Parts

A part (also called a 'Channel Part') is a collection of 64 steps that each represent a sixty-fourth note in a single bar of 4/4 time. By default, iDrum displays sixteenth notes for a single bar, but you can edit 32nd and 64th notes by using the step view control at the top of the UI.

Looking at the iDrum step programmer with the default '16' step resolution set, the first step would be the downbeat, "one", the fifth step, "two", and so on.

A classic "four-on-the-floor" pattern would look like this:

Straight eighth notes would look like this:

Parts also store the relative volume of each step, so a groovy "off-beat" hat part with accents on the "and" of each beat would look like this:

You edit a part by clicking on a step to toggle it on or off. When a step is active, it appears 'lit up'. An inactive step appears 'greyed out'. When a step is inactive, that step is not sounded regardless of any other settings for the part. When a step is active, you can change the volume of the step by clicking on the step, holding down the mouse button, and dragging up or down. A step with its volume at zero has the same effect as an inactive step: no sample is triggered for that step.

Related Tasks:

Patterns

While parts refer to each individual channel's pattern, a 'Pattern' is the current state of all parts. iDrum can store up to 99 Patterns, and you can change the currently playing pattern with the Pattern Stepper control.

Related Concepts

Related Tasks