genre-styles

Genre cheat-sheets

Each entry: tempo line, drum skeleton, bass, harmony, signature moves — as compact original snippets. Adapt, don't paste verbatim. One cycle = one 4/4 bar, so setcpm(bpm/4).

House — 124 BPM

Four-on-the-floor kick, claps on 2 & 4, open hats on the offbeats, warm 7th-chord stabs.

setcpm(124/4)
$: s("bd*4").bank("RolandTR909").gain(.95)
$: s("~ cp ~ cp, [~ oh]*4").bank("RolandTR909").gain(.6).cut(1)
$: s("hh*8").bank("RolandTR909").gain("[.4 .7]*4").swingBy(.1, 4)
$: note("<c2 c2 eb2 f2>(5,8)").s("sawtooth").lpf(600).decay(.15).sustain(.2).gain(.8)
$: chord("<Cm7 ~ Fm7 ~>").voicing().s("sawtooth")
  .struct("~ x ~ [~ x]").decay(.2).sustain(0).lpf(2000).gain(.45).room(.3)

Signature: offbeat oh with .cut(1), plucky stab envelopes (decay short, sustain 0), light hat swing.

Techno — 130–135 BPM

Rumbling kick, minimal stabs, hypnotic modulated percussion. Less harmony, more texture; let slow signals do the arranging.

setcpm(132/4)
$: s("bd*4").bank("RolandTR909").gain(.95).shape(.3)        // rumble via drive
$: s("hh*16").gain("[.5 .25]*8").hpf(7000).pan(sine.slow(3).range(.3,.7))
$: s("rim(3,8,2)").gain(.4).delay(".4:.17:.5").orbit(2)
$: note("<c2 c2 c2 eb2>*8").s("sawtooth").ftype("ladder")
  .lpf(perlin.slow(8).rangex(200, 1500)).lpq(8)
  .decay(.1).sustain(0).gain(.75)

Signature: one or two notes only, ftype("ladder") + slow perlin/sine filter drift, percs through a delay on their own orbit.

Drum & bass — 172–176 BPM

Broken two-step break (kick 1, snare 3, displaced kick), heavy sub. If break samples are loaded, chop with slice/splice; otherwise synthesize the break from drum hits.

setcpm(174/4)
// synthesized two-step break
$: s("bd ~ ~ ~ sd ~ ~ bd ~ ~ bd ~ sd ~ ~ ~").gain(.9)
$: s("hh*16").gain("[.5 .3]*8").hpf(8000).degradeBy(.1)
$: note("<c1 c1 eb1 g1>").s("sine").gain(.85).clip(.9)       // sustained sub, one note/bar
$: chord("<Cm9 Ab^7>/2").voicing().s("sawtooth")
  .attack(.3).release(.5).lpf(1200).gain(.3).room(.5).orbit(2)

With samples loaded (samples('github:tidalcycles/dirt-samples')):

$: s("breaks165").fit().slice(8, "0 1 2 3 <4 0> 5 [6 3] 7")
  .every(4, x => x.rev())

Signature: sub from sine an octave below everything, snare locked to beat 3, chopped/resequenced break for variation.

Ambient — 60–80 BPM (or unmetered feel)

Slow attacks, huge rooms, lydian or major-pentatonic calm. Often no drums; let <> alternation and long slow arcs supply the form.

setcpm(70/4)
$: chord("<F^7 G7 Em7 Am7>/4").voicing().s("sawtooth")
  .attack(1.5).release(2.5).gain(.35)
  .lpf(sine.slow(16).rangex(400, 2500)).room(.8).roomsize(8)
$: n("<0 4 ~ 2 ~ 6 ~ ~>/2").scale("F:lydian")
  .s("triangle").attack(.4).release(1.5)
  .gain(.4).delay(".5:.4:.6").pan(perlin.slow(6).range(.2,.8))
$: s("crackle*4").density(.03).gain(.3)                      // air

Signature: /4-stretched harmony (one chord over 4 cycles), attack ≥ 1s, room near max, drifting pan, no transients.

Lo-fi hip-hop — 70–90 BPM

Lazy swung hats, jazzy 7th/9th chords, dusty degradation (crush/coarse), boom-bap kick/snare.

setcpm(80/4)
$: s("bd ~ [~ bd] ~, ~ sd ~ sd").bank("RolandTR808").gain(.9)
$: s("hh*8").bank("RolandTR808").gain("[.6 .3]*4").swingBy(.25, 4)
$: chord("<Dm9 G7 C^7 Am7>").voicing().s("piano")
  .gain(.55).crush(8).coarse(2).room(.3)
$: chord("<Dm9 G7 C^7 Am7>").rootNotes(1)
  .s("sine").struct("x ~ ~ x ~ ~ ~ ~").gain(.8)
$: s("crackle*2").density(.1).gain(.25)                      // vinyl dust

Signature: heavy swingBy(.2–.33, 4), crush(8)+coarse(2) on keys, ii–V–I-flavoured changes, crackle bed.

Acid — 125–140 BPM

The 303 recipe: sawtooth 16ths, closed low-pass with high resonance, cutoff ridden by slow signals, occasional octave jumps and slides.

setcpm(130/4)
$: s("bd*4").bank("RolandTR909").gain(.95)
$: s("~ cp, hh*8?0.1").bank("RolandTR909").gain(.5)
$: note("a1 a1 [a1 a2] a1 c2 a1 [g1 g2] a1")
  .s("sawtooth").ftype("ladder")
  .lpf(sine.slow(4).rangex(150, 2500)).lpq(18)
  .lpenv(4).lpdecay(.1).decay(.15).sustain(0)
  .gain(.75).rarely(x => x.add(note(12))).distort("1.5:.7")

Signature: lpq 15+, lpenv+lpdecay per-note squelch on top of a slow cutoff LFO, one repeating note with neighbour-tone deviations, mild distort.

Jungle — 160s BPM

Chopped, reshuffled breakbeats over deep reggae-leaning bass; sparser and swungier than DnB, with ragga-style stabs and big reverb hits.

setcpm(160/4)
// programmed amen-style chop (or use slice on a loaded break, as in DnB)
$: s("bd ~ [~ bd] sd ~ [sd ~] [~ bd] [~ sd]").gain(.9)
  .every(4, x => x.jux(rev)).sometimesBy(.15, x => x.ply(2))
$: s("hh(7,16)").gain(.4).hpf(8000)
$: note("<c1 c1 eb1 f1>").struct("x ~ ~ x ~ ~ x ~")
  .s("sine").gain(.85).clip(.8)                                // dub bass, lazy phrasing
$: chord("<Cm Cm Ab Bb>/2").voicing().s("sawtooth").struct("~ x ~ ~")
  .decay(.2).sustain(0).gain(.35).room(.6).orbit(2)            // offbeat skank

Signature: break chops mutated by jux(rev)/ply, bass with rests and held notes (dub phrasing), offbeat minor stabs in reverb.

Downtempo / trip-hop — 80–110 BPM

Heavy, dragging swung drums, dark minor harmony, cavernous space.

setcpm(90/4)
$: s("bd ~ ~ bd ~ ~ sd ~").gain(.9).shape(.3)
$: s("~ sd ~ sd").gain(.75).room(.4).roomsize(5)
$: s("hh*8").gain("[.5 .25]*4").swingBy(.2, 4).crush(10)
$: note("<f1 f1 ab1 c2>").struct("x ~ ~ x ~ ~ ~ ~")
  .s("sawtooth").lpf(450).gain(.8)
$: chord("<Fm Fm Db^7 C7>/2").voicing().s("piano")
  .gain(.45).room(.5).coarse(3)
$: n("0 ~ ~ 3 ~ 2 ~ ~").scale("F:minor:pentatonic")
  .s("triangle").gain(.4).delay(".5:.3:.6").orbit(2)

Signature: half-time feel (snare late and heavy), minor key with a dominant turn (C7 back to Fm), degraded textures, long delays.

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General rules: verify any genre snippet against the syntax checklist (strudel-syntax skill); keep one sub-heavy voice at a time; tempo always via setcpm(bpm/4) once. Sound names and controls here are all attested in knowledge/sounds-and-samples.md, knowledge/synths.md, and knowledge/effects.md.