Play Sound for Any Drum Rhythm

If the rhythm notation used here is unfamiliar to you, then you'll probably want to get started with some basic rhythms and pre-recorded drum beats. The Rhythm of the Week lessons now feature drum samples in midi, mp3 and streaming RealAudio formats, for download or live play online.

Many of these rhythms are taken from the 80-page collection of rhythms for hand drum and percussion, Roots Jam. For any rhythms in the book which don't appear online--or for any drumming beats that you'd like to hear with the help of digital audio--try out the following free drum samplers...your own online rhythm machine, in .wav or midi formats.

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Compose and Hear Sound for Any Rhythm

Instructions:

1. Arrange this window alongside the window displaying a rhythm notation. (Click here for Basic drum rhythm samples and exercises)

2. Enter notation in the box below. Use "-" for rests (unplayed beats).

Tip: If you copy and paste rhythms from these Rhythm of the Week or the Roots Jam (digital version) pages, there will be extra blank spaces between beats. Don't worry about it. These aren't a problem because the program ignores them. Thus pasting "D - G - " will have the same effect as typing "D-G-".

MIDI Rhythm Generator Custom Interface adapted from Jas and Jean Vaucher Notation: '-' (hyphen) = rest , '.' = touch (ghost note). Extra spaces are ignored (so "x-x-" = "x - x - ") Djembe: D,G (Bass), d,g (rim), T,P (Slap) DunDun,Sangban,Kenkeni: X (normal), B (bass), O (open), M (muted) Bells: x or X (regular), L (Low), H (High) Shaker, Clave: x or X Choose parts: Type or paste notes (use "-" for rests) Short phrases (4 or 6 beats) repeat to equal longer phrases (8 or 12 beats). Example below: "Tiriba"... Mute DunDun Sangban Kenkeni Custom DunDun bell Sangban bell Kenkeni bell Djembe1 Djembe2 Djembe3 Custom Djembe1 Djembe2 Djembe3 Custom Bell Shaker Clave Custom DunDun Sangban Kenkeni Custom DunDun bell Sangban bell Kenkeni bell Custom DunDun Sangban Kenkeni Custom DunDun bell Sangban bell Kenkeni bell Custom Djembe1 Djembe2 Djembe3 Custom Bell Shaker Clave Custom Bell Shaker Clave Custom    Custom sounds: Specify the midi sounds for each letter as follows: "letter":"intrument # [: vol ] - volume range 1-127, default 80-100. See Midi drum map for numbers to use (best results with #35-76).    Tempo (beats/min): 50 60 70 80 90 105 120 150 Notes/beat: Repeat: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12 16   MIME Type: audio/mid audio/midi audio/x-midi application/midi appl.../x-midi Debug

Also try the dotcom-studio drum generator below!

Tempo: Sound: TR-909 afx 80techno 90techno acidhouse acidhouse2 jungle kraftbeat standard ushouse ushouse2 Format: mulaw AIFF_8bit AIFF_16bit NeXT_Snd WAV_8bit WAV_16bit Snare Bass Drum HiHat Close HiHat Open Rim Shot Clap

Above resources found on Panta Rei's Bellydance Page

Order ROOTS JAM: Collected Rhythms for Hand Drum & Percussion

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