THE BACKBEAT TOY by S. Alexander Reed
an interactive catalogue of 1,458 rhythms
audio will take several seconds to load at first; thanks for your patience.
Based on the following (terribly unmusical) assumptions, 1458 backbeats are possible:
Two pulses, each divided into four 16th-note events
Possible events are Kick, Snare, and Hat (which takes the place of a Rest)
Beat 1 cannot begin with a Snare, and Beat 2 must begin with a Snare
Playing all patterns in order takes about 25 minutes. Tempo is fixed at 120bpm.
If you wanted to use four-pulse durations (i.e. a 4/4 time signature), the number of possibilities is squared: 2,125,764 possible beats.