How it works
- Program your pattern. Click steps on the 16 or 32-step grid (12/24 in triplet mode) — 8 tracks (kick, snare, clap, hi-hats, cowbell, tom, crash) with four velocity levels per step.
- Shape the groove. Pick a kit (Synth 808 or 909, or one of seven sampled kits), set the BPM (40–240) and the swing, adjust per-track volume and per-pad pitch — or start from a genre preset or a real drummer's groove.
- Export or share. Download your loop as WAV or MP3 320 kbps (×1 or ×2), export stems as a ZIP or the pattern as MIDI (Premium), or copy a link that contains the whole beat.
Features
- 808 & 909 kits, synthesized live. Both classic kits are generated in real time with Web Audio — nothing to download, instant load, and the closed hi-hat chokes the open one like on the real machines.
- Seven sampled kits and twelve real-drummer grooves. Acoustic, Boom Bap, Lo-fi, Afro / Latin, Trap, House and Techno kits built from free-licence (CC0) recordings — each kit (about 200 KB) loads only when you pick it, even while the loop is playing. The grooves come from the Groove MIDI Dataset (Google Magenta, CC BY 4.0): pick one and it fills the grid, the feel and the tempo. Sound credits.
- Nine genre presets. House, Trap, Boom Bap, Afro/Dancehall, Techno, Hip-Hop, R&B, Neo-Soul and Funk — each generates a fresh pattern with a genre-typical tempo and swing, different on every click.
- Your own samples on any pad. Drop a WAV, MP3, FLAC, AIFF, OGG or M4A (up to 2 MB / 5 s) on a pad — it is auto-trimmed, normalized, and pitchable over ±12 semitones.
- Share a beat as a URL. The whole beat — pattern, BPM, swing, kit, volumes, pitches — is encoded in the link itself. No account, no server, nothing stored.
FAQ
Is the Beat Maker free?
Playing and programming are free and unlimited — no account needed. Only the export counts against the free quota: 2 exports per day without an account, 5 with a free account, and your beat stays fully playable even when the day's exports are used up. AudioKit Premium removes the limit and unlocks stems and MIDI export.
How do I make a trap or house beat?
The fastest route is the genre preset: pick Trap or House and the tool programs a genre-typical pattern, tempo and swing — click again for a new variation, then edit. If you build by hand: trap lives on the 808 kit with a sparse kick, a snare or clap on beat 3 and busy 16th-note hi-hats (use the soft velocity for rolls); house wants a kick on every beat, a clap on 2 and 4 and open hi-hats on the off-beats.
How does sharing a beat by link work?
Everything that defines your beat — pattern, BPM, swing, kit, per-track volumes, per-pad pitches — is encoded directly in the URL, which updates as you edit. Copy it, send it, post it: whoever opens it gets your beat, editable, with no account and nothing stored on a server. One honest limit: custom samples are not embedded in the link, so those pads fall back to the kit sound for the recipient.
Can I use my own samples?
Yes. Drop a WAV, MP3, FLAC, AIFF, OGG or M4A of up to 2 MB and 5 seconds on any pad. Leading silence is trimmed and the level normalized automatically, and you can transpose each pad by ±12 semitones. Samples stay in your browser — they are never uploaded, which is also why they can't travel inside share links.
What are the export options?
WAV (16-bit / 44.1 kHz or 24-bit / 48 kHz) or MP3 at 320 kbps, as a single loop or doubled (×2) for easier arrangement, with per-track volumes printed into the file. Sounds that ring past the end of the loop are wrapped to its start, so the file loops seamlessly. Premium adds stems export: a ZIP with one WAV per active track that adds up exactly to the mix, ready to mix in your DAW, and MIDI export of the pattern: one General MIDI drum note per step (channel 10) with velocities and swing, to play with your own sounds. Everything is rendered locally in your browser.