Since I last wrote about my rhythm setup, I've again made a lot of changes! Here's an example that shows a bunch of what I'm doing now:

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The biggest thing I've added since the last rollup is a notion of tempo. I play drums with my feet as usual, and I've written some simple heuristics (see estimate_tempo()) for identifying the downbeats. Once you know where the downbeat falls and how often they are, this opens up a lot of possibilities:

• French Canadian feet. The sharp click of the downbeat happens when I tap my foot, but then the lighter taps on the upbeat and predownbeat can happen 1/2 and 3/4 of the way through the beat. I used three samples from the introduction to Nightingale's La Belle Rose on their Trois album for the three different sounds.

  
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• Hi-hat patterns. This is essentially the same as the French Canadian feet, but the additional beats are on hi-hat instead of foot taps. A simple version puts the hi-hat just on the upbeat, but it can also go on each quarter-beat, and the level of intensity can vary as well.

  
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• Bass patterns. Again, the same sort of idea, but played on a synth bass. These follow the "active note" which is generally the most recently played left-hand piano note.

  
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I've configured a few different drum kits, and a few different bass sounds:

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These sound best in reel time, though I've added jig time as well:

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I normally have everything play straight, but after recording my mandolin playing I added a mode where the preup and predown beats fall 1/36th late and the upbeat falls 1/36th early:

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On their own these will just go until I tell them to stop, but I have two main ways of adding control. The first way is using the breath controller to modify the intensity and add interest:

• French Canadian feet:
  
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• Hi-hat:
  
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• Bass:
  
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The second way is using toe buttons to pause pieces of the sound and bring them back in:

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I've also added a new way to control the active note for when I'm playing mandolin. My V3 footboard has four pads on the right foot, and if I tell the system what key and mode I'm in I can then choose between four chords. I've been doing, left to right:

• Major: vi I IV V
• Mixolydian: VII I IV V
• Minor: V VI VII i
• Minor: VII i III IV

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Mostly it doesn't matter whether chords are major or minor because with the bass and jawharp I only play the root, but I've also added a Hammond sound I trigger with the breath controller. When I'm playing piano I have the Hammond play only the 1 and 5 of the chord, while when I'm playing mandolin I have it play thirds as well. I've set it to play whatever inversion places the notes highest in its range.

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Another thing I've added that follows the active note is pads. I think these sound best if not too loud, filling out the background in an atmospheric way when I play mandolin. They help counter the problem that just mandolin and fiddle together would normally be a bit thin.

Here's mandolin, kick, breath hammond, and pedal-controlled bass:

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