Read a bar as sixteen small positions
In Float Sequencer each step is a sixteenth note. A 4/4 bar contains four quarter-note beats, so a 16-step pattern has four groups of four steps. The main beats begin at steps 1, 5, 9 and 13. The numbers between them are useful places for hi-hats, pickups and syncopation.
The example below puts a kick on each beat, a snare on beats two and four, and a closed hi-hat halfway between beats. Each filled cell means one hit; each empty cell is a rest.
| Track / step | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kick | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest |
| Snare | Rest | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Rest | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest |
| Closed hat | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest | Rest | Rest | Hit | Rest |
Steps and bars describe length, BPM describes speed
Sixteen steps make one bar and 32 make two. Adding steps makes a longer pattern without changing the length of each beat. Raising BPM makes the same pattern play faster without adding notes. These are separate decisions.
At 120 BPM a quarter-note beat lasts 0.5 seconds. Each of the four sixteenth-note steps within it lasts 0.125 seconds before swing, so a 16-step bar lasts two seconds. At 60 BPM the same bar lasts four seconds. This is also useful when estimating the length of an exported arrangement.
Swing changes the spacing inside a pair
Straight timing divides a pair of steps equally. Swing makes the first part of the pair longer and the second shorter, delaying the second step while preserving the pair’s total duration. It changes the feel without changing BPM or the number of steps.
Float Sequencer offers Swing from 0 to 60%. Here 0 is even timing; higher values increase the displacement. At 120 BPM and Swing 30, a pair is approximately 143.75 ms plus 106.25 ms instead of 125 ms plus 125 ms. The value is this app’s control amount, not a universal swing ratio shared by all instruments.
Try adding swing while listening to offbeat hi-hats. Apply it gradually and compare with zero. Tempo and Swing changes take effect on the next bar during playback.
Velocity, duration and rests make the pattern breathe
Velocity changes the strength of a note. Alternating louder and softer hi-hats can make a repeated pattern easier to follow. It is a note setting, while track Volume changes the whole track across all patterns.
Duration is how long a bass or melody note lasts, measured in steps. A long note can overlap the next note; the track’s voice limit still applies. A rest is simply an empty position. Removing a hit can reveal the pulse more clearly than adding another one.
Three listening experiments
Keep the kick fixed for these experiments so you have a steady reference. Work on a duplicate pattern if you want to compare changes immediately.
- Move one hi-hat from step 3 to step 4. Listen to the approach to the next kick.
- Keep the timing, but make every second hi-hat quieter. Compare note velocity with lowering the whole track.
- Copy a 16-step pattern to B and make one change near its end. Play A then B in Arrangement to hear how a small variation marks a phrase.