1 · Where the kick lands
The kick is the floor. On every beat you get house; on 1 and the "and" of 3 you are in hip-hop; scattered late and syncopated you are in trap or drill. Move nothing else and the track has already changed cities.
Beat making · 16 steps
Online beat maker
Online beat maker
How a beat is actually built
Every beat you know is five decisions on a grid: where the kick lands, where the backbeat answers, how the space between them is filled, what holds the low end and how far off the grid the whole thing sits. Change those five and you change genre. The grid below is real - an online beat maker with nothing to install and nothing to sign up for.
16 STEPS
5 DECISIONS
3 GENRES
0 INSTALL
0 ACCOUNT
7 DRUM MACHINES
Playable · no account
The grid, and the beat already on it
Sixteen steps is one bar. The kick sits on 1 and pushes late in the bar, the snare answers on 5 and 13, the hats fill the eighths with one roll to break the loop, and swing pulls every second step behind the beat. Turn the swing to zero and hear the whole thing stiffen - that single knob is most of what separates a machine from a drummer.
The five decisions
What you are actually choosing when you make a beat
Learn these once and every genre becomes a set of coordinates rather than a preset.
2 · Where the backbeat answers
Snare or clap on steps 5 and 13 - beats 2 and 4. Nudge it a few milliseconds late and the beat leans back; drop the clap on top of the snare and it widens. Almost nothing in popular music moves this hit somewhere else, which is why the exceptions stand out.
3 · How the space is filled
Hats subdivide. Eighths feel steady, sixteenths feel busy, triplet rolls feel modern. One open hat in the right hole does more for a loop than four bars of extra percussion.
4 · What holds the low end
A short bass note, a sustained 808 that glides between pitches, or nothing at all under the kick. This is where hip-hop and trap actually differ: not in the drums, in how long the bottom rings.
5 · How far off the grid it sits
Swing delays every second sixteenth. Zero is a machine, 15–20 % is a head nod, past 30 % it starts to limp. The demo above is at 18 % - drag it to 0 and back while it plays.
Then: arrangement
Once the bar works, the beat is a matter of eights: a variation every eighth bar, something removed before the drop, something added after it. Loops become tracks in the DrumPad as presets, or exported as MIDI and arranged wherever the rest of the track lives.
Cheat sheet
The same five decisions, three genres
Read a column top to bottom and you have a genre. Read a row across and you have the thing that genre is arguing about.
| Decision | Boom bap | Trap | House |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tempo | 85–95 BPM | 130–150 BPM, felt at half time | 120–128 BPM |
| Kick | 1 and the "and" of 3, plus a late push | Syncopated, off-grid, often doubled | Every beat, four to the floor |
| Backbeat | Snare on 2 and 4, slightly late | Snare or rimshot on 3, half-time feel | Clap on 2 and 4 |
| Hats | Swung eighths, one open hat | Sixteenths with 1/32 and triplet rolls | Offbeat eighths, relentless |
| Low end | Short bass, sampled upright or synth | Long 808 that glides between notes | Sub under the kick, sidechained |
| Swing | 15–25 % - the whole point | 0–8 %, the rolls do the moving | 0 %, or a light shuffle |
| Start here | Hip-hop beat maker → | Trap beat maker → | Step Sequencer → |
Your first beat
Four steps, in this order
Set the tempo before anything else
Tempo is not a detail you fix later - it decides which patterns even make sense. 90 for hip-hop, 140 for trap, 124 for house. Set it, then forget it.
Kick and snare only
Two voices, one bar, until it nods on its own. If the loop is not working with two sounds, it will not start working with twelve.
Add the subdivision
Hats on eighths, then a couple of sixteenths where the bar needs pushing. Leave one hole open - the ear needs somewhere to breathe.
Low end last, then swing
Put the bass in and immediately check it against the kick: if they fight, move the bass, not the kick. Then reach for swing and find the amount where your head starts moving.
Deep links
Take it into a real machine
The grid above is one bar and four voices. These are the same idea without the training wheels.
Why an online beat maker is a good place to learn
Programming drums is a small skill with an enormous payoff, and it is learned by moving one hit and listening. Anything that adds friction between the idea and the sound - a project template, a plugin scan, a sample folder to organise - costs you repetitions. A grid that opens in a tab costs you none, so you get to make the fifty bad loops that teach you the good one, in the time it takes to install a DAW.
The grid is a lie you should know about
Sixteen equal boxes is a convenient fiction: no drummer plays equal sixteenths, which is why an unswung pattern sounds like software. Swing is the first correction. The second is velocity - hats that all hit at the same volume read as a machine no matter how good the pattern is, which is why the full DrumPad has velocity-sensitive pads - play the part in and each hit keeps the level you gave it. The third is deliberately leaving a hit slightly early or late, which is where a programmed beat stops sounding programmed.
Where to go once the loop works
Pick the genre you actually want to make and copy its coordinates: boom bap if you want swing and dusty samples, trap if you want 808s and rolls. Both pages have their own playable pattern, tuned to the genre, and both link into the machine that does it properly.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can I make beats online for free?
Yes. The 16-step grid on this page is fully playable with no account and no download. The full DrumPad, with four kits, your own samples on any pad, velocity, MIDI in and MIDI export, is part of the GOONS subscription and opens during the 7-day free trial.
How many steps should a beat have?
Sixteen steps is one bar of sixteenth notes, which is the standard unit for programming drums. Most beats are that one bar repeated, with a variation every fourth or eighth bar.
What tempo should my beat be?
Around 90 BPM for hip-hop, 130–150 for trap (which is felt at half that speed), 120–128 for house. Choose it before you program anything - the tempo decides which patterns work.
Why does my beat sound robotic?
Three usual reasons: no swing, no velocity variation, and every hit exactly on the grid. Add 15–20 % swing, vary the hat levels, and let a couple of hits land slightly late.
Do I need a drum machine or a controller?
No. The grid works with a mouse. If you prefer playing drums with your fingers, DrumPad maps the same kit to velocity-sensitive pads and to your keyboard.
Can I use my own samples?
In the full studio, yes - load your own kits, or use the 5000-sample library shared by every app. The demo on this page synthesises its drums so it needs to download nothing.
Beat making silo
Keep reading
How a beat is actually built - the grid, the swing, the genre. Play the pattern on the page, then open the full machine.
Guide
Hip-hop beats
Boom bap: 88 BPM, swung hats, a snare that lands late and a bass that breathes.
Read it → GuideTrap beats
140 BPM half-time, 808 glides, rolls at 1/16 and 1/32 - built on the same grid.
Read it → GuideDrill beats
Sliding 808s, triplet hats and a snare that refuses to land where you expect it.
Read it → GuideLofi beats
Heavy swing, a dusty filter and a kit that sits behind the beat instead of on it.
Read it → GuidePhonk beats
Memphis cowbell, distorted 808s and a mix that is supposed to be too loud.
Read it → GuideHouse beats
Four to the floor, offbeat hats, and why the clap lands a hair late on purpose.
Read it →
Ready when you are
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