Drum and bass drum machine: program Amen breaks and rolling sub at 174 BPM
Drum and bass is built on a half-time illusion: the kit runs at 172-176 BPM, but the snare only lands on beats 2 and 4, so the groove reads as a slow, heavy backbeat with a fast break skittering underneath. The engine room is the Amen break — a chopped funk breakbeat where the kick sits on the downbeat and again on the "and" of beat 3, while quiet ghost snares fill the gaps between the two loud backbeats. Underneath it all sits a sub bass an octave below the kick, usually one or two long notes per bar so it never fights the drums for low end.
How to program drum and bass drums
- Start with the two-step skeleton before anything else: kick on step 1, snare on step 5, kick on step 11, snare on step 13 (that's beats 1, 2, the 'and' of 3, and 4). Every classic drum and bass groove is a variation on those four hits.
- Ghost snares are the whole genre. Drop extra snare hits on the 16ths just before and after the backbeats at velocity 0.25-0.35 — quiet enough that you feel them more than hear them. If your break sounds stiff, you need more ghosts, not more loud hits.
- Keep the kick and the sub out of each other's way. Layer the sub with the downbeat kick, then let the sub hold a long note while the syncopated kicks punch through on their own. Two sub notes per two bars (root, then a move down a fourth or fifth) is plenty.
Other styles
- Boom Bap drum machine88-94 BPM
- Trap drum machine130-150 BPM (half-time feel)
- Lo-Fi Hip Hop drum machine70-85 BPM
- House drum machine120-126 BPM
- Techno drum machine130-140 BPM
- Afro House drum machine120-124 BPM
- UK Garage drum machine130-135 BPM
- Funk drum machine100-110 BPM
- 808 drum machine100-130 BPM
Rhythm breakdowns
- The Jungle Break: Syncopated Snares at 172172 BPM
- Boom Bap at 90 BPM: the dusty backbeat90 BPM
- Dilla-style drunk swing87 BPM
- Four on the Floor124 BPM
- The hip hop skeleton: kick on 1, snare on 2 and 4, ghosts in the gaps90 BPM
- The Full House Groove: Four on the Floor, Offbeat Hats and a Rolling Shaker124 BPM
- The Dembow Riddim96 BPM
- Trap Hi-Hats: 8ths, 32nd Bursts and a Triplet Turnaround140 BPM
DRUMMY is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.