Kits & Patterns — Saving and Organising Your Work

Tap SAVE to capture the current sampler state as a .ekit file. Pattern chips show colour-coded song sections — P1 is selected (orange border).

PART 1: KIT MANAGEMENT (Sampler)

1. What a Kit Is

A kit is a complete snapshot of your sampler — all 64 pads across 4 banks, every sample loaded, every volume level, every pan position, every filter setting, every ADSR curve, every effect in every FX chain. Saving a kit is like saving the entire state of the sampler at that moment.

2. Saving a Kit

Open the kit manager from the sampler toolbar (SYSTEM → Save Kit). Give the kit a name. ESSNCE captures everything and writes a .ekit file.

Kits are portable files stored on your device. You can copy them, back them up, share them with other ESSNCE users, or move them between devices. A kit contains references to samples — the samples themselves live in your library. If you share a kit, the recipient needs the same samples (or ESSNCE will show a 'missing sample' notification and load what it can).

3. Loading a Kit

Open the kit manager and tap any kit in the list. The entire sampler switches to that kit instantly — all 64 pads, settings, and effects. You can switch kits during playback without stopping the transport. This is essential for live performance — build different kits for different songs and switch between them in under a second.

4. Kit as Creative Tool

Build multiple variations of the same kit: Kit A has your main drum sounds. Kit B is the same but with different filter settings (darker, more muted — for breakdowns). Kit C has alternate percussion samples. During a live set, switch between them to change the sonic palette without touching individual pads.

Build genre-specific kits: a 'Boom-Bap' kit (crunchy kicks, dusty snares, filtered hi-hats), a 'Trap' kit (808s, tight snares, crisp hats, risers), a 'House' kit (punchy kicks, claps, off-beat hats). Switching kits changes the entire vibe instantly.

5. Kit Operations

• Rename: Long-press any kit in the browser.
• Delete: Remove kits you no longer need.
• Export kit: Share a .ekit file via the system share sheet.
• Reset to default: Clear all pads and start fresh.

6. Kit Cohesion

When you load samples into your pads, ESSNCE analyses how well they work together using spectral similarity. Each pad shows a small coloured dot: green (fits well with the kit), orange (neutral), red (stands out — might clash). This is AI-powered and runs on-device.

Use cohesion as a guide, not a rule. A red dot might mean the sample is intentionally different — a vocal chop in a kit of drum sounds SHOULD stand out. Green dots on a drum kit mean the sounds share similar spectral character (they sound like they came from the same record, same room, same production).

7. Kit Sharing and the Community

Share .ekit files with other ESSNCE users. When you load someone else's kit, ESSNCE references samples by name. If you have the samples in your library, they load automatically. Missing samples are flagged so you know what to find or substitute.

PART 2: PATTERN MANAGEMENT (Drum)

8. What a Pattern Is

A pattern in the drum machine is a complete snapshot of all 16 tracks — every step, every velocity, every parameter lock, every sound assignment, every track setting. The drum machine holds 16 patterns (bank of 16, arranged as 2 rows of 8).

9. Pattern Operations

Select: Tap any pattern chip. If the transport is playing, the change is queued and switches at the next bar boundary (smooth transition, no glitch).

Copy/Paste: Long-press a pattern → Copy. Long-press a different pattern → Paste. Build Pattern 1 (main groove), copy to Pattern 2, modify Pattern 2 (add fills, drop the kick, change the hi-hat). Now you have variation.

Clear: Start fresh on a pattern.

Colour coding: Each pattern can have a colour. Use colours to organise: blue = verse patterns, orange = chorus patterns, green = intro/outro, red = fills. The arrangement timeline uses these colours — you can see the song structure at a glance.

10. Pattern Length

Patterns can be 1–64 steps long. Short patterns (1–8 steps) loop quickly — good for basic grooves. Longer patterns (16–64 steps) allow for evolution — fills, variation, changes over time.

Quick length chips in the pattern controls: 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. Tap to set the length. You can also set per-track lengths for polymeter (covered in the Groove deep-dive).

11. Song Mode — Chaining Patterns

Song mode lets you arrange patterns in sequence — like laying out scenes in a video editor. Instead of switching patterns manually, the sequencer plays through your arrangement automatically.

Open the song arranger (from the PATTERN mode in the context bar). You'll see a horizontal strip where you place pattern blocks. Each block is a pattern number with a bar count — "P1 × 4" means "play Pattern 1 for 4 bars."

• Add blocks: Tap a pattern from the bank to append it to the arrangement.
• Reorder: Drag blocks left or right.
• Section labels: Tap a block to cycle through INTRO → VERSE → CHORUS → BRIDGE → DROP → OUTRO. Labels are visual only — they don't affect playback.
• Presets: '4-BAR', '8-BAR', 'I-V-C' (Intro-Verse-Chorus) — auto-build arrangement structures from your existing patterns.
• Playback: Toggle SONG mode on. Press play. The arrangement plays from start to finish. The current block is highlighted orange.

12. Pattern Workflow Tips

• Build 4–6 patterns for a track: main groove, variation 1 (drop the kick), variation 2 (add percussion), fill, breakdown, outro. Arrange them in song mode. Now you have a complete track structure.
• Use pattern colours to match your song sections. When you look at the song arranger, the colour blocks tell you the structure instantly — no need to read labels.
• Keep Pattern 16 as your 'sketch pad' — use it to try out ideas without disrupting your main patterns. If something works, copy it to an active pattern slot.
• Export individual patterns as audio or MIDI from the FILE mode. Build a library of drum patterns — your own 'breakbeat collection' that you can reuse across projects.

13. Saving and Loading Drum Kits

Just like sampler kits, your entire drum setup (all 16 patterns, all track assignments, all effects, all mixer settings) can be saved as a drum kit (.ekit file, same format).

Load a drum kit to instantly recall a complete drum machine state. This is separate from project saving — it lets you reuse your drum sounds and patterns across different projects.

14. Suggestions to Try

1. Build three sampler kits: Verse, Chorus, and Breakdown. Make each darker or brighter via filter settings. Save them. Now during playback, switch kits at section boundaries — the sonic palette shifts with the arrangement.
2. Create 8 drum patterns for a track. Colour-code them: blue for verse, orange for chorus, red for fill. Build a song arrangement that goes: intro (2× P1) → verse (4× P2) → chorus (4× P4) → verse (4× P2) → chorus (4× P4) → breakdown (2× P6) → chorus (4× P4) → outro (2× P8).
3. Export your three best drum patterns as audio. Load them into the editor. Now you have a library of your own drum loops to layer and arrange.
4. Share a kit with another producer. When you get theirs back, use the cohesion dots to understand their sound palette. Swap individual samples to make the kit your own while keeping their structure.