# Genres

> Every genre Songcode knows, by family, with its tempo range, its default drum kit and the short form of the brief the model is given.

Picking a genre in the [composer](https://docs.songco.de/app/compose/#the-genre) does more than add a word to your prompt. Each genre carries a written brief that goes to the model with your words: a tempo range, a default drum kit, the instruments that suit each role, and a description of how the style is built, down to its signature move.

There are 60 genres in 11 families. The composer shows 17 of them as chips (chiptune, synthwave, techno, house, deep house, uk garage, drum & bass, dubstep, trap, lo-fi, trance, amapiano, afrobeats, disco, ambient, solo piano, orchestral) and the rest under **all 60 genres**. Star a genre there and it moves to the front; see [favorite genres](https://docs.songco.de/app/compose/#favorite-genres).

## How to read the tables

- **bpm** is the range the model picks a tempo from. Set **bpm** in [advanced](https://docs.songco.de/app/advanced/#engine) to override it.
- **default kit** is the drum kit the genre starts from. The names are on the [sounds](https://docs.songco.de/audio-engine/sounds/#drum-kits) page. Set **drum kit** in advanced to override it.
- **how it is built** is taken from the genre's brief: the sentence that describes the style. The full brief is longer and ends with the genre's signature move.

A genre is a starting point. The prompt can pull away from it ("house, but half-time and dark"), and what you set in advanced replaces its tempo and kit. One genre is always selected.

### synth

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| electro | 124 to 134 | `boom` | Broken beats on the `boom` kit, never four on the floor: kick on 1, the "and" of 2 and around 3, snare on 2 and 4, 16th hats with accents, cowbell and clap as punctuation. |
| synthwave | 84 to 118 | `arena` | 1980s night drive. `arena` with a big snare on 2 and 4 drenched in short bright reverb, straight 8th or 16th `pulsebass` on the root of each chord, wide `synthbrass` or `ensemble` chords in a four-chord minor progression, an arpeggiated `synthpluck`, and a soaring `sawlead` melody with delay that slides into its long notes (:slide, or legato with glide 60ms). chorus 40% on the chords is the sound of the era. |
| synth pop | 108 to 126 | `funk` | Song-shaped: a verse groove and a bigger chorus with a different chord progression. |
| vaporwave | 60 to 90 | `arena` | Slowed-down 1980s smooth jazz and mall music: lush `epiano` and `glasspad` chords in major sevenths and ninths, a slap-style `fmbass`, a `sax` or `fmbell` melody, soft gated drums, chorus on the keys. |
| chiptune | 120 to 160 | `fm` | Four voices, like the hardware: a `chip` pulse lead, a second pulse for harmony or echo, a `triangle` bass, and noise drums (short `white` bursts for hats and snare, a pitch-dropping `triangle` or the `fm` kit for the kick). |
| hyperpop | 150 to 180 | `fm` | Maximal, glossy and broken on purpose. Metallic `fm` drums with a clipped `boombass` (drive 60%), huge `hypersaw` chords in bright major progressions, sugary `glass` and `chip` melodies pitched high, and abrupt edits: bars that cut to silence, a section at half speed, bitcrushed fills (bitcrush 5bits). |

### techno

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| techno | 128 to 136 | `club` | Four-on-the-floor kick with a short lowpassed rumble tail underneath, offbeat open hats that cut the closed 16ths off, a rolling 16th `pulsebass` locked under the kick, one terse minor `stab`, and 16-bar filter movement. |
| detroit | 125 to 132 | `club` | A lighter touch on the drums and real swing (swing 56%). Lush `ensemble` strings and `epiano` playing jazz-inflected voicings, a melodic `fatbass` line that moves instead of a static sub, a high `glass` motif, and space for the chords to breathe. |
| acid | 126 to 138 | `club` | The `acid` line is the whole track: a 16-step pattern on three or four pitches, with accents written as a velocity list (velocity [110 55 55 110 55 80 55 55]), a few notes slid into the next (a ~ after the pitch, glide 60ms), and the filter worked by hand over 16 and 32 bars with lowpass sweeps and ramps on top of the patch. |
| minimal | 124 to 130 | `analog` | Very few elements, each one tiny and exact: a soft round kick, a clicky `blip` or `pizz` figure of two or three notes, dry percussion placed off the grid by a few milliseconds, a `subbass` that plays one note and one variation. |
| dub techno | 118 to 126 | `analog` | A soft, low kick and a deep `subbass` under one minor-seventh or minor-ninth `dubchord` hit, drowned in feedback delay (delay 60%, time: 3/16, feedback: 75%) and a long dark reverb, with a slow phaser (phaser 0.2hz) turning under it. |
| industrial | 128 to 140 | `hard` | Distorted, clanging and mechanical. The `hard` kit pushed further with drive, struck metal (`anvil`, `brakedrum`, `metal`) as the percussion section, a `brown` noise bed through a slowly moving filter, and a `darkpad` drone a semitone or a tritone off the root. |
| hard techno | 142 to 155 | `hard` | Fast and relentless: the `hard` kick on every beat with its tail filling the gap to the next one, offbeat open hats loud and bright, a rolling offbeat bass, a detuned `hoover` or `stab` rave riff of two notes, snare rolls into every 16-bar change. |
| gabber | 165 to 190 | `hard` | The kick is the bassline: the `hard` kick on a stem of its own, driven again (drive 80%) and given a notes row so it carries pitch, sometimes pitched up through the bar. |
| hardstyle | 150 to 160 | `hard` | Two halves that alternate. The drop: a distorted `hard` kick on the beat with a pitched offbeat bass answering it (the reverse bass), and a screaming detuned `sawlead` or `hypersaw` melody. |

### house

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| house | 120 to 128 | `club` | Four-on-the-floor `club` kit with a clap on 2 and 4, shuffled closed hats and an offbeat open hat, a bouncing `fmbass` or `organbass` line that leaves the downbeat to the kick, and off-beat `houseorgan` or `piano` chords in a major-seventh or minor-ninth progression. |
| deep house | 116 to 124 | `tight` | Slower, softer, late at night. A rounded kick, a rimshot and shaker groove with a light swing (swing 55%), a sustained `subbass` or a soft `fmbass`, and `epiano` chords in rich minor ninths and elevenths (voicing smooth, a little chorus) that hang over the bar line. |
| disco | 112 to 124 | `live` | The `live` kit: four-on-the-floor kick, snare on 2 and 4, open hat on every offbeat, tambourine on 16ths. |
| uk garage | 128 to 136 | `club` | The kick skips: beats 1 and the "and" of 2 or 3, never four on the floor. |
| amapiano | 108 to 115 | `analog` | The `logdrum` is the lead instrument: a tuned, knocking bass that plays a syncopated melody low in the register, with slides, and leaves big gaps. |
| afro house | 118 to 125 | `analog` | A steady four-on-the-floor kick under layered hand percussion: `conga`, `bongo`, shaker and `agogo` in interlocking 16th patterns with accents that imply 3 against 4. |

### trance

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| trance | 136 to 142 | `club` | A driving kick with an offbeat `pulsebass` (the bass plays between the kicks), a 16th-note `synthpluck` arpeggio through a slowly opening filter, and a wide `hypersaw` chord progression in a minor key, four chords, one per bar or two. |
| psytrance | 140 to 148 | `analog` | The engine is one bar of kick and bass: kick on the beat and three short 16th `pulsebass` notes after it, all on the root, for the entire track. |
| progressive | 120 to 126 | `club` | Patient and melodic. A steady kick, soft shaker and offbeat hat, a warm sustained bass, and a `synthpluck` arpeggio whose filter opens over 32 bars. |

### bass

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| drum & bass | 170 to 176 | `live` | Two-step drums at 174: kick on 1 and the "and" of 3, snare hard on 2 and 4, fast hats and ghost snares between them with only a trace of shuffle (swing 52% at most). |
| jungle | 160 to 170 | `live` | Chopped breakbeats written out by hand on the `live` kit: a two-bar pattern of kick, snare, ghost snares and hats, then the same hits re-ordered, doubled with rolls (2 to 4 in a step) and re-pitched with speed in a block so it sounds cut up. |
| dubstep | 138 to 142 | `sub` | Half time at 140: kick on 1, a huge snare on 3, sparse hats, and space. |
| footwork | 155 to 165 | `sub` | 160 bpm with the kick in stuttering triplet and dotted patterns that fight the grid, claps and rimshots in fast offbeat bursts, toms used as melody, and a long `boombass` under it. |
| trap | 130 to 150 | `sub` | Felt in half time: clap or snare on beat 3, a sparse kick, and hi-hats in steady 8ths that break into rolls (2, 3, 4 or 6 in a step). |
| drill | 138 to 144 | `sub` | Half-time feel with the snare landing late: on beat 3 of one bar and the "and" after it in the next. |
| phonk | 125 to 145 | `sub` | The hook is a cowbell melody: the cowbell lane of the `boom` kit on a stem of its own, given a notes row so it plays a minor riff as a pitched instrument, with drive. |
| future bass | 140 to 160 | `sub` | Half-time drums and big `hypersaw` chords in lush major-seventh and ninth voicings, chopped into a syncopated rhythm and ducked hard against the kick, with the filter swelling across the chops (a lowpass sweep one bar long). |

### hip hop & breaks

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| breakbeat | 125 to 138 | `live` | A syncopated funk drum pattern on the `live` kit, pushed with drive: kick on 1 and the "and" of 2, snare on 2 and 4, busy ghost notes, open hat pickups. |
| boom bap | 84 to 96 | `live` | A head-nod drum loop on the `live` kit (or `grit` for the sampler version): heavy kick, cracking snare on 2 and 4, 8th hats on their own stem with an uneven velocity list (velocity [96 58 82 50 100 62 78 46]), a swung 16th ghost here and there and a hat left out once a bar, real swing (swing 60%) with the snare dragged (behind 8ms), a ghost snare before the kick, a kick pattern that changes in the second bar, a touch of bitcrush 12bits for sampler grit. |
| lo-fi | 70 to 88 | `live` | Soft, slow and worn. The `live` kit played quietly (low takes, low velocity), or the `brush` kit, lowpassed around 4 khz, with lazy swing (swing 59%) and the snare dragged a little (behind 8ms). |
| trip hop | 78 to 96 | `live` | A slow, heavy break on the `live` kit with dubby space around it, a deep `subbass` or `upright` line, and a noir mood: minor keys, `ensemble` strings in slow two-note figures, a `reedpiano` or `harp` motif with long delay, a `vinyl` surface and distant `rain`. |
| g-funk | 88 to 98 | `live` | A laid-back swung groove: fat kick, snare with a clap on 2 and 4, 16th hats played soft. |

### global

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| afrobeats | 98 to 112 | `analog` | The groove is a 3-2 clave feel: kick on 1 and the "and" of 2 (and often 4), rimshot or snare on the off-beats of the clave, constant shaker, congas filling in. |
| reggaeton | 88 to 100 | `analog` | The dembow rhythm, unchanged all track: kick on every beat, snare on the "a" of 1 and the "and" of 2, repeated each half bar. |
| dancehall | 90 to 108 | `fm` | A digital riddim: kick on 1 and 3 with the 3+3+2 pattern in the snare and rim, sparse and bouncy, on a cheap-sounding digital kit. |
| dub reggae | 68 to 90 | `live` | One-drop drums on the `live` kit: nothing on beat 1, kick and rimshot together on beat 3, hats in swung 8ths. |
| baile funk | 126 to 134 | `sub` | The tamborzão beat carries everything: a boomy kick on 1, the "a" of 1 and the "and" of 2 with tom or `conga` hits answering in a 3+3+2 feel, repeated every half bar, loud and distorted. |
| bossa nova | 116 to 138 | `live` | Quiet and intimate. The `nylon` guitar plays the rhythm: syncopated chords in the bossa clave against a thumb bass on 1 and 3, in rich major-seventh, minor-ninth and diminished harmony with real ii-V-I movement, the chords plucked together or barely rolled (strum 8ms). |

### funk & jazz

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| funk | 96 to 114 | `live` | Everything is rhythm and everything hits "the one". A tight 16th groove on the `live` kit with ghost snares and an open hat pickup, a syncopated `fingerbass` line with octave pops and rests, `clav` and `mutegtr` playing interlocking 16th parts that never land together, and a horn section as punctuation: `sax`, `trumpet` and `trombone` on separate stems in tight staccato stabs (technique staccato) with a :fall off the long ones. |
| jazz | 110 to 170 | `live` | Swing feel throughout (swing 66% 8ths): ride cymbal on every beat with the skip note, on its own stem with a velocity list that leans on 2 and 4 and keeps the skip note softest (velocity [84 100 58 88 106 62], with a second bar a little different), hi-hat on 2 and 4 (the drummer's left foot on the pedal). |
| neo soul | 68 to 94 | `live` | A drunk, behind-the-beat pocket: kick a touch early (ahead 4ms), snare and hats late (behind 10ms), soft hits, and a deep swing (swing 60%). |

### rock

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| rock | 100 to 150 | `rock` | A band in a room: the `rock` kit, `electric_bass`, two guitars on `powerchord`, a lead on `overdriven_guitar`. |
| alternative | 84 to 138 | `rock` | Quiet verse, loud chorus, and the contrast is the point. The verse is sparse: an `electric_guitar_clean` or `crunch_guitar` figure of 8ths picked across a chord with one note that does not belong to it (an added second or fourth, an open string ringing through the changes), the `electric_bass` carrying the tune in 8ths, and the `rock` kit held back (velocity 70, closed hats, rim in place of the snare). |
| indie rock | 112 to 168 | `rock` | Bright, wiry and danceable. Two guitars that never play the same thing: `crunch_guitar` stabs chords of three notes high on the neck (c4 and above, written with +) in a choppy rhythm with rests, and `electric_guitar_clean` picks a hook of single notes over it, a short figure that repeats while the chords change underneath. |
| metal | 96 to 190 | `rock` | Heavy, tight and exact. The riff is 16ths and gallops (an 8th and two 16ths: o.oo) palm-muted on the lowest root (e2, or d2 or c#2 for a lower tuning) on `powerchord`, broken by open chords (X) that land with the snare or an 8th ahead of the bar and move by semitones and tritones: e2 against f2 and bb2, in a minor or phrygian key. |

### ambient & experimental

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| ambient | 60 to 90 | none | No drums, or almost none. Slow overlapping layers with long attacks and releases: a `warmpad` and an `airpad` moving at different speeds, a sparse `kalimba`, `harp` or `piano` phrase that never repeats exactly (use chance and rows of different lengths), a `subbass` note every few bars, and one bed of place far back: `stream`, `waves`, `rain`, `birds` at dawn, `crickets` at night, or soft `wind`. |
| idm | 100 to 160 | `fm` | Intricate, shifting drum programming on the `fm` kit: hits spread unevenly across the bar (3 in 8, 5 in 16), sudden rolls, hits pitched and retriggered, a beat that restructures itself every few bars while staying danceable in the head. |
| downtempo | 85 to 105 | `live` | A relaxed mid-tempo groove with soft drums and hand percussion, a warm rounded bass, `epiano` chords with gentle movement, and organic melodic colour: `kalimba`, `harp`, `vibraphone`, a clean `steel` guitar figure with delay. |
| kosmische | 110 to 126 | `analog` | A sequencer pattern is the spine: eight or sixteen `pulsebass` or `synthpluck` notes that repeat for minutes while the filter, the note length and one or two pitches change slowly. |
| minimalism | 96 to 132 | none | Pulsing mallet and keyboard patterns: two or three `marimba`, `vibraphone` and `piano` parts play short repeating cells in steady 8ths or 16ths, and the piece moves by process. |

### classical & acoustic

| genre | bpm | default kit | how it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| solo piano | 60 to 132 | none | One stem on `piano` and nothing else: no drums, no pads, no second instrument. |
| chamber | 60 to 140 | none | Three to five solo instruments, each a stem with one line, written in score blocks so the parts stay aligned: strings (two `violin` stems and a `cello`; there is no viola, so the second violin takes the middle), a wind group (`flute`, `oboe`, `clarinet`, with `bassoon` as its bass and `french_horn` in the middle), or a soloist with `piano` or `harp`. |
| orchestral | 60 to 150 | none | Families of instruments, not soloists. Strings: `violins` carry the tune, `violas` the middle, `cello` the tenor line and the bass, `contrabass` the same bass an octave lower; `string_ensemble_1` is the whole section on one stem for chords. |
| baroque | 60 to 132 | none | Counterpoint over a walking bass, written in score blocks. `harpsichord` alone in two parts (an invention, a prelude), `church_organ`, or a small group: `violin`, `recorder`, `flute` or `oboe` on top, `cello` or `bassoon` on the bass line, `harpsichord` filling the harmony. |
| folk | 80 to 132 | none | A tune you could whistle, played by people in a room: `violin` as the fiddle, or `recorder`, `pan_flute` or `harmonica`, on the melody; `steel` or `nylon` guitar keeping time with a bass note and then the strummed chord (strum 20ms, direction: alternate); `accordion` holding long chords; `double_bass` on roots and fifths; a `framedrum`, a `tambourine` or the `brush` kit at most. |

## A style that is not here

Pick the nearest genre and describe the difference in the prompt. The model knows far more styles than this list. It has no Songcode brief for them, so how close it gets depends on the model and on how well the style can be played by synths and drum machines.

---

This page on the web: https://docs.songco.de/app/genres/
Every page of the Songcode docs, for agents: https://docs.songco.de/llms.txt (index) and https://docs.songco.de/llms-full.txt (all of it in one file).