mc-rhythm-section

Follow the five-step decision order: define style and feel, pick a tempo range from the style lookup table, set the backbeat position, choose the bass-kick relationship, then select cymbal subdivision and fill family. Tempo ranges come from documented per-style tables covering rock, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.

Use partial quantization at 50-70 percent instead of 100 percent, quantize only some instruments while leaving others loose, add low-velocity ghost notes between main snare hits, and apply systematic push/pull offsets in milliseconds per part. Keep at least one instrument on the grid as a reference.

There are three valid forms: locked (bass matches kick rhythm exactly), answering (bass fills gaps between kicks, common in electronic dance music), and interlocking (a per-bar mix of both). Choose based on the style's convention rather than defaulting to interlocking.

Absolute quantization suits techno, house, electro, and EDM where the style demands a rigid grid. Even then, not every instrument in the full mix should sit on the grid, since uniform alignment across all parts is a generation artifact rather than a stylistic requirement.

Fills placed at rigid four-bar intervals are a textbook AI tell. Give each fill a reason, such as lifting into a chorus or masking a section-length seam, and space them deliberately unevenly while matching the fill's note-value family to the style.

Swing plays with a triplet feel regardless of notation, shuffle plays the first and third triplet partials of each beat, and half-time moves the backbeat to beat 3 instead of beats 2 and 4. Swing also straightens progressively as tempo increases.