Olympia Noise Co. Patterning 3

Olympia’s annular drum sequencer is going from strength to strength.

I’m a self‑confessed fan of iOS as a music creation platform. In part, this is because of the tactile touchscreen interface, and the fact that the platform allows indie developers to more readily compete for attention with development teams familiar from the desktop world. As a result, iOS has offered up some truly innovative and creative music app options. One of those is Olympia Noise Co.’s Patterning Drum Machine which has been reviewed in SOS on a couple of different occasions (most recently for v2 in the October 2018 issue). Indeed, with its distinct circular pattern editing grid, a huge collection of community‑created downloadable drum kits, and the step‑count flexibility offered for each instrument lane within a pattern (making for all sorts of polymetric and polyrhythmic options), it’s become something of an iOS classic. Alongside a few others I could mention, Patterning has always been (a) an app I think it’s worth owning a iPad for and (b) an app I wished existed in a desktop format.

Swing Theory

Olympia Noise Co.’s main man Ben Kamen has always kept Patterning moving forwards and Patterning 3 was released in mid‑2024 bringing all sorts of new features and refinements. This included new options for parameter automation, audio export options, an upgraded timeline editor for arranging patterns, a dedicated FX track and improved modulation options.

However, it was a YouTube video Ben posted on the v3.2 update that caught my eye as it introduced what I think is a completely novel take on the concept of swing that Ben terms ‘parametric swing’. It takes the conventional form of swing generally applied over quarter note resolutions and allows you to apply (‘bound’) swing at different resolutions (such as half notes).

The UI’s Swing/Quantise section (shown on the right side in the screenshot) lets you explore this concept in a hands‑on, graphical, fashion. This includes the genuinely mind‑bending Curve control and, while things can get rhythmically challenging very quickly, once you begin the grasp the concept, there are all sorts of cool musical feels you can explore. Again, this is the first drum machine on any platform that I’ve seen offer this approach to adjusting swing; if you like to get experimental with your rhythms, Ben’s video explaining what Patterning 3 is doing is well worth a watch.

Deskwork

Having downloaded the 3.2 update in response to the new swing feature, I then slapped myself on the head as I realised I’d missed the fact that v3.1 allowed Patterning 3 to run both as a stand‑alone desktop app on macOS and as an AU plug‑in virtual instrument within a suitable DAW. Both stand‑alone and plug‑in (within Logic) worked beautifully on my test system. The only gotcha is that, as yet, I haven’t been able to make it function within one of the more popular AU‑to‑VST wrappers so that I can use it within my usual DAW‑of‑choice (Cubase). Answers on a postcard to SOS HQ if you manage to make that work.

The new ‘parametric swing’ feature is as bonkers as it is interesting.

Patterning is undoubtedly one of my favourite virtual drum machine instruments, regardless of the OS platform we might be talking about. The circular pattern editing UI, while cool to look at, is very intuitive and I do wonder whether NI’s (also excellent) Circular didn’t draw a little inspiration from the concept. The new ‘parametric swing’ feature is as bonkers as it is interesting and to see the app working on my macOS desktop is a real treat. Whether for iOS or macOS, Patterning 3 is well worth exploring and an absolute bargain to boot.