Online Drum Machine

How to play Beat Studio

1. Press Play to hear the starter groove. Click the sequencer steps to add or remove hits.
2. Play the pads with A, S, D, F, G, H, J and K, choose a sound kit, and adjust the mixer. Use the record button to capture your playing.
3. Build variations in pattern banks A to D, then export WAV, MP3, MIDI or an editable project. Open project restores a saved Beat Studio project.

Sounds and exports are generated on your device. Export a project file to keep a portable copy of your work.

Create drum beats with a 16-step sequencer

Beat Studio is a browser drum machine for building repeating rhythms. Each row is a drum voice, and the 16 columns divide one bar of 4/4 into sixteenth notes. Click a step to switch a hit on or off. Shift-click changes its velocity so you can mix softer notes with accents.

For a simple starting beat, put kick hits on steps 1 and 9, snare hits on 5 and 13, and hi-hats on every other step. Press Play, listen to the loop and change one part at a time. The tempo control runs from 40 to 240 BPM, and swing changes the spacing of alternating steps.

Play, record and mix your drum sounds

Tap the 3D drums, use the pad buttons or play with A, S, D, F, G, H, J and K. Space starts or pauses playback; Escape stops it. Turn on the red record button during playback to place your pad hits at the nearest sequencer step.

Choose Analog 808, Studio 909 or Dusty tape, then select a voice to adjust its level, pan and tuning. Mute or solo individual voices to hear what each part adds. Room and master controls let you adjust the overall mix.

How do I build a longer drum pattern?

Pattern banks A to D hold four separate patterns. Copy a pattern into the next bank, change the ending, then enable Chain to play all four in order. Pattern changes take effect at the next bar, so you can switch variations while the beat is playing. Undo restores the previous edit.

Can I download the beats I make?

Export WAV or MP3 for an audio file with your mix, or export MIDI to work with drum notes in a DAW. MIDI contains note, tempo and velocity information rather than Beat Studio's drum sounds. Choose a seamless loop or a natural tail when exporting audio.

Export a project to keep editable patterns and mixer settings, then use Open project to restore it. Changes also autosave in the current browser, but a project file gives you a portable copy. Sounds and exports are generated on your device. You can use the generated sounds and exported beats in personal or commercial music without attribution.

What is a drum machine?

A drum machine is an electronic instrument that plays drum and percussion sounds in programmed patterns. Hardware and software drum machines are used in hip hop, pop, electronic music and many other styles, both for recording and live performance. This online drum machine runs in your browser and generates its own sounds.

Hardware models such as the Alesis SR-16 and Roland TR-8S have dedicated controls. Our drum machine guide covers more hardware options.

Use a drum machine for practice

A repeating beat gives you a backing rhythm for practicing an instrument. Set a comfortable tempo and keep the pattern simple while you learn a part. BPM means beats per minute: increasing the number speeds up the beat, and decreasing it slows the beat down. Beat Studio lets you set a tempo from 40 to 240 BPM.

For a steady click with adjustable accents and subdivisions, use our online metronome for drummers. Use the tempo ramp metronome if you want the tempo to increase automatically while you practice.

Patterns, sounds and saving your beats

The original drum machine on this page had a simple grid. Beat Studio adds playable pads, preset grooves, three sound kits, four pattern banks and a mixer. Save an editable project to return to your patterns later, or export WAV, MP3 or MIDI to use your beat in another app.

Drum samples and plugins

If you want more sounds for a music project, explore our drum sample resources and drum VST plugins. Audio exports from Beat Studio contain its generated drum sounds; MIDI exports contain the notes and timing so you can play the pattern with a different instrument in your DAW.