Rate / swing (also in DELAY)
Concept · First taught in AR2 Lock to time (Arp)
Setting a metronome to clicks-per-bar instead of clicks-per-second.
▸What it is
Tempo sync locks a rate-based parameter — arp rate, LFO rate, delay time — to the song's tempo. Instead of milliseconds or Hertz, the rate is set in musical divisions: quarter notes, eighths, sixteenths, triplets, dotted values. Swing offsets every other subdivision by a percentage, pushing it later and giving the pattern a shuffle feel — a small amount of swing turns straight sixteenths into something that breathes, and large amounts approach a triplet feel. Without sync, anything rhythmic drifts against the rest of the track. With sync, the synth becomes a coherent rhythmic instrument that can lock to drums and bass.
▸Questions
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How much swing is normal?
50% is straight (no swing); 55–60% is a subtle groove; 65–70% feels like a triplet shuffle. Most genres live between 55% and 62%.
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Should I sync every rate parameter?
For arp and delay almost always. For LFOs, sync rhythmic motion (filter wobble, gating) and leave breath-style LFOs (vibrato, slow filter drift) free-running.
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What is the difference between 1/8 and 1/8t?
1/8 is a straight eighth note; 1/8t is an eighth-note triplet — three notes evenly spaced in the time of two regular eighths.
▸In the curriculum
First taught
AR2 · Lock to time — Sync the arp to the bed, add swing. Part of the Arp track.
Reused in
The same concept comes back in 1 lesson later in the curriculum, in a new context.
▸Related concepts
Concepts that share a lesson with rate / swing (also in delay):
Hear what rate / swing (also in delay) does to a sound. The PatchPond studio runs in your browser — load a lesson patch and move the knob this concept controls.
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