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Patch ideas

Six starter patches to show off what Rate Hike does best.

1. Snare rolls and drum fills​

The most obvious use. Patch a steady clock, send a steady gate to Trigger In (every 4 bars, say), and let Rate Hike fire bursts at your snare or clap.

  • Number of Bursts at 6 → 12 o'clock for a satisfying roll.
  • Burst Duration at 0 — sequence lasts about a beat.
  • Regularity swept from CCW to CW to vary the feel.
  • Enable Strict Duration so the fill always lands on the beat.

2. Ratcheting bass lines​

Patch your bass note sequencer to a VCA, and patch Rate Hike Trigger Out to a fast envelope feeding the same VCA. Each step of your bass sequence now gets ratcheted.

  • Number of Bursts modulated by sequencer CV → different ratchet counts per note.
  • Random mode on for unpredictable variation.

3. Generative percussion​

No clock, random incoming trigger — with Random mode on:

  • Patch Trigger Out → drum.
  • Patch Trigger Out → Trigger In of another Rate Hike (or via a slight delay) to create a chain reaction.
  • Or use a slow LFO on Trigger In and let Rate Hike fire periodic bursts of randomly varying density.

4. Sequencer reset trick​

Patch Reset Out → reset input of a melodic sequencer. Now every Rate Hike sequence resets your melody — long sequence = long melodic phrase, short sequence = quick re-triggers of the first few notes.

Combined with Number of Bursts modulation, this becomes a generative melody machine.

5. Slow envelope chains with Gate Out​

With Gate Length at ~80% and Number of Bursts low:

  • Gate Out → envelope gate of a slow attack/release envelope.
  • Each burst now opens a long, swelling envelope.
  • Sweep Regularity to push the swells front- or back-loaded across the phrase.

Great for ambient pads that breathe.

6. Polyrhythms against a steady clock​

Set Strict Regularity on, Strict Duration off:

  • Each burst lands on a clock division.
  • The total phrase length doesn't quantise.
  • Different Burst Duration settings give you different polyrhythmic relationships against the master clock.

Send the result to a melodic voice for evolving polyrhythmic figures over a steady beat.

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