1. The screen

1. MenuThemes, effects, the mixers, cloud sync and this guide.
2. Rhythm libraryEvery rhythm that ships with the app, and the ones you have saved.
3. The app nameTap it for the version.
4. Timing SettingsSwing, rolls and triplets — section 12.
5. HumaniseHow much each hit varies — section 13.

The grid is the rhythm. One row per instrument, time running left to right.

1. Play / stopThe rhythm loops until you stop it.
2. TempoIn beats per minute. Tap it for tap tempo and the tempo trainer — section 14.
3. Tempo sliderDrag to change it. Double-tap to go back to the rhythm's own tempo.
4. CallThe phrase that opens a rhythm, or calls a change.
5. ÉchauffementThe fast passage that lifts the ensemble.

2. Play a rhythm

1. 1
   Open the libraryThe book icon in the title bar. Tap any rhythm to load it.
2. 2
   Press playThe green button, bottom left.
3. 3
   Change it while it loopsEvery edit is heard on the next pass. Nothing needs saving first.

3. Write notes

Tap a cell to add a note. Tap it again to change the stroke, and again to clear it.

Djembe strokes. The dununs, bells and shekere have their own.

Hold a cell instead for flams, rolls and triplets.

• Split a stepTurn two steps into a triplet, or a beat into 4 or 6. Revert puts them back.
• Leading noteFirst cell only: a note just before the rhythm starts.

4. Tracks

Tap an instrument icon on the left of a row to open its drawer.

1. Add a partAnother drum of the same kind, on its own row.
2. Mute trackSilences this part until you tap it again.
3. SoloHear this track on its own.
4. SubdivisionHow many steps each beat is divided into.
5. Track timingSwing and shift for this part alone, down to a single note.
6. Volume & soundWhich drum it plays, how loud, and its tuning.
7. Loop rowsRepeat a few rows of the grid instead of the whole rhythm.
8. Sort rowsThen drag this track's rows into a different order.
9. Add a rowFour more beats on the end.
10. RemoveA row, or the whole track when only one is left.

Sort rows and Loop rows only appear once a track has more than one row.

5. Solos, breaks and variations

Three rows sit under the grid. A solo is a djembe part played over the groove; a break or intro is a phrase the whole ensemble plays once; a variation swaps the standard parts for another version of them.

1. The row's nameTap it for that row's options.
2. A partTap to bring it in, tap again to drop it.
3. ChainPlays each one in turn. Hold it to set how many passes each gets, and how many rounds to play.
4. AddA new empty part for you to write.

Breaks and variations work exactly the same way.

• Options: a break or call between solos, a call between phrases, and an echauffement to close the round.
• Tap a chip while playing: it blinks, then comes in at the end of the pass.
• Hold a chip for its menu: pick its variation, split a solo, or remove it. A rhythm's own parts can go too — save a copy to keep that.
• Drag a chip between two others to re-order. Drop a solo on a solo to merge them.
• Hold the echauffement button to set its repeats, and whether the call follows.

Phrases. A stacked chip is a solo made of phrases. Tap it to open a drawer with one chip per phrase.

• Tap a phrase chip to play just that phrase.
• Chain plays the phrases in turn. Hold it to set the repeats.
• Add an empty phrase. Hold a phrase chip to remove it.
• Drag a phrase to re-order it, onto another solo, or between solos to make a new one.
• Hold a solo chip to split it into phrases or join them back.
• Tap the stacked chip again to close the drawer and stop the solo.

Links. A variation can come in by itself whenever a solo or a break plays. A wire joins the two.

• Drag a variation onto a solo or a break, or the other way round, to link them.
• Or hold a solo, break or variation chip and pick what it plays with.
• When the solo plays, its variation lights up and plays with it. Tap it to turn it off for that solo, or tap another variation to swap.
• A solo or a break brings in one variation. One variation can go with several solos.

6. Live pads and recording

The pads below the grid play the real drums, so you can try a part with your hands before you write it.

Press and hold a pad to choose which drum it plays.

Recording turns what you play on the pads into notes on a track.

1. RecordStarts and stops capturing.
2. IntoWhich track the notes are written to. Tap it to choose.
3. ClickA metronome while you record.
4. Count-inOne bar of clicks on their own before the ensemble joins.
5. Clear firstWipes the track before recording, instead of adding to what is there.

1. 1
   Choose a trackIts row turns red so you can see where the notes will land.
2. 2
   Press RecordA bar of clicks counts you in, then the rhythm comes in on the downbeat.
3. 3
   Play the padsEach hit is snapped to the nearest step of that track's grid.

Only pads of the armed track's own instrument are recorded — a djembe pad cannot land on a dunun row.

7. Find and keep rhythms

Traditional is the 280-rhythm library. Practice holds exercises. My Rhythms is what you have saved — load, share or import them there.

8. The mixers

Two windows in the menu balance the whole ensemble at once. A single track's own sound lives in its drawer instead — the Mix button in section 4.

• Volume MixerOne slider per part. Double-tap a slider to put it back to that instrument's own default.
• Tuning MixerThe same list of parts, tuned up or down in semitones. Double-tap for no shift at all.
• Reset allBottom left of either window. Its label dims when there is nothing left to undo.

9. Delay & Reverb

The Effects Mixer, in the menu, gives each family of instruments its own space and echo.

1. On / offEvery family starts off. Tap the instrument icon or the pill beside it; the sliders only work once the row is on.
2. ReverbHow big the room around the drum sounds.
3. DelayAn echo locked to the tempo, so it stays in time when you change the speed.
4. Note valueHow far apart the echoes fall — a sixteenth, an eighth, a dotted eighth, and so on.

Reset restores an effect's values and never switches a row on or off — that stays your choice.

10. Stereo

The Stereo card in the Effects Mixer spreads the ensemble from left to right, as if the players stood in front of you.

1. On / offOff plays every part in the centre, exactly as before. A phone's own speaker plays in mono, with no reverb or delay: there, stereo only makes some parts quieter and a room only blurs the drums. Bluetooth plays them as set. For wired headphones, switch on Stereo & effects at the top of the Effects window.
2. LayoutEnsemble puts each part where it usually stands — the dundunba and the solo in the middle, kenkeni and sangban either side, the djembes out wide. Fan out gives every part its own place.
3. EchoesWith the drum repeats each echo where its drum stands; Ping-pong bounces them from side to side. Turn up Delay on a card above to hear it.
4. WidthHow far the field spreads. With Grow with parts on, a rhythm with few parts sits closer together and widens as parts join.
5. Shekere swayMoves the shekere slowly from side to side. The slider sets how long one sweep takes.
6. The stageEvery part of the open rhythm. Drag one to place it in this rhythm; double-tap it to put it back.

Positions are saved with the rhythm. Reset puts them back to what you last saved, and the Volume Mixer's Pan view moves them too.

11. Limiter

At the bottom of the Effects Mixer is the limiter. It rounds off the loudest peaks so a busy rhythm cannot overload and crackle, and leaves everything below that untouched.

1. OutputThe bright bar is the sustained level and the paler one above it the peaks, with a line on the loudest. The numbers below read the signal before it, after it, and the difference.
2. LimitingThe red bar grows from the right and shows how much is being held back, measured on the same scale as the bar above it.
3. Limit atDrag the triangle along the scale to set where it starts working. Lower takes more off the peaks; it is not a volume control.

A drum kit is nearly all attack, so lowering the limit takes the tips off without making much difference to how loud it feels.

12. Timing Settings

The two joined notes in the title bar. This is where you shape the feel of the rhythm — deliberate, musical timing that you choose.

• SwingMoves the off-beats. The graph shows where each note lands, and the per-step sliders shape one beat at a time.
• Rolls & TripletsHow a two-stroke roll splits, and how a written triplet leans. Each has a Preview button that plays the figure.
• AdvancedTempo Response fades swing as the tempo rises. Audio Sync lines the screen up with what reaches your ears — useful on Bluetooth.

13. Humanise

The person icon in the title bar. This is the opposite of Timing: small random differences that stop it sounding too perfect and boring.

• Time, pitch and volumeHow much each hit may vary from the one before. The readouts are in real units — milliseconds, semitones, percent.
• DriftThe ensemble breathes: the tempo wanders a little, and the djembes, dununs and shekeres move gently in and out of phase with each other.
• SpreadHow far a part can slide off the beat. At zero nothing drifts at all, whatever the other sliders say.
• SplitWhether the groups slide together or against each other. At 100% the djembes, dununs and shekeres each wander at their own speed, so the ensemble loosens and tightens; at 0% they all slide the same way at the same moment, and you barely hear it.
• Djembe splitSpreads the individual djembes apart from one another, so they weave against each other instead of moving as one. A fixed offset per drum, not a wander.

14. Tempo

Tap the tempo number in the control bar. Tap tempo sets the speed from your own taps; the trainer changes it for you while you practise.

• Tap tempoTap the pad in time with the beat.Four taps or more give a steady reading.A pause of two seconds starts a fresh count.

• Tempo trainerChanges the tempo for you while the rhythm plays.Start, Target and Step: where it begins, where it ends up, and how far each change moves.
• ModesProgression steps towards the target and holds it.Ramp goes up to the target and back down, over and over.Intervals switches between the two tempos.
• Change everyHow many loops of the rhythm play before each change.Every change lands on the first beat of a loop.
• While it runsThe tempo slider is locked and the control bar shows the trainer's tempo. Stop trainer puts back the tempo you had before.