Delptronics LDB-1 Analog Drum Machine - Manual (Page 4)

LDB-1 User Manual
4
Drum Machine Basics
The LDB-1 has a very simple interface for playing and editing rhythms. If you have used one of the
classic drum machines such as the TR-606, TR-808, or TR-909, then the LDB-1 will be very familiar to you.
If this is your first drum machine, then the information below will help you get started.
First, let’s define a couple of drum machine terms: Step, Pattern, and Song. A step is one beat, typically
a sixteenth note. A pattern is a sequence of beats. A song is a sequence of patterns.
Drum Tabs
Take a look at the diagram below. It represents one of the most famous drum beats of all time, the
Amen Break. The diagram is in a format called drum tablature or, more commonly, a drum tab. Drum
notation can also be written in musical note form, but tabs are much easier to visualize.
|1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |
OH |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------x-----|
CH |x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x---x-x-|
SD |----o--o-o--o--o|----o--o-o--o--o|----o--o-o----o-|-o--o--o-o----o-|
BD |o-o-------oo----|o-o-------oo----|o-o-------o-----|--oo------o-----|
Drum tabs are laid out in a grid with the drums (usually abbreviated) running vertically along the left
side and the steps horizontally. The tab above is four measures of 16 beats each. In drum machine
terminology, that is one song consisting of four patterns of 16 steps each. Each pattern can be at most
16 steps, however a pattern can have fewer steps. For example, songs in ¾ time typically have 12 steps.
To play the above tab, a drummer would hit the bass drum (BD) and closed hi-hat (CH) simultaneously
on the 1
st and 3 rd beats, the snare drum (SD) and closed hi-hat simultaneously on the 5 th beat, the closed
hi-hat alone on the 7 th beat, the snare drum alone on the 8 th beat, and so on.
There are many websites that give the drum tabs for popular songs. You will get millions of results if
you search for “drum tabs”.
LDB-1 Instruments
Instrument Abbreviation
Open hi-hat cymbal OH, sometimes H or HH with an O
Closed hi-hat cymbal CH, sometimes H or HH with an X
Hand Clap CP
Wood Block WB
Snare Drum SD or S
High Tom-tom Drum HT, T, T1, T2, or TT
Low Tom-tom Drum LT, F or FT (floor tom)
Bass (or Kick) Drum BD, B, B1, B2, or BA
Instrument Substitutions
If you have a drum tab that uses instruments not contained in the LDB-1, you can substitute. For exam-
ple, you can use wood block in place of claves (CL) or rim shot (RS) and the open hi-hat can stand in for
other cymbals (C/CY), crash cymbal (CC), ride cymbal (RC) or splash cymbal (SC).