How to write drum patterns without a drum kit

Drum patterns can be written on a computer without touching a real kit, and Loop by Zaweba gives you two good ways to do it. Add a drum machine track with Track > Add drum machine track, which brings eight synthesised kits, 16 pads and a 16-step grid on the selected clip. Or open Tools > Riff editor and tap out a beat on drum pads in a step grid that loops while you work. Both give you a pattern that plays in time with the song.

If you'd rather not write anything yet, the loop library has ready-made drum loops in every genre to drag onto the grid. But making your own beat is easier than it looks, and the step grid is the reason.

How a step grid works

A 16-step grid divides a bar into sixteen equal slots, four to each beat. Each row is a sound: kick, snare, hats and so on. Click a slot to switch that sound on at that moment. Play it back and the pattern runs left to right, round and round.

You don't need to count anything complicated. In a bar of 4/4, which is what Loop uses, steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 fall on the four beats. Put a kick on 1 and 9 and a snare on 5 and 13 and you already have the backbone of a huge amount of pop, rock and hip-hop.

Using the drum machine track

Choose Track > Add drum machine track. Pick a kit; there are eight synthesised ones, so try a few to find the character you want. The 16 pads are your sounds, and the 16-step grid sits on the clip you have selected, so different clips on the same track can hold different patterns. One clip for the verse beat and another for the chorus is a sensible way to work.

Drag the clip's right edge to repeat the pattern for as many bars as you need. Ctrl+D duplicates a clip when you want a variation: copy it, then change a few steps for a fill at the end of a section.

Tapping it out in the riff editor

Tools > Riff editor is a step-grid editor for any instrument, and drums are one of its choices. Pick drum pads, choose a length of 1, 2 or 4 bars, and click steps on, or drag to paint a line of them at once. Shift-click a step to accent it, which makes that hit louder and is the quickest way to stop a hi-hat line sounding mechanical.

The riff loops in time as you edit, so you hear every change straight away. When it's right, add it to the song or save it to My loops so you can reuse it in other songs.

Beats that sound like a drummer

Leave space. Real drummers don't hit everything all the time. A pattern with fewer notes usually grooves better than a crowded one.

Use accents on the hats. Accenting every other hi-hat step gives a natural rise and fall.

Change something every four or eight bars. A single extra kick, an open hat or a short fill before the chorus keeps the listener's ear awake.

Other ways to get drums

Play them live. On a drum machine track your computer keys and the on-screen keyboard trigger drum sounds, and you can record a part with a count-in and the metronome, then tidy it in the piano roll with quantise.

Use General MIDI drums. Track > Add General MIDI track includes the GM drum kit from the bundled FluidR3_GM SoundFont, which suits more acoustic styles.

Start from a loop. Drop a drum loop from the library, double-click it to open it in the riff editor, and change it until it's yours.

When the beat is done, the rest of the song can grow around it. Bass and chords from the library follow the song's tempo and key, so they lock to your drums with no extra work.