymbal voice (track 12 only) — this pattern only needs the open hat, but a version wanting a crash too can't have both live on one unit simultaneously
Notes
A classic four-on-floor acid house skeleton built to sit under a TB-303-style acid bassline: the perc1 track marks a continuous 16th-note pulse as a placeholder for where that bassline runs, since this pattern schema is drums-only. Open hat on the offbeat and a light clap round out the kit. An original pattern, not a transcription.
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.