What are Upbeats and Downbeats in a 16 Step Sequencer?

Question

I'm trying to figure out the terminology of upbeats and downbeats in regards to a step sequencer. In this image of a 16 step sequencer, each box represents 1/16 of a measure:

Is it correct to say that the kick drums are on the downbeats and the snare drums are on the upbeats?

The reason I ask is because in the definition of boombap rap on wikipedia they say:

The style is usually recognized by a main drum loop that uses a hard-hitting, acoustic bass drum sample on the downbeats, a snappy acoustic snare drum sample on the upbeats.

Now from many tutorials I've seen on boombap/lofi hip-hop the pattern looks the image. And it corresponds to songs that sound like this and like this. Where the "boom" is the kick, and the "bap" is the snare. But I'm not sure if the wiki article is correct in regards to upbeats/downbeats.

Answer 1

I would say the Wiki definition is incorrect in that it describes the snare position as an "upbeat." It's a downbeat, which means it's on one of the four beats to the bar (in 4/4 time). An upbeat can be anything not on one of the four, but it's subjective: In a 16-division bar, one could say divisions 1, 5, 9 and 13 are "down" and everything else is "up." Or one could say that only 3, 7, 11 and 15 are "up" and the the remainder are neither up nor down but just in-between.

The downbeat is usually reserved for the first beat of the bar only. This can be a confusing point -- a vs the downbeat. Keep in mind this is all vernacular -- to be precise you say the "1," the "2", the "3" etc.

I disagree with the other answer stating that an upbeat is only for the pickup to a phrase.

Answer 2

SORT OF, yes. But the terminology isn't quite right.

The kick's first note is on beat 1, the downbeat of the bar. Bars only have one downbeat. Its next note is on beat 3 which, like the downbeat, is an on-beat. But it's not a downbeat. The snare plays the two off-beats (on beats 2 and 4).

There are no upbeats in your example. An upbeat is always an upbeat INTO something. It is a pick-up: it happens before the bar. In the song 'Tonight', from West Side Story, "To-" is sung on an upbeat: "-night" on a downbeat. In "O say can you see", "O" is sung on an upbeat: "say" on a downbeat.

You could also say the kick is playing ON the beat and the snare is playing the off-beats.

But as I said, you are SORT OF correct! You have at least got them the right way round :-)