A groove is made of the notes you don't play. Mini-notation gives you two tools for it: the rest, and the subdivided step.
Every pattern is one cycle of time, divided evenly among its steps. !"c2 c2 c2 c2" is four even hits; add a ~ and one of them goes silent — same grid, new groove.
Square brackets split ONE step into its own mini-sequence: !"c2 [c2 eb2] ~ g2" keeps four slots, but the second slot now holds two faster notes.
Brackets nest: [c2 [eb2 g2]] divides a half into quarters. This is how sixteenth-note runs live inside a quarter-note groove.
Listen while you edit — move the rest around and feel how the same notes swing differently.
The starting point#
The lesson opens with this song in the editor. Every edit recompiles and plays.
-- Rests & subdivision: this bassline is a flat grid. Give it a groove.
bass = patch {
source = saw (freq pitch),
ampEnv = adsr 2ms 150ms 0 90ms,
cutoff = 900Hz,
gain = vel * 0.5
}
line = play bass !"c2 c2 c2 c2"What to watch#
The waveform goes quiet where the rests are — silence you can see. A subdivided step packs two bursts into the space of one.
Goals#
The workbench checks these as you work; the solution is there when you want it.
- Put a rest in the groove
- Subdivide a step with [ ]
- Grow the line to eight or more notes
- Stretch: nest a subdivision inside a subdivision
Make it yours#
Build a bassline with exactly one rest and one subdivided step, then move each one slot to the right and compare the feel.
Further reading#
Patterns: events over time in the reference.