Music & rhythm tools

Drum Machine Step Sequencer

Tap out a 16-step beat across kick, snare, hi-hat and clap — every sound is synthesized live in your browser.

🔒 Runs entirely in your browser — no audio or files are uploaded, and nothing is saved between visits.

How to use the drum machine step sequencer

  1. Set a tempoEnter a BPM between 60 and 200.
  2. Tap in a beatClick cells in the grid to toggle each track's steps, or press Randomize pattern for a starting point.
  3. Press PlayWatch the playhead move across the grid in sync with the beat. Press Clear pattern to start fresh.

How the drum sounds are made

Nothing here is a recorded sample. Every hit is built on the fly from oscillators and filtered white noise using the Web Audio API, the same building blocks used throughout this site's audio tools.

Everything is synthesized

Kick, snare, hi-hat and clap are each assembled from oscillators and noise bursts shaped with gain envelopes and filters.

Sample-accurate scheduling

A lookahead scheduler queues steps on the Web Audio clock, while a separate animation loop syncs the visual playhead to that same clock so it never drifts from what you hear.

Nothing is saved

Your pattern lives only in this browser tab — there's no account, server or storage involved, so it resets when you leave.

Drum Machine Step Sequencer FAQ

Are these real drum samples?

No. Every sound is synthesized live using the Web Audio API — no audio files are loaded. The kick is a pitch-dropping oscillator, the snare mixes filtered noise with a short tone, the hi-hat is a burst of high-passed noise, and the clap layers a few staggered band-passed noise bursts.

What does the 16-step grid represent?

Each row is one drum track, and the 16 steps across it represent one bar split into sixteenth notes at your chosen tempo. Click any cell to toggle whether that track plays on that step.

Is my pattern saved?

No. Everything runs client-side only, with no server and no browser storage — your pattern resets if you reload or leave the page.

What does Randomize pattern do?

It fills each track with a sparse random pattern, roughly a quarter of the steps turned on per track, as a quick starting point you can then edit by hand.

Can I change the tempo while it's playing?

Yes. The scheduler reads the current BPM value on the fly, so tempo changes apply to upcoming steps without needing to stop and restart playback.

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