Online Drum Machine
A 16-step drum machine that runs in your browser: six sounds, five starting patterns and tempo from 60 to 180 BPM. Press Play and tap the grid. Free, no sign-up.
Free·No sign-up·16 steps·6 sounds
Program a drum pattern
16 steps = one bar. Tap a square to add or remove a hit. WAV downloads 4 bars of what you hear; Save link puts the beat in the address so you can come back to it. All sounds are synthesised in your browser.
See it in action
What this online drum machine includes
The layout follows the classic hardware idea: a row of sixteen buttons per sound, lit buttons play, and a running light shows the position. The six sounds are kick, snare, closed hi-hat, open hi-hat, clap and a long 808 bass drum. One trip across the sixteen steps is one bar of 4/4.
Controls are kept to five. Play and Stop, a Pattern menu with five presets, a Tempo slider from 60 to 180 BPM, Variation to flip a random few hat, kick and 808 steps, and Clear to wipe the grid. Tap the name of a sound to hear it on its own.
The sounds are synthesised live with the Web Audio API, in the spirit of early analogue drum machines, so the page loads no samples. Limits to know: one bar, one volume per sound, swing set by the preset and not by a dial, and audio export of four bars as WAV only. Save link keeps a pattern as a web address.
Why use this online drum machine
Works for any genre in 4/4
The presets lean hip hop, but the grid does not care. Put the kick on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13 for house, or kick on 1 and 9 with snare on 5 and 13 for a rock beat.
Opens in seconds
There is nothing to install and no account screen. The machine is ready as soon as the page loads, on a phone, tablet or computer with a current browser.
A clear way to learn rhythm
Seeing a beat as sixteen boxes makes counting concrete. Teachers, drummers and beginners can build a pattern, hear it, change one box and hear the difference straight away.
How to use the online drum machine
- 01
Press Play
The default Boom bap pattern starts at 90 BPM. Press Clear if you would prefer to begin from an empty grid; the playhead keeps moving.
- 02
Tap in a pattern
Each tap turns a step on or off, and switching one on sounds the drum. Build the kick and snare first, then hats, then extras such as clap and open hat.
- 03
Set tempo and explore
Drag the slider to your speed. Load a preset from the Pattern menu to study how it is built, or press Variation to get a new idea from the current one.
Steps, patterns and swing: how a step sequencer works
A step sequencer splits a bar into equal slices and lets you switch a sound on or off in each slice. With sixteen steps in 4/4, each slice is a sixteenth note. The machine scans the steps in order at the chosen tempo and loops back to the start. The set of lit steps across all six rows is called a pattern.
Swing delays every second step so the rhythm leans back instead of marching. Each preset here carries its own amount: none for Trap and Drill, a little for West Coast, more for Boom bap and the most for Lo-fi. A hit you place on an even-numbered step is the one that moves, so that is where to listen for it.
Basic drum patterns to program
Almost every popular beat is a variation on three ideas. Four-on-the-floor puts a kick on every beat. A backbeat puts the snare on beats two and four. Half time moves the snare to beat three only, which makes the same tempo feel twice as slow. Knowing which one you want is most of the work.
On this grid the beats are steps 1, 5, 9 and 13, drawn slightly darker. Steps 3, 7, 11 and 15 are the "and" counts. The remaining even steps are the fastest subdivisions, where ghost notes and hi-hat runs live. Start with hits on the darker squares and add the others for movement.
- Rock: kick 1 and 9, snare 5 and 13, hats on odd steps
- House: kick 1, 5, 9, 13, clap 5 and 13, open hat 3, 7, 11, 15
- Boom bap: kick 1, 7, 10, snare 5 and 13
- Half-time trap: kick 1 and 11, clap 9, busy hats
- Reggaeton: kick 1, 5, 9, 13, snare 4, 7, 12, 15
Online drum machine FAQ
Is the online drum machine free?
Yes. It is free to use with no registration and no credits. All six sounds, all five presets and the full tempo range are available to everyone who opens the page.
Can I download the beat?
Yes. Press WAV and the page renders four bars of your pattern into a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz stereo WAV file, normalised so it does not clip. MP3 and longer exports are not available. Save link copies an address that restores grid and tempo. A produced hip hop instrumental to download comes from the AI beat maker for 4 credits.
Can I use my own samples?
No. The six sounds are generated by the browser and cannot be replaced with uploaded files. That is the trade for a machine that starts at once and never waits on a sample to load.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes. On a narrow screen the grid scrolls sideways so the squares stay large enough to tap. If you hear nothing, check the silent switch and volume: phone browsers only start audio after you press Play.
Can I make patterns longer than one bar?
Not at present. The sequencer holds a single 16-step bar and repeats it. For a two-bar idea, program the first bar, keep it with Save link, then change the squares for the second and compare by ear.
Which time signatures does it support?
It is built for 4/4 with sixteenth-note steps. You can imitate a 12/8 or triplet feel only roughly, by choosing which of the sixteen steps to use, since the number of steps cannot be changed.
Related reading
Related tools
808 Drum Machine
Press Play for a 140 BPM pattern with a synthesised 808-style kick and a long bass note, then program all 16 steps yourself. Free, no sign-up, runs in your browser.
Rap Beat Maker
Press Play and a boom bap loop starts at 90 BPM. Tap squares on the 16-step grid to change the kick, snare, hats, clap and 808, then write to it. Free, no sign-up.
Free Beat Maker
Open the page, press Play and tap squares to build a beat from six drum sounds. Nothing to install, no account and no cost. A starter beat is already loaded.
AI Beat Maker
Pick a style, press Generate beat and get a rap instrumental in about a minute, with no vocals, as an MP3 download. Each beat costs 4 credits.
Last updated November 12, 2026