Stolperbeats, roughly translating to "beats tripping over themselves", is a drum trigger sequencer designed to create shuffled beats influenced by the gritty, captivating push-and-pull grooves from the golden age of Hiphop.

We have always been fascinated with taking our beats offgrid to give them more fluidity and life.

This module allows you to effortlessly switch between the shuffle and groove you had to nudge together in a DAW; until now!

Stolperbeats requires a -12V / +12V Eurorack power supply. Connect the 2x5 boxed pin header marked Power on the back of Stolperbeats to the bus board of your Eurorack case using the ribbon cable.

The red stripe on the ribbon cable needs to match the Red Stripe mark on both Stolperbeats and bus board. The Expander is passive. Do not connect it to Power.

The Power consumption is:
+12V 280 mA / -12V 13 mA

Press the Tempo Encoder to start / stop the sequence.

Rotate the Tempo Encoder to set a tempo from 30 to 300 bpm in increments of one.

Nudge it to display the tempo. With a clock at Sync In, Stolperbeats can be clocked externally.

Rotate the instrument encoders to select a pattern for each track: Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2. There are 24 Patterns per Bank. Click to mute the track.

Stolperbeats displays the patterns it currently plays in a 16-step grid format via its LED matrix.

Imagine each step representing a 16th note in a 4/4 bar, before a Shuffle, Timing and Feeling are applied.

Rotate the Shuffle Encoder to select one of 7 Shuffles from the left hand matrix. The further down the matrix, the more pronounced the amount of Shuffle becomes.

The Shuffle Display is a visual approximation of how 8 steps are distributed in time.

Let's look at 2x4 steps. The number of subdivisions changes per line, depending on the shuffle, but the actual steps are always 8.

Here's how you would interpret the display for the Trip Timing:

Long press + release an encoder to edit the currently active Pattern for Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2. Rotate to change cursor position. Click to set a step.

Long press Instrument Encoder to exit Pattern Edit. Release while fast blinking to discard your changes. Release while slow blinking to save your changes.

Trigger Out for Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2, at 10V. Patch to the Trigger In of Eurorack modules.

Rotate the Subdiv Encoder to output a shuffled 16th note clock or a regular n-tuplet related to the Shuffle.

Use as a clock for any sequencer taking 1 tick per step, 10V triggers.

This allows you to distribute a shuffled clock, or advance by a regular n-tuplet related to the Shuffle.

Rotate the Sync Encoder to change the unswung Sync clock divider value in ppqn. Click to highlight Sync In (top, red LEDs) or Out (middle, orange LEDs).

Unshuffled clock for any module that takes a straight 10V pulse clock. Also useful to create a 4/4, n-tuplets independent of Shuffle, and resets every 1, 2 or 4 bars.

Output clock dividers are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16 and 24 ppqn. Output clock multipliers: 1, 2 and 4 bars (x1, x2, x4).

Select a Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2 Pattern from the active Bank using CV.

Accepts a 0 - 5V range, with jumpers that allow for a 0 - 10V range in the back.

Select one of 7 Shuffles from the left, and which of the active Banks is used via CV.

Accepts a 0 - 5V range, with jumpers that allow for a 0 - 10V range in the back.

Select the range for each of the Pattern, Shuffle and Bank CV In by setting jumpers on the back of the module.

Closed (with jumper, default) means a 0 - 5V range, open (no jumper) a 0 - 10V range in the back.

The Linear Button toggles logic to mute steps in your Pattern. Snare wins over Kick, and both over Hihat.

A trigger at Reset sets Stolperbeats back to step 1.

Patch a clock into the Sync In and set a clock input divider using the Sync Encoder.

Click the encoder to highlight Sync In (top, red LEDs) or Out (middle, orange LEDs), rotate to adjust the clock divider setting.

Input clock dividers are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 and 24 ppqn.

Or tap 4/4 notes using the Tap button to set any tempo from 30 to 300 bpm.

Two Tempo-synced 10V CV Outs ramping down / up, marked Env. Use to shape sounds on other modules.

Stolperbeats lets you adjust the Waveform, Clockdivider, lower and upper boundary for both ENV1 and ENV2.

Press + release the Subdiv Encoder for 2 secs to enter and exit the ENV Options.

The upper row of encoders starting at Kick adjusts the settings for ENV 1.

The lower row of encoders starting at Perc 1 adjusts the settings for ENV 2.

Use the ◄ Bank ► buttons to cycle through active Pattern Banks. There are 64 Banks à 24 Patterns, any of which can be:

active 
can be accessed by pressing ◄ Bank ►

inactive 
is skipped when pressing ◄ Bank ►

Stolperbeats comes with 4 active Pattern Banks, so 4 x 24 default Patterns for each instrument.

Enter Bank Edit 
Press + release either the left ◄ Bank button or the right Bank ► button for 2 secs

The Bank selected to be set active / inactive is blinking. Rotate Kick Encoder to select, click to set active / inactive.

Exit Bank Edit 
Press + release either the left ◄ Bank button or the right Bank ► button for 2 secs

Stolperbeats sends a MIDI Note per trigger on 7 tracks: Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2 and Subdiv. You can adjust Channel, Pitch, Velocity, and Duration per track.

The module also sends its tempo as a 24 ppqn MIDI Clock, as well as Play and Stop messages.

It can receive MIDI Notes on fixed Channels to cycle through the 24 Patterns in the active Bank, toggle Subdiv and select Shuffle, Timing and Feeling.

MIDI Out is TRS Type A by default, as is the included DIN Adapter. For Type B, flip the switch on the back of the module.

MIDI In accepts both TRS Type A and B.

To select either Type A or B for MIDI Out, flip the switch on the back of the module.

Find a list of TRS MIDI devices and their respective type at minimidi.world

The module has two modes for editing its MIDI Output mapping. They differ in how incoming MIDI is handled:

MIDI Edit 
Press + release Shuffle Encoder for 2 secs
MIDI Parameters on Matrix will blink slowly
MIDI In: default, see MIDI Select Pattern

MIDI Rec 
Press + release Shuffle Encoder for 3 secs
MIDI Parameters on Matrix will blink quickly
MIDI In sets active Track's Note + Channel

Use ◄ Bank ► to select one of 32 MIDI Banks.

Once you are finished editing the MIDI out mapping, long press the left ◄ Bank Button, and hold until the display has stopped blinking to save changes to that Bank.

Nudge the Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2 or Subdiv Encoder to display the Track's MIDI Out Parameters.

The selected parameter is blinking. Click to select, rotate to change the Parameter.

Stolperbeats sends its tempo as 24 ppqn MIDI Clock. Press Play to send MIDI Play or Stop messages. Use this to sync with Sequencers or to record into a DAW.

Stolperbeats can receive 24 ppqn MIDI Clock, as well as Play, Stop and Reset MIDI Transport messages. Use this to sync with Sequencers or to record into a DAW.

The Expander allows you to toggle Linear, and Mute for Kick, Snare, Hihat 1+2, Perc 1+2 and Subdiv.

Imagine one of those drummers who "air-drum" a pattern about half the time, and play the drums only for the other half.

Patch euclidean triggers into one or more inputs of the Expander to achieve this effect, or random triggers for rhythmic variation that is uncoupled from the bars / measures of your beat.

Connect the Expander to the 2x8 pin header marked Expander on the back of Stolperbeats, with the supplied ribbon cable.

The red stripe on the ribbon cable must match the Red Stripe marking on both boards. The Expander is passive – do not connect it to Power.

The SD card stores Stolperbeats' Pattern Data, Settings and MIDI Banks. It is a Class 10 FAT 32 formatted card. Data is generally written once you stop the sequencer.

You should never have to remove it unless you want to backup data. There are also a few configuration settings you can set via the SD card.

Without an SD Card, Stolperbeats will work, but boot in default and forget settings over a power cycle.

The USB port allows you to update Stolperbeats' firmware.

Please follow this link for the lastest firmware and a detailed guide on how to update.

makingsoundmachines.com/firmware/