Writing drums
Write a drum part with the keypad or the drumpad, hits together on one beat, sticking and flams.
Available on iPad, iPhone and Mac.
A drum track is written on a percussion staff: each piece of the kit has its line or space and its notehead, a cymbal an x, a drum a round head. You write it as you write tab, in Edit, a beat at a time; the duration comes from Rhythm, as for any note.
To start one, choose a drums template when you make a new score, or add a drum track to a score.
Writing with the keys
On a drum track, the keypad’s digits are pieces of the kit: each key shows the piece it writesthe number keys are pieces of the kit. Put the cursor on a beat and type a piece; type another on the same beat and they sound together. Typing a piece the beat already has takes it away. The standard kit’s keys:
| Key | Piece | Key | Piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Bass drum (BD) | 5 | Side stick (SS) |
| 1 | Closed hi-hat (HHx) | 6 | Floor tom (LT) |
| 2 | Snare (Sn) | 7 | Crash 1 (Cr1) |
| 3 | Ride (Rd) | 8 | High tom (HT) |
| 4 | Open hi-hat (HHo) | 9 | Mid tom (MT) |
With Alt on (⌥ on the Mac), the keys write more of the kit: Alt 0 the hi-hat pedal, Alt 3 the ride bell, Alt 6 the second floor tom, Alt 7 the second crash, Alt 8 the second high tom and Alt 9 the second mid tom. A closed and an open hi-hat can’t sound together, nor the ride and its bell: typing one takes the other away.
Which key writes which piece is yours to change, in Drum mapping.
The drumpad
The drumpad shows the kit as pads, cymbals on the top row and drums on the bottom, each with its short name, its name (when the pad is wide enough) and its MIDI note. When the columns don’t fit across the panel (on an iPhone or an iPad mini), it shows as many whole columns as fit and the rest on further pages: swipe across the pads, or tap the dots under them. Open the bottom panel (the rectangle filled at its bottom, in the top bar) (Bottom Panel in the toolbar) and choose Drumpad down its left side; it is there on a drum track, where a string track has the fretboard.
In Edit, tapclick a pad to write that piece on the beat at the cursor, or take it away if the beat has it; the pads the beat holds are lit. With another tool, a pad plays its sound without writing. The gear at the panel’s right opens Drum mapping, where you choose the pads. When the drumpad shows No drum instruments configured, Set Up Drumpad opens Drum Mapping too: Reset to Defaults lays the kit out on the pads.
A drum note’s popup (the note selected, then the capsule) names its piece as the kit does, its short name and MIDI note under it. The name is a menu of the kit’s pieces: choose another to change what the note plays and where it is written. A note no piece of the kit names shows its MIDI number and Not in This Kit, with Add to Kit….
Sticking
R Stick and L Stick, at the end of the Effect tools, mark the hand that plays each note: R or L above it. Choosing one replaces the other. On the Mac: Note › Right Hand Sticking and Left Hand Sticking.
Flams and drags
A flam is a grace note just before the hit, a drag two of them. Put the cursor on the hit and choose Grace in the Note tools, once for a flam, twice for a drag (see Note options). Ghost notes and accents, from the Articulation tools, work on drums too.