Drum Patterns
A drum pattern is a repeating rhythmic figure on kick, snare, and hi-hat. You can often identify a genre from the drum pattern alone. ChordColor Studio includes 8 built-in styles — from rock and funk to bossa nova and hip-hop — with ghost notes for realistic grooves.
Anatomy of a Drum Pattern
Most drum patterns are built from three elements: the kick drum (low, thumpy — defines the pulse), the snare (sharp, cracking — typically on beats 2 and 4, called the "backbeat"), and the hi-hat (metallic, rhythmic — subdivides the beat into 8th or 16th notes).
The 8 Built-In Styles
Four on the Floor: Kick on every beat. The foundation of disco, house, and EDM. Rock: Kick on 1, snare on 2 and 4, steady 8th-note hi-hat — appears in hundreds of thousands of songs. Funk: Syncopated kicks on unexpected subdivisions create the rhythmic tension that makes funk groove.
Shuffle: A long-short swing feel on the hi-hat — the foundation of blues and boogie-woogie. Bossa Nova: Brazilian cross-rhythm where kick and snare create interlocking patterns. Hip-Hop: Rapid 16th-note hi-hats with a syncopated kick. Latin: Clave-based rhythms from Afro-Cuban music. Offbeat Hi-Hat: Hi-hat on the "and" of each beat for a lighter, reggae-influenced feel.
Ghost Notes and Velocity
Ghost notes are very soft drum hits that add texture between the main accents. The Studio uses three velocity levels: off (0), ghost (0.5), and full (1.0). Ghost notes are what separate a mechanical pattern from one that feels alive — funk drumming especially relies on ghost snare hits scattered between backbeats to create its intricate groove.
In ChordColor
All 8 patterns are available in the Studio. The drum grid shows three states: empty, ghost (lighter color), and full (bright color). Patterns can be edited step by step on a 16-step grid.