Rhythm tool · No account needed
Online drum machine
Step sequencer
Which pattern do you want to hear?
Select a cell to place a hit, then press play. The pattern stays in the page address as you work.
Place hits on a sixteen-step grid across seven drum-kit rows, run them from 30 to 250 beats per minute, shift the off-beats with swing, and keep the result in the page address.
How do you build a beat here?
Select a cell to place a hit, press play, and keep editing while the pattern loops. Nothing is stored on a server; the page address carries your work.
- Select cells in the bass drum and snare rows to set the beats you want to hear.
- Add a steady hi-hat or ride line so the beat has a division to sit on.
- Press play, then adjust tempo and swing while the pattern repeats.
What does each row play?
The seven rows follow a drum kit from the cymbal work at the top down to the bass drum, and each row can be muted on its own.
| Row | What it usually plays |
|---|---|
| Foot hi-hat | The hi-hat closed with the foot pedal, often on beats two and four while the hands play elsewhere. |
| Tom | A mid-pitched drum for fills and accents. Repeated selection also gives it a harder alternate hit. |
| Floor tom | The lowest tom, used to end a fill or to give a pattern more weight than the snare alone. |
| Ride cymbal | A steady cymbal pulse that replaces the hi-hat in swing patterns and in louder sections. |
| Hi-hat | The regular division of the beat, usually eighth or sixteenth notes. Its alternate hit is the open sound. |
| Snare | The backbeat on beats two and four in four-beat patterns. Its alternate hit is a lighter stroke. |
| Bass drum | The low pulse played with a foot pedal, usually on beat one and wherever the pattern needs weight. |
What does swing change?
Swing delays every second sixteenth step, so pairs of steps stop being equal and the pattern starts to feel uneven.
The slider runs from 0 to 50 percent. Jazz patterns usually need a large value, while most pop and rock patterns stay at zero.
Which meters can you use?
The meter control switches the grid between 3/4, 4/4, 5/4 and 6/8. Every step stays a sixteenth note, so the number of columns changes with the meter.
Changing the meter resizes every row: steps beyond the new length are dropped and any new steps arrive empty, so choose the meter before you write the pattern.
Can you edit from the keyboard?
Yes. The grid is a single tab stop. Arrow keys move between cells and keep your row and column, and Enter or Space places a hit.
Home and End jump to the first and last cell of the current row; hold Ctrl with either to jump to the first or last cell of the whole grid.
How do you share a pattern?
The page address updates as you edit, and the copy pattern link button in the transport row hands you the same address in one step.
Opening a shared address restores the same grid, tempo, swing, kit and meter. The plain address without a pattern always opens the default beat.
Questions about the online drum machine
Do I need an account to use the drum machine?
No. The sequencer runs in your browser and needs no account. Your pattern travels in the page address rather than in a saved file.
How many steps does the grid have?
Sixteen steps in 4/4, twelve in 3/4 and 6/8, and twenty in 5/4. Each step is one sixteenth note.
What tempo range does it cover?
From 30 to 250 beats per minute. Type a value in the tempo field and press Enter to apply it.
Can I silence one drum without deleting it?
Yes. The speaker button beside a row silences that row while the pattern keeps playing, and pressing it again brings the row back unchanged.
Does any audio leave my device?
No. Every drum sound is generated in your browser through the Web Audio API. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is recorded.
Which sources support this guide?
The control ranges come from the sequencer itself. The drum-kit explanations follow published music-theory references; the wording, the presets and the sounds are original to ClefPulse.
Published and reviewed by ToolForge.
Content reviewed on .
- Open Music Theory: Drumbeats
Reference for the parts of a drum kit and for the kick, snare backbeat and cymbal roles described above.
- Open Music Theory: Swing Rhythms
Reference for uneven eighths, the ride pattern behind them and why the swing ratio changes with tempo.
- MDN: Web Audio API
Reference for the browser interface that generates every sound on this page on your own device.