Burial Off-Grid Rimshot
Genre: Dubstep / Bass Music, UK Garage · Tempo: 136 BPM · Time signature: 4/4 · Length: 16 steps · Style: Attack Magazine's 'Beat Dissected' breakdown of Burial's 'Ghost Hardware': a four-to-the-floor kick plus one extra hit, rimshots instead of a snare (a different sample slice each time), and every hit nudged off-grid rather than quantized
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, 15 | 60-95 | step 1: late by about 8% of a step; step 5: early by about 4% of a step; step 9: late by about 4% of a step; step 13: early by about 8% of a step; step 15: early by about 12% of a step |
| hat-closed | 3, 7, 10, 14 | 34-46 | step 3: early by about 8% of a step, plays 80% of the time; step 7: late by about 8% of a step, plays 80% of the time; step 10: early by about 12% of a step, plays 75% of the time; step 14: late by about 12% of a step, plays 75% of the time |
| rim | 5, 11, 13 | 55-75 | step 5: late by about 12% of a step; step 11: early by about 8% of a step, plays 60% of the time; step 13: late by about 8% of a step |
Digitakt II
Tracks
- T1: kick
- T2: rim
- T3: hat-closed
Settings
- Kick (T1): a plain four-to-the-floor pattern (steps 1/5/9/13) plus one extra hit on the final 8th of the bar (step 15), per the sourced 'simple four to the floor loop with an extra kick hit on the final eighth note of the bar'; TRIG page 1 VEL varied per hit (60-95, never the same twice)
- Every single hit in the pattern (kick, rim, hat-closed alike) carries a non-zero, individually-chosen micro-timing value (see step data, roughly ±1 to ±3) - per the sourced instruction to 'turn off the grid... so that every hit is slightly off grid,' this is deliberately not a uniform swing amount applied once, but a distinct nudge chosen per hit
- Rim, not snare (T2, steps 5/11/13): used in place of a snare entirely; SAMP p-locked to a different sample slot on each occurrence (three different rim samples across the pattern) per the sourced 'each hit in the pattern is a different rim shot... using a different part of the loop for each rim hit is essential for that natural Burial sound'
- Hat-closed (T3): SAMP p-locked to slices from a single chopped acoustic-drum-loop sample rather than a synthetic hat, with VEL varied per hit (34-46) and the same off-grid micro-timing treatment as the kick and rim
- No element in this pattern uses micro-timing 0 - the off-grid feel is the pattern's whole character, not an occasional accent
Digitone II
Tracks
- T1: kick (ALGO 4, low RATIO C)
- T2: rim (ALGO 8, short inharmonic hit, resampled per occurrence)
- T3: hat-closed (high-FDBK FM noise, standing in for sliced acoustic hats)
Settings
- Kick (T1): SYN page 1 ALGO 4, RATIO C 0.45; four-to-the-floor on steps 1/5/9/13 plus the extra hit on step 15, VEL varied 60-95 per hit
- Off-grid timing: every step in the pattern carries a distinct, non-zero micro-timing value (roughly ±1 to ±3) - no hit sits exactly on the grid, per the sourced technique
- Rim (T2, steps 5/11/13): SYN page 1 ALGO 8 with RATIO A varied per occurrence (3.20/4.10/2.80) so the three rim hits sound like different sample slices rather than one repeated hit, matching the sourced 'different rim shot' technique
- Hat-closed (T3): base sound SYN page 1 FDBK 80; AMP page VOL varied per hit (34-46), standing in for slices of an acoustic drum loop rather than a single repeated synthetic hat
- No parameter lock in this pattern uses a 'default' unvaried value across repeats - every occurrence of kick, rim, and hat-closed differs in VEL, micro-timing, or (for rim) tone from every other occurrence
Syntakt
Tracks
- T9: kick (BD ACOUSTIC)
- T10: rim (RS CLASSIC)
- T12: hat-closed (CH CLASSIC)
Settings
- Kick (T9, BD ACOUSTIC - chosen for its natural, less synthetic transient): four-to-the-floor on steps 1/5/9/13 plus the extra hit on step 15; VEL varied 60-95 per hit
- Off-grid timing: every step carries a distinct non-zero micro-timing value (roughly ±1 to ±3), applied via TRIG-hold + LEFT/RIGHT per hit rather than a single Syntakt swing/shuffle amount
- Rim (T10, RS CLASSIC, steps 5/11/13): TUNE and DEC nudged slightly differently on each occurrence (via p-locks) so the three hits don't sound identical, standing in for the sourced 'different rim shot' resampling technique
- Hat-closed (T12, CH CLASSIC): VOL/NCOL varied per hit (34-46) rather than fixed, and DEC kept short and slightly inconsistent hit to hit to suggest sliced acoustic-loop material rather than one uniform synthesized hat
- This pattern intentionally avoids Syntakt's global SWING parameter (usually found on the sequencer's main page) in favour of individual per-trig micro-timing offsets, since the source technique is about each hit's own placement, not one shared groove amount
Notes
A four-to-the-floor kick with one extra hit on the last 8th note of the bar, rimshots standing in for the snare with a different sample character each time, and every single hit - kick, rim, and hat alike - nudged off the grid by its own small amount rather than quantized, drawn from Attack Magazine's technical breakdown of Burial's 'Ghost Hardware'. An original pattern in that spirit, not a transcription of the track itself.
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