Chapter 4

Step sequencing

Put notes on steps, record live, edit and copy regions, and set length, speed and metre.

Written in our own words from the Drambo docs’ sequencer and user interface pages, and the App Store release notes. Read the Drambo docs

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In this chapter · 14

4.1Clips, steps and the transport
4.2Put notes on steps
4.3Additive step entry
4.4Note length
4.5Auto-advance entry
4.6Record live
4.7The navigation bar
4.8Clip length and speed
4.9Copy, paste, transpose and shift
4.10Selection mode
4.11The extended step editors
4.12Mute single steps
4.13Time signatures, polymeter and polyrhythm
4.14The multi-track step sequencer

4.1Basics

Clips, steps and the transport

The notes a track plays live in a clip — one per track in each pattern. The step sequencer shows part of the current clip at a time; a clip can be up to 128 steps long, and the navigation bar under the steps moves you around it. Steps are polyphonic: one step can hold a whole chord.

Press PLAY to start and stop. What plays depends on the launcher:

If a pattern is selected and the launcher’s PATTERN LOOP is off, Drambo plays the patterns one after another as a song — from the first pattern or the selected one, depending on the launcher’s Start from first pattern option.
If no pattern is selected, it plays the clips you’ve launched.

Gestures & keys

Hold STEP + PLAY: Starts playback from that step.

From the community

BeepStreet Drambo v2 - Demo / Tutorial 65: Introduction to UI, Clips and Patterns
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
SoundForMore’s first 2.0 video: the redesigned interface, then clips and patterns. From May 2022.

Drambo 2.0 tutorial #1 - Preamble, ramble, sequencer and auto-grow record
The Man Who Shouldn't Speak
Part 1 of a chatty but careful six-part 2.0 series: the step sequencer and auto-grow recording. From May 2022, before additive step entry became the default in 2.51.

4.2Basics

Put notes on steps

Direct entry is the everyday way to fill a clip. Drambo remembers the last note or chord you played on the pads or keyboard and marks it on the keys; tapping an empty step puts it there.

Gestures & keys

Tap STEP: Puts the last note or chord you played on an empty step, or clears a step that has notes.
Tap STEP and drag left or right: Enters the step with a longer or shorter note.
Hold STEP + PIANO KEY: Toggles that note on the step, so you can build a chord on it.
Swipe on STEP: Sets the length of the note on an active step.

Since version 2.51, holding a step and playing keys adds or removes those notes rather than replacing what was there — see Additive step entry.

From the community

Drambo - Video 3 - Building Your First Song GREAT FOR BEGINNERS!
Daddy Long Les
A first song built step by step on the current app: a kick and snare from Drambo’s own modules, a Model D Audio Unit bass, a polyphonic pluck, four patterns played as a song and an automated filter on the master. From October 2026.

BeepStreet Drambo v2 - Demo / Tutorial 105: Step Sequencer Additive Mode
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
Four minutes on the additive step entry added in 2.51, where you hold a step and toggle notes, or hold a key and tap steps, without wiping what is already there. From February 2026.

BeepStreet Update DramboThe Beat Community — The 2.51 notes that introduced additive step entry and made it the default, with where to switch it off.

4.3Basics

Additive step entry

Additive mode makes step entry gentler: notes you add join what is already on the step instead of overwriting it. It suits drum tracks, where each note is a different sound, and chords you want to adjust one tone at a time. It has been the default since 2.51.

Gestures & keys

Hold PIANO KEY + STEP: Adds that note to the step, or removes it if it’s already there, leaving the step’s other notes alone.

Holding a step and playing keys toggles those notes too. To replace a step completely, tap it quickly to clear it, then enter the new notes.

If you prefer steps to be replaced, switch Additive mode off under Settings → Interface.

From the community

BeepStreet Update DramboThe Beat Community — The 2.51 notes that introduced additive step entry and made it the default, with where to switch it off.

4.4Basics

Note length

A note’s length is its gate time. You can set it as you enter the note, change it afterwards, or edit it precisely.

Tap a step and drag left or right before letting go to enter it with a shorter or longer note.
Swipe on a step that already has a note to change its length.
In auto-advance entry, RST/TIE stretches and ties notes as you go. See Auto-advance entry.
The gate editor among the step editors sets each step’s gate exactly, and has a default gate length setting. See The extended step editors.

4.5Intermediate

Auto-advance entry

Auto-advance entry is the quickest way to type in a melody or chord progression without worrying about timing. Each time you release the keys, the notes go on the current step and the cursor moves to the next one.

Stop the transport and press REC.
Play a note or chord on the keyboard. When you let go, it goes on the step and the cursor advances.
Keep playing. Use RST/TIE for rests and longer notes, and UNDO to step back.
Press REC again when you’re done.

Gestures & keys

Hold PIANO KEY + RST/TIE: Makes the note you’re holding one step longer.Auto-advance entry
Tap RST/TIE: Leaves an empty step and moves on.Auto-advance entry
Hold RST/TIE: Ties the last note into the next one, for a legato join.Auto-advance entry
Tap UNDO: Removes the step you just entered, or moves back one.Auto-advance entry

Holding UNDO and tapping REC also clears the clip and drops you straight into auto-advance entry (see UNDO, and clearing things with it).

From the community

Drambo 2.0 walkthrough
Ben Richards
Ben Richards’ 55-minute tour of Drambo 2.0, linked from BeepStreet’s own Drambo page, with a chapter for almost everything: modules, auto-advance step entry, the clip launcher, piano roll, automation, p-locks, clip locks and morphs. Filmed in May 2022, before time signatures and MIDI profiles (2.40) and additive step entry (2.51).

4.6Basics

Record live

To play a part in rather than program it, arm REC and press PLAY. What you play on the pads, the keyboard or a MIDI controller goes into the current clip, along with any knob moves as automation.

Recording into an empty clip makes it grow to fit what you play. To keep a fixed length instead, turn that off in the recording settings, which open from the tempo on the top bar.
To record several tracks at the same time, turn on TRK on the pads panel first.
Knob, pitch bend and mod wheel moves you make while recording become automation. See Automation and Pitch bend and mod wheels.
There is a Rec Quantize button, and it can be MIDI-mapped.

From the community

A forum user explains that live recording is quantised by the option in the tempo menu on the top bar, and that it snaps to the subdivision set at the top of the piano roll. Set that subdivision to free and nothing is quantised. via BeepStreet forums: How to set quantisize steps?, September 2026
In TRK mode each pad plays a track. Users on the forum hold TRK and tap a pad to select that track without sounding it. via BeepStreet forums: Trig button gone?, May 2022

Drambo 2.0 quick walkthrough
Ben Richards
The 19-minute version of the same 2.0 tour: mute and solo, the scene fader, the clip launcher, auto-grow recording, the navigation bar, stems and the Morph module. He calls it 1.5 at the start, but it is 2.0. From May 2022.

DRAMBO V2 - Getting Started For Beginners & Looking At Some New Features
The Sound Test Room
A 52-minute live stream that builds drums and a bass, records stems, launches clips and plays a song in the then-new 2.0. From May 2022.

BeepStreet Drambo v2 - Demo / Tutorial 66: Clip Launcher Detailed Walkthrough (inc. Clip Auto-Grows)
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
A 23-minute walk through the 2.0 clip launcher, from auto-grow recording to clip settings, editing gestures, and clip length and speed. From May 2022.

BeepStreet Drambo v2 - Demo / Tutorial 82: Record Midi into a clip from an Audio Unit Midi Processor
SoundForMore MusicTech Tutorials
Recording what an Audio Unit MIDI processor plays into a Drambo clip. From December 2022.

4.7Basics

The navigation bar in the sequencer’s button row is a map of the whole clip. The highlighted part is what the steps above are showing, and it’s also the region your edits and loops apply to.

Gestures & keys

Tap NAV BAR: Shows those bars in the step sequencer.
Slide along NAV BAR: Selects a range of bars to show and edit.
Slide NAV BAR right past its end: Lengthens the clip by adding bars.
Slide up on NAV BAR: Opens the context menu for the selected bars.
Slide down on NAV BAR: Removes the selected bars.
Tap LOOP: Loops the selected bars, or stops looping them.

In the multi-track sequencer, bars a clip doesn’t have yet show as dashed outlines, and the lengthening gesture works on existing bars too. To clear bars, hold UNDO and tap the bar (UNDO, and clearing things with it).

From the community

Drambo - Video 2 - Lots Of Cool Stuff To Learn!
Daddy Long Les
The second part of the October 2026 series: a solo and mute tip, extending, duplicating and looping bars, an empty clip to silence a track, more on the INS button, what sits at the right of each track, and the Morph crossfader.

4.8Basics

Clip length and speed

Every clip has its own length and speed. Tap CLIP PROPERTIES to set them for the current clip. Because each clip keeps its own settings, a two-bar bassline can loop under an eight-bar melody, or a hi-hat clip can run faster than the kick under it.

Clip length can be an odd number of steps, which is the start of polymeter. See Time signatures, polymeter and polyrhythm.
The pattern menu sets the length, or the number of steps, of every clip in the pattern at once. See Patterns.
You can also lengthen a clip by sliding the navigation bar past its end (The navigation bar).

From the community

drambo quick start: auv3 host + onboard effects
echo opera
Loading an AUv3 instrument into Drambo and adding Drambo’s own effects, with clip speed, cycle settings and song structure along the way. From September 2022.

4.9Basics

Copy, paste, transpose and shift

Most step editing starts with a selection: drag across steps to select them, then act on the whole group.

Gestures & keys

Swipe up on STEP: Opens the context menu for the selected steps: copy, paste, clear, transpose and shift.
Hold selected STEP + STEP: Copies the selection and pastes it starting at the step you tap.

Parameter locks travel with their steps when you copy them. For editing with one finger, turn on SELECT — see Selection mode.

From the community

Drambo - Video 4 - Quick Help
Daddy Long Les
Eight minutes aimed at beginners, with chapters on the sequencer editors, looping, transport, selecting and copying, the undo and clear commands, and modules. From October 2026.

4.10Intermediate

Selection mode

Normally a step is only selected while your finger is on it. With SELECT on, steps stay selected after you let go, which frees your hand for the keys and knobs. Tapping an active step in this mode plays it so you can hear what you’re editing.

Change knobs to set parameter locks on the selected steps with one finger.
Remove every parameter lock in the selected area at once.
Press keys to add or remove notes on the selected step.
Clip locks stay active while SELECT is on, so you can lock several parameters to a clip in a row. See Clip locks.

Gestures & keys

Hold SELECT, tap STEP, then tap another STEP: Copies the first and pastes it onto the second.
Hold SELECT and double-tap STEP: Makes it the last step of the sequence.
Hold SELECT and double-tap PATTERN: Makes it the last pattern.

From the community

4.11Intermediate

The extended step editors

Tap STEP VALUES to swap the plain step view for editors that show one value per step. They’re the place for detailed work: accents, swing-like timing pushes, rolls and variations.

Velocity: How hard each step’s notes are played.
Gate: How long each step’s notes last. The gate editor also holds the default gate length.
Offset: Moves a step’s notes slightly off the grid, earlier or later.
Probability: The chance the step plays each time round.
Retrig: Repeats the step’s notes within the step, for rolls.
Cycle: Plays the step only on chosen passes through the clip.
Components: The COMP tab: every step’s full list of components. See Step components.

For jumps, one-off steps, morph-dependent steps and conditions you can chain, open the components editor — see The components.

From the community

Drambo 2.0 tutorial #5: Step Sequencer Values Editor
The Man Who Shouldn't Speak
A 45-minute dig into the step editors – velocity, gate, offset, probability, retrig and cycle – then step components such as Jump, Once, scene conditions and Transpose. From May 2022.

4.12Intermediate

Mute single steps

Muting a step silences it without deleting its notes or locks, so you can take a hit out of a groove and put it back later. Turn on MUTE, then tap the steps to mute or unmute them.

The same mode mutes tracks and switches modules off — see Mute and solo and Move, insert, select and remove modules.

From the community

BeepStreet Have Updated DramboThe Beat Community — The 2.40 notes: mapping profiles, controller feedback, shift buttons and mapping conditions, plus time signatures, polymeter and muted steps.

4.13Advanced

Time signatures, polymeter and polyrhythm

Drambo supports any metre. Each pattern has its own time signature, with a numerator up to 16. Within that, clips can have different lengths and speeds, so parts drift against each other and line up again — that’s polymeter.

Three ways to get there

A pattern time signature for music that is genuinely in 5/4, 7/8 or 11/8. See Patterns.
Different clip lengths for polymeter: a 3-step clip against a 4-step one. See Clip length and speed.
A Jump component on a step, which sends the playhead back early and makes a shorter cycle within a longer clip — good for polyrhythms. See Jumps and retriggers.

From the community

4.14Intermediate

The multi-track step sequencer

Tap MULTITRACK on the top bar for a step sequencer that shows the steps of several tracks together, so you can see how the parts of a groove line up.

Its navigator shows bars a clip doesn’t have yet as dashed outlines, and you can drag to lengthen clips with existing bars too.
Holding UNDO and tapping MULTITRACK clears every clip in the project — use it with care.