# R&B — neo-soul, new jack swing and slow jam # Reference: Questlove / D'Angelo "Voodoo" (neo-soul), Teddy Riley and # Bobby Brown "My Prerogative" (new jack swing), Babyface ballads, # Chris Dave and Anderson .Paak for the modern end. # The common thread is the ghost note: the snare hand never stops moving, it # just plays most of its strokes almost inaudibly between the backbeats. # GM notes: 36=kick, 38=snare, 37=side stick, 39=hand clap, 42=closed HH, # 46=open HH, 54=tambourine, 51=ride, 45=low tom, 49=crash # # ── Step grid notation ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────── # Each character in a step grid represents one subdivision of the bar. # Resolution controls how many steps per bar (16 = 16th notes in 4/4). # # X Strong accent — velocity = base_velocity × 1.00 (full hit / downbeat) # x Medium accent — velocity = base_velocity × 0.75 (firm stroke / upbeat) # o Soft hit — velocity = base_velocity × 0.55 (brush / light touch) # g Ghost note — velocity = base_velocity × 0.28 (barely audible, mostly felt) # . Rest — no note fired at this step # # Beat positions — 4/4 at resolution 16 (one char per 16th note): # pos 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 # 1 e1 +1 a1 2 e2 +2 a2 3 e3 +3 a3 4 e4 +4 a4 # (1/+/2/+/3/+/4/+ = quarter beats; e = "e of"; a = "and-a of") # # Swing / feel: the 'feel' field shifts odd-indexed steps (1,3,5,7…) forward in time. # straight — no shift (all steps exactly on the grid) # swing_light — odd steps delayed ~16 % of a step: the 16th-note shuffle that # separates R&B from pop. Set here as the pattern default. # swing_hard — odd steps delayed ~34 %: full new jack swing territory # ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── name: R&B family: rnb bpm_range: [65, 105] time_signature: [4, 4] resolution: 16 feel: swing_light instruments: kick: { note: 36, base_velocity: 106, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.018, duration_beats: 0.16 } snare: { note: 38, base_velocity: 104, velocity_range: 18, timing_jitter: 0.020, duration_beats: 0.11 } rim: { note: 37, base_velocity: 80, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.018, duration_beats: 0.06 } clap: { note: 39, base_velocity: 94, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.014, duration_beats: 0.10 } hihat: { note: 42, base_velocity: 72, velocity_range: 14, timing_jitter: 0.016, duration_beats: 0.05 } hihat_open: { note: 46, base_velocity: 80, velocity_range: 10, timing_jitter: 0.014, duration_beats: 0.12 } tambourine: { note: 54, base_velocity: 70, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.016, duration_beats: 0.07 } ride: { note: 51, base_velocity: 72, velocity_range: 12, timing_jitter: 0.016, duration_beats: 0.12 } tom_lo: { note: 45, base_velocity: 92, velocity_range: 14, timing_jitter: 0.018, duration_beats: 0.14 } crash: { note: 49, base_velocity: 96, velocity_range: 8, timing_jitter: 0.014, duration_beats: 0.26 } humanization: timing_jitter: 0.018 velocity_jitter: 16 velocity_drift: 0.07 sections: intro: type: count_in hits: 4 note: 37 groove: bars: 1 variations: - name: neo_soul weight: 3 # Questlove behind D'Angelo: the backbeats sit late, and the snare hand # keeps filling with ghosts at pos 7 and 14 that you feel rather than # hear. The kick pushes the "and of 2" (pos 6) and "3-and" (pos 10), # never landing squarely on beat 3. kick: "X.....X...X....." snare: "....X..g....X..g" hihat: "x.g.x.g.x.g.x.g." - name: new_jack_swing weight: 3 # Teddy Riley: a hard, gated snare doubled by a clap on 2 and 4, and a # kick that plays the "a of 1" (pos 3) and "a of 3" (pos 11) — the # swung-16th push that made the style danceable at pop tempos. kick: "X..X....X..X...." snare: "....X.......X..." clap: "....X.......X..." hihat: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." hihat_open: "......x.......x." - name: slow_jam weight: 2 # Half-time ballad: one snare per bar on beat 3, tambourine marking the # backbeats it left behind, kick spread wide. Space is the point. kick: "X.........X....." snare: "........X......." hihat: "x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x." tambourine: "....x.......x..." - name: modern_rnb weight: 2 # The contemporary end: half-time snare on 3, kick riding the offbeats, # and a hi-hat that breaks into a 16th roll on beat 4 (pos 12-14). kick: "X.....X...X....." snare: "........X......." hihat: "x.x.x.x.x.xxxx.x" - name: quiet_storm weight: 2 # Cross-stick and ride instead of snare and hats — the late-night # arrangement, where the drums stay under the vocal rather than beside it. kick: "X.......X......." rim: "....X.......X..." hihat: "x.g.x.g.x.g.x.g." ride: "X...X...X...X..." fill: bars: 1 variations: - name: ghost_run # The snare hand made audible: the ghosts that were felt all through the # groove come up in volume and turn into the fill. kick: "X..............." snare: "....X..gX.gXX.X." hihat: "x.g.x.g.x.g.x.g." - name: tom_soul # Low tom on beat 3 answered by snare on beat 4 — a Motown-descended # turnaround that still fits under a modern R&B mix. kick: "X..............." tom_lo: "........X.X....." snare: "............X.X." - name: clap_turnaround # Clap answers the snare into the downbeat. Programmed rather than played, # which is exactly right for the drum-machine half of the genre. kick: "X.......X......." snare: "........X......." clap: "............X.X." break: bars: 2 variations: - name: drop # Kick and cross-stick only: the bridge where the vocal takes over. kick: "X.......X......." rim: "....X.......X..." crash: bars: 1 variations: - name: standard crash: "X..............." kick: "X.....X...X....." snare: "....X.......X..." hihat: "x.g.x.g.x.g.x.g." structure: fill_every: 8 break_every: 0 break_length: 2 crash_after_fill: true dynamic_build: false