Starting a groove
Play it like a fighting game.
Tilt the left stick Left stick in any direction and a closed hi-hat starts up, locked to the tempo. Tilt the right stick Right stick and the kick joins in beside it. Centre a stick and its part stops.
Direction picks the figure
Where you point a stick picks what it plays, in four wedges around the circle. How far you tilt is how hard it plays: all the way out is the Energy slider's level, and easing the stick in brings that part down under it.
| Left stick Left stick | The hi-hat plays |
|---|---|
| Left | Quarters |
| Up | Eighths |
| Right | Sixteenths |
| Down | The &s - the offbeats on their own |
Each figure is picked for the tempo and the time signature, and the figures thin out as the tempo climbs.
The right stick's directions are in Playing the kick.
Open the hat with the left trigger
Squeeze L2 while the left stick is playing and some of the hi-hat's strokes open. A light squeeze opens the one before the 1 - the "and" of 4. A middle squeeze opens every "and". A deep squeeze opens the lot. It follows the trigger as you move it, so a tap bounces the pattern open and shut.
Click a stick to double it
Click and hold L3 and the hi-hat doubles: whatever figure it's playing gains a stroke halfway between each pair of its strokes, rising into the next one - in most cases it'll come out as a ratchety, stuttery effect. Quarters gain their "and"s, eighths their sixteenths, sixteenths their thirty-seconds. Let go and it returns to the normal rhythm.
R3 does the same kind of thing for the kick: hold it and the kick plays its busier rhythm.
This works best when used in short bursts, for accents and flavour. Try combining it with L1 holds and taps to create new rhythms.