Creating a drum roll

I would love to be able to create the classic techno dance drum roll.
How could I create this?
I know it would be I think a combo of repeats but still can’t wrap my head around it.
Any help would be great, thanks

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Hi @framedview, Tracker or Play?

Play cheers, probs easier with tracker I should imagine

A sequencer is not the best tool to create drum rolls, I guess? :slight_smile:

In Pwerform mode you have the pink pads that in theory could get you there but in practice they won’t because they repeat the entire audio (i.e. not only the snare track) and they are not quantized (I mean, you really need to hit the beginning of the audio sample when your press the pad, easy at the beginning but good luck with 1/16 and 1/32). :slight_smile:

In the audio sequencer there is Play Mode and Repeat Grid, but I don’t think they can be used to create a drum roll right now. Maybe I’m wrong, but if the Play can drum roll I haven’t found how. :person_shrugging:

Are you thinking like the classic snare roll build-up, or have a specific example of the roll?

Yes the classic snare roll would be good

Perfect, I would play around with the Raise repeats. You may find that the repeats go too fast, or 8 steps isn’t enough. I find 8 steps isn’t enough for this kind of build-up but there is a trick to fix that! Change the Track speed on the track with the build-up to be slower than your overall track, so if I want my snare roll to build up over 32 steps I’d lower the track speed on the build-up track to of the 1/4 speed.

So I like 1/4 speed, 32 hits | 8 steps raise repeat.

Maybe you don’t want to eat a whole track with this slow build-up? I’d add it as a variation and just flip variations when I’m ready to build up the roll.

Does that help?

Also you’ll get more interesting rolls with odd speed divisions, like 3/2, 2/3

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Whoa you really blew my mind with that comment Mitch! I will be using this trick!

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Same! I’m not into drum rolls personally but I always appreciate a better solution to a problem I have thought about. Thanks @Mitch!

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