LDB-1se User Manual
4
Drum Machine Basics
The LDB-1se has a very simple interface for playing and editing rhythms. If you have used a drum machine
before, then the LDB-1se will be very familiar to you. If this is your first drum machine, then the infor-
mation below will help you get started.
Fir
st, 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 steps. 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, how-
ever a pattern can have fewer steps. For example, patterns 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-1se Instruments
Instrument
Drum Tab 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
High Tom-tom Drum
HT, T, T1, T2, or TT
Low Tom-tom Drum
LT, F or FT (floor tom)
Snare Drum
SD or S
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-1se, 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).
