Drum Sequencer

A standalone 8-lane × 32-step trigger sequencer — a programmable drum-machine grid. Toggle steps on each lane, clock it, and each lane fires a trigger on its own output whenever its active steps come round. Patch the eight outputs to drum voices (or anything that takes a trigger) to build a beat.

How it works

Each of the 8 lanes is a row of up to 32 steps you click on and off. On every pulse at the Clk input the playhead advances one step; any lane with an active step at that position fires a 1 ms trigger on its output. The pattern loops after Length steps, so a shorter length on one Drum Sequencer against another makes polymeters. The whole pattern is saved with your patch.

The pads are coloured in four groups of four (red / orange / yellow / ivory) so the beats are easy to read, and the lit lamp row up top chases the playhead as it runs.

Controls

  • Step pads — click a pad to toggle that step on/off; click-drag to paint a

run of steps. An active pad glows in its group colour.

  • Beat lamps / Length — the lamp row across the top chases the playhead. Click

a lamp to set the loop Length there (1–32); lamps past the loop end dim, and the number top-left shows the current length.

  • Lane mute — click a lane's number on the left to mute it. A muted lane keeps

its pattern but withholds its triggers (its pads dim); click again to un-mute.

Clock

Three modes, chosen with the Clock switch on the strip above the grid.

  • Ext — each pulse at Clk advances the playhead one step. ▶ ⏹ are inactive: the cable is the clock.
  • Int — the sequencer runs at its own tempo. Press ▶ to start, ⏹ to stop. This is the only mode where the BPM box is editable.
  • Song — the pattern follows the timeline. One step per 16th, counted from the start of the song, so the position is derived rather than counted: drop the playhead anywhere and the step that belongs there plays, the same every time. The BPM box dims and shows the song's tempo.

While the song is stopped the playhead sits on the step it will resume from; pressing play fires that step rather than skipping it. Length still applies, so an odd length gives you polymeter against the song — a 7-step pattern rotates through the bar exactly as it would under an external clock.

⏮ rewinds. In Ext it resets so the next pulse is step 1; in Int it restarts from step 1 on the spot; in Song it rewinds the whole song, since the sequencer's position is the song's. Rst follows the same rule.

Inputs & outputs

  • Clk — the clock, in Ext mode; each pulse advances the playhead one step. Ignored in Int and Song.
  • Rst — resets the playhead so the next clock restarts at step 1. In Song it rewinds the song instead.
  • 1 – 8 — the eight trigger outputs, one per lane (10 V, 1 ms pulses).

Patch each to a drum voice, envelope, or any trigger input.

Tips

  • Drive Clk from a clock module (or a clock divider) and patch 1–8 to the

Kick, Snare, and Hi-Hat voices to build a kit.

  • Set one Drum Sequencer's Length to something like 12 or 7 and run it

against a full-length one for shifting polymetric patterns.

  • Mute lanes live while the pattern runs to arrange the beat on the fly.