The Drum Sequencer; Drum Vs. Seq: A Comparison - Arturia KEYSTEP PRO User Manual

5.4. The Drum Sequencer

The Drum Sequencer is a special case. It has 24 (!) parallel tracks, but unlike the sequencer
tracks, a drum track can only trigger one specific drum sound. Programming a drum pattern
is also different from programming a melodic sequence. In sequencer Quick mode; you
hold a step and then select the notes you want to be part of the step. The drum sequencer
works the other way around; you hold a key on the keyboard that triggers a certain drum
sound and then select the step in which you to play that sound.
So why do we have poly and mono options for a drum track? In Poly mode each of the
24 tracks can be different in length; track 1 could be 8 beats, track 7, 9 beats and track
12, 16 beats. You guessed it, when patterns of different lengths run in parallel some very
interesting polyrhythmic effects can be created. In MONO mode all tracks have the same
length.
Knowing this you can do some very strange things, like creating several tracks with an
unequal length. Run them until they reach a point of complete chaos and then suddenly
switch to mono mode and have them all line-up.

5.4.1. DRUM vs. SEQ: a comparison

SEQ1/SEQ2/SEQ3/SEQ4 and DRUM on Track 1 look similar, but the Drum sequencer is
different in many ways:
• Drum mode will record parts for up to 32 different instruments, not one.
• Each of the 32 drums has its own track, and when a track is selected the Step
buttons display the pattern events for that drum. This is similar to the classic
workflow of early drum machines.
• The keys of the lower eight keys on the keyboard will send Gate on/off signals
to Drum Gates 1-8, as will any drum sequencer events entered by those keys.
Pressing a key will select the corresponding drum track and trigger it. Octaves
have no effect in Drum mode. The output from all 24 drum tracks is also sent
over MIDI.
• The Pitch encoder has no effect in Drum. The other encoders can be used to edit
gate, velocity, 'shift' the timing of Drum events forward or backwards in relation
to the beat and add trigger randomness to a drum step.
• The Step SHIFT functions can add many interesting changes to your Drum
sequence:
• The Drum Sequencer has a feature called Polymeter that allows each drum
track to have its own length within a drum pattern. This is covered in the Drum
Sequencer oververview later in this chapter.
Note: to select a drum without triggering it hold the TRACK 1 button.
Note: In Drum mode, the OVERDUB button is always inactive, in other words, you cannot
overdub on a Drum track.
5.4.1.1. Polymeter
As explained in the overview chapter the Drum Sequencer can be in POLY and MONO mode.
In POLY mode each track can have its own length. This feature enables you to create
complex Polymeter rhythms.
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Invert will swap the Drum map as a whole!
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Nudge left and nudge right will shift the position of drums on your
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drum map one position to the left or the right.
Random order will make a mess of you carefully created drum map
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Arturia - User Manual Keystep Pro - Making Tracks