The journal

Notes from the bench. Some are about beats: what swing, tempo and syncopation are, drawn on sixteen steps. Some are about the instrument: how it keeps time, how it stores a beat, and how its drums are made. Every number is measured or read from the code.

1. What swing is in musicThe late step, measured in milliseconds.
2. What BPM means in musicA beat, a bar and a step, in seconds.
3. How to make a beatFour moves on sixteen steps.
4. What syncopation isThe weight off the beat, on sixteen steps.
5. Ghost notes and accents on drumsLoud and quiet strokes in one bar.
6. A beat in 40 bytesTempo, swing, eight voices and a check byte.
7. Sample-accurate timing on an iPhoneSteps counted in samples, and how that was measured.
8. The audio thread never waitsNo allocation, no lock, one queue.
9. A kick drum is twelve numbersHow a drum machine's kit is built.
10. An instrument in SwiftUIOne accent, five layers, nothing unneeded.