Online drum machine
Program it like a classic: choose an instrument, light up its step keys, let the pattern loop. Sixteen synthesised voices, four kits, all in your browser.
Round boomy kick, snappy snare, metallic hats
808 bass & chords
F → C → Dm → A#
The 808 follows the chord root in each bar; set a step's offset to walk the bassline. Pads hold until the next chord hit. Stabs are short.
Click a step once for a hit, twice for an accent, three times to clear. Space plays/stops, T taps tempo, R makes a random beat.
Saved beats (0)
Nothing saved yet. Beats stay on this device only.
How a drum machine makes its sounds
Before samples were cheap, drum machines built every sound from electronics. The TR-808's kick is a resonant circuit that rings like a bell and dies away; its hi-hats are six square-wave oscillators at unrelated pitches, mixed and filtered until they sound metallic. BeatCraft's kits are made the same way in code, which is why they load instantly.
Build a drum sound from scratch
Analog drum machines like the Roland TR-808 did not play recordings. Each drum was a small circuit: a tone, a burst of noise and an envelope. Switch the parts on and off and hear what each one adds.
Turn off the pitch drop on the kick and it becomes a dull sine "boom". That is also why an 808 bass is simply a kick with a very long decay, tuned to a note.
Step programming, explained
A bar of 4/4 has four beats. A step sequencer splits each beat into four 16th notes, giving 16 steps. The keys are coloured in groups of four, so the first key of each colour is a beat: steps 1, 5, 9 and 13. Put the kick on those four and you have four-on-the-floor; put a snare on 5 and 13 and you have a backbeat.
Accents (tap a lit key again) play louder, which is how the 808's accent row worked. Swing delays every second 16th; try it on the swing explainer. For a wider view of every instrument at once, open the beat maker.
Questions
What is a drum machine?
A drum machine is an instrument that plays programmed drum patterns. Early ones like the Roland TR-808 (1980) synthesised their sounds with analog circuits; later ones such as the LinnDrum and Akai MPC played back recorded samples.
Is this a virtual TR-808?
It is inspired by the 808 workflow: pick an instrument, then switch its 16 step keys on or off while the pattern loops. The sounds are synthesised the same general way (tones, noise and envelopes) but it is not an emulation of Roland circuitry.
Can I use this drum machine on my phone?
Yes. On narrow screens the 16 step keys wrap into two rows of eight. Tap an instrument, tap steps, press Play.
What is the difference between this page and the beat maker?
Both share the same sound engine, kits, export and share links. The drum machine edits one instrument at a time on big keys; the beat maker shows all instruments as a grid.