Architecture of Grace
← The drum machine

The Drum Machine, in pictures

Almost no reading. Tape it to the wall next to the machine.

1What everything is

The whole drum machine screen.
The whole machine. Every piece of it is below, close up.
The green screen. The screenWhich bank, the tempo, the swing, and whether it is running.
The RUN button. RUNStarts it. Press it again to stop.
The SWING button. SWINGStraight, or lazy. Six steps.
The TO THE DECKS button. TO THE DECKSSends your beat over to the turntables.
SELECT A B C D. SELECTFour sets of sounds. A and B are full. C and D are empty and yours.
The eight sliders above the eight pads. The sliders and the eight padsSlider = how loud that sound is. Pad = tap it to hear it. One row of eight, numbered 1 to 8.
The step grid with kick, snare and hat rows. The gridSixteen boxes for each sound. Lit = it plays. The big numbers are the beats you count.

2Your first beat

Four moves. That is the whole thing.

1 The RUN button. Press RUN A light starts walking across the grid.
2 The KICK row of the grid with two boxes lit. Light up the KICK row Click the boxes under the big numbers.
3 The snare pad. Now the snare Tap the pad to hear it. Then light up beats 2 and 4.
4 The Tempo slider under the machine. Drag TEMPO It is under the machine. Until it feels right in your chest.

3One box, four taps

Keep clicking the same box. It goes round.

Four grid boxes: off, on, louder, and a green quieter one.
offsilence onnormal hit louderaccent greenquieter

So to clear a box you keep tapping until it goes dark again.

4The sixteen boxes

One bar of music, chopped into sixteen. The big numbers are the beats you count out loud.

1
 
&
 
2
 
&
 
3
 
&
 
4
 
&
 
Kick

Filled box = the sound plays. Empty box = silence. That is all a beat is.

5Five beats to copy

Light up the same boxes and press RUN. Or press the preset with the same name.

The Starter patterns buttons: Four on the floor, Backbeat, School clave and more.
The presets sit under Tempo, marked Starter patterns.
Four on the floorEvery beat gets a kick. The one everybody dances to.
1
 
&
 
2
 
&
 
3
 
&
 
4
 
&
 
KICK
SNARE
HAT C
BackbeatSnare on 2 and 4. Most songs on the radio.
1
 
&
 
2
 
&
 
3
 
&
 
4
 
&
 
KICK
SNARE
HAT C
Train 100 BPMSnare between the kicks. It runs.
1
 
&
 
2
 
&
 
3
 
&
 
4
 
&
 
KICK
SNARE
School claveSame shape twice, uneven. Count it out loud.
1
 
&
 
2
 
&
 
3
 
&
 
4
 
&
 
KICK
RIM
HAT C
Heartbeat 72 BPMTwo kicks, then wait. Slow it right down.
1
 
&
 
2
 
&
 
3
 
&
 
4
 
&
 
KICK

6Swing

The SWING button up top. Slides the in-between notes late. Straight on the left, lazy on the right. Six steps — the real machine had six.

The SWING button.
Each press moves one step to the right.
50% 54% 58% 63% 67% 71% straight lazy head nod lives around here

7The four banks

Same eight pads, different sounds behind them.

SELECT A B C D, with B lit.
The lit letter is the bank you are playing.
A
The kitThe kit that is already in there. Start here.
B
The same kit, tunedDeeper kick, brighter hats.
C
Empty — yoursTap a pad, pick a sound file.
D
Empty — yoursTap a pad, pick a sound file.

8The eight sounds

One row of eight, left to right. The number is printed on the pad.

The eight pads with a slider above each one.
The slider above a pad is how loud it plays.

9Nothing is happening