Sixteen pads with velocity
Hit them with the mouse, the keyboard or a MIDI controller, and how hard you hit them matters. Velocity is what stops a programmed hi-hat line from sounding like a metronome.
Drum machine · Web Audio
DrumPad
Sixteen pads across the top, a sixteen-step grid underneath, and every pad on its own row. Swap the kit or pick individual sounds by category - or drop a break onto the slicer, cut it at the transients and let the pieces land on the pads. Play it in with velocity, tighten it with swing, then export the pattern as MIDI when it belongs somewhere else.
16 PADS
16 STEPS
4 KITS
AUTO SLICE
MIDI IN + EXPORT
0 INSTALL
Try it here
Sixteen pads, right now
The real TR-808 kit from the app, playable on this page - no account, nothing to install. Use your mouse, your fingers or the highlighted keys.
Under the hood
Sixteen pads, sixteen rows, one grid
The sequencer is not a separate page - each pad owns a row of the grid, so what you hit is what you programme, and muting a part is a click on its name. The slicer feeds the same sixteen pads.
What you get
A drum machine that stays out of the way
Four kits to start from, a browser and a slicer for when they are not enough, and a grid that is always visible.
A 16 × 16 sequencer under the pads
Every pad gets its own row of sixteen steps. Click a cell to place a hit, click a pad name to mute the whole row. Programming and playing happen on the same screen, which is the only way to iterate quickly.
Four kits, or build your own
TR-808 for the classics, electronic for modern production, acoustic when the track needs a room, and custom for whatever you assemble yourself. Any pad can be reassigned individually.
A browser that knows what a kick is
Sounds are filtered by category - kicks, snares, hi-hats, percussion, FX - so replacing one element does not mean scrolling a flat list of five thousand files. Change the snare and the rest of the kit stays exactly as it was.
Drop a break, get sixteen pads
Drag any audio file onto the slicer and cut it three ways: an even grid, transient detection that finds the actual hits, or manual cut points you place yourself. The slice markers stay draggable, so fixing a cut that landed early is one gesture rather than a re-slice. Nothing is uploaded - the file is decoded in your browser.
A mixer strip on every pad
Level, playback pitch, stereo position, attack and release, reverse for sampled material, plus mute and solo. Shortening a release is what stops chopped slices piling into mush; panning the percussion apart is what stops the kit sounding like one mono block.
Swing that fixes stiff patterns
Grids quantise perfectly, and perfect is often the problem. Swing delays the off-beats by an amount you set, and a small value usually does more for a pattern than adding another eight hits to it.
MIDI in, and four ways out
Play it from a pad controller, then take it with you: the pattern as a MIDI file, a two-bar WAV render with the FX rack applied, every slice as an individual WAV, or the whole session as a JSON project. Presets save locally, so a kit you assembled is still there next session.
Kits
Four sets, four different records
The pattern rarely changes as much as the kit does - try the same grid through all four.
TR-808
The long booming kick, the thin snare, the cowbell. Sparse patterns suit it: the 808 kick occupies so much space that adding hits usually makes it worse.
ELECTRONIC
Tight, processed, mix-ready. Handles dense programming without turning to mud, which is why it is the one to use when the hi-hats are doing real work.
ACOUSTIC
Recorded kit sounds with real decay. Velocity matters most here - flat programming exposes acoustic samples faster than any other kit.
CUSTOM
Build it a pad at a time from the browser. Category filtering means assembling sixteen sounds takes minutes rather than an evening.
Getting started
From an empty grid to a pattern that grooves
Pick a kit, or drop a break
TR-808 if you are not sure. If you already have the sample, drop it on the slicer and cut it at the transients - the pieces land on the pads in order.
Play it before programming it
Hit the pads by hand first. The pattern your hands find is usually better than the one you would click in, and the sequencer records what you meant.
Fill in the grid
Place the kick, then the snare, then the hats. Mute rows as you go - solo-by-muting is how you hear whether a part is contributing.
Add swing, then export
Move swing up until the loop stops feeling mechanical. When the pattern is right, export it as MIDI or save the preset.
Specifications
The full sheet
| Type | 16-pad drum machine, sampler and step sequencer |
|---|---|
| Pads | 16 velocity-sensitive pads, playable by mouse, keyboard and MIDI |
| Sequencer | 16 pads × 16 steps, with per-pad mute from the grid |
| Kits | TR-808, electronic, acoustic, custom |
| Sound browser | Filtered by category - kicks, snares, hi-hats, percussion, FX - over the shared sample library |
| Sampling | Drag-and-drop audio onto a pad or onto the slicer, decoded locally in the browser |
| Slicing | Even grid, transient detection or manual cut points, with draggable slice markers |
| Per-pad controls | Volume, pitch, pan, attack, release, reverse, mute, solo |
| Master effects | Reverb, delay, drive and filter |
| Timing | BPM control and swing |
| Mixing | Master volume and per-pad velocity |
| Input | Web MIDI controllers, computer keyboard, mouse and touch |
| Export | MIDI pattern, two-bar WAV render, per-slice WAV files, JSON project |
| Saving | Presets stored locally between sessions |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio. MIDI input needs Web MIDI support. |
A drum machine with nothing between you and the grid
The best drum machines are the ones you stop noticing. DrumPad puts sixteen pads and their sixteen-step rows on a single screen, so playing a part, programming it and muting it are all one click apart. There is no separate edit page and no mode to switch into.
The kit does more work than the pattern
The same sixteen-step grid is a hip-hop beat through the 808 kit, a club track through the electronic kit and something else entirely through the acoustic one. Because pads can be reassigned individually from a category-filtered browser, you can also stop treating a kit as a fixed set - swap one snare and leave the rest.
The slicer is the shortest route from a record to a beat
Sampling normally means an import dialog, a region editor and a mapping page before you can hit anything. Here it is a drag and a click: drop the audio, cut it - evenly, at the transients, or by hand - and the pieces are already on the pads. Everything after that (envelopes, panning, the sequencer, the FX rack) is for once you have heard whether the idea works.
Velocity and swing are not optional extras
A programmed pattern gives itself away in two ways: every hit is the same volume, and every hit is exactly on the grid. Velocity per pad fixes the first, swing fixes the second, and between them they do more for a beat than doubling the number of notes ever will.
Part of the GOONS studio
Patterns export as MIDI for a DAW, and the app shares the sample library and transport with the rest of the catalog. One subscription covers every app, and a 7-day free trial covers the deciding.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can I use my own samples?
Yes, two ways. Drag an audio file straight onto a pad to load it whole, or drop it on the sample slicer to cut it up first - evenly across a chosen number of slices, automatically at the transients, or by placing the cut points yourself. The slices are then spread across the sixteen pads. Files are decoded in your browser and never uploaded.
What happened to DrumPad Pro V2?
It has been merged into DrumPad. The sampling, slicing and per-pad panning it offered now live here alongside the kits, the sound browser and the 16 × 16 sequencer, so there is one drum machine instead of two overlapping ones. The old address redirects to this page.
How big is the sequencer?
Sixteen pads by sixteen steps - every pad owns a row of the grid. Clicking a cell places a hit and clicking a pad name mutes that row, so you can build and audition an arrangement without leaving the main screen.
Which kits are included?
Four: TR-808, electronic, acoustic and custom. Beyond that, any individual pad can be reassigned from the sound browser, which filters the shared library by kicks, snares, hi-hats, percussion and FX.
Can I export my pattern?
Yes - patterns export as MIDI, which drops straight into any DAW, and the export panel will also render two bars to WAV with the FX rack applied, write out each slice as its own WAV file, or save the whole session as a JSON project. Presets are also saved locally, so a kit and pattern you assembled will still be there when you come back.
Does it support a MIDI controller?
Yes. Connect a pad controller or keyboard and it plays the pads with velocity. The computer keyboard and mouse both work as well, so you do not need hardware to get started.
What does swing do?
It delays the off-beat steps by a percentage you choose, turning a mechanically even grid into something with a feel. A small amount is enough for most house and techno; larger amounts give the loose pocket that hip-hop and lo-fi depend on.
Is DrumPad free?
It is part of the GOONS Studio subscription (€9.90/month), which unlocks every app in the catalog, the 5000-sample library and cloud projects. New accounts get a 7-day free trial with full access and no card required.
Keep exploring
Other apps in the studio
Ready when you are
Load the 808 and hit something
DrumPad comes with the GOONS Studio subscription at €9.90/month, alongside every other app in the catalog. Start with the 7-day free trial - no credit card, cancel whenever.
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