Free Online Drum Sequencer, Drumming Notation & Drum Notation Builder

How the step grid works

Each row in the grid is one drum voice: kick, snare, hi-hat, toms, crash, ride, and each column is one step in time. Clicking a cell turns that hit on; clicking it again removes it. When you press play, the sequencer walks left to right through the columns at your chosen tempo and fires whatever is switched on in each one, then loops back to the start.

The columns are grouped visually by beat, so in 4/4 with sixteenth-note division you get four groups of four. That grouping is the thing to read from: the first column of each group is the beat itself, and the columns between are the subdivisions that fall in the gaps.

Choosing a time signature and note division

Time signature sets how many beats are in a bar: 4/4 for most rock, pop and funk; 3/4 for waltz feels; 6/8 for compound time such as blues shuffles and ballads. Note division sets how finely each beat is split quarter notes give you one step per beat, eighth notes two, sixteenth notes four.

Changing either one rebuilds the grid, so set them before you start programming rather than after. If a pattern you are transcribing has hi-hat notes falling between the eighth notes, you need sixteenth division; if everything lands squarely on the beat, quarter notes will keep the grid readable.

Building a groove from the bottom up

Program in the order a drummer thinks: kick first, then snare, then hi-hat. The kick and snare together define the feel, and the hi-hat is mostly a time-keeping layer over the top.

• A basic rock beat: kick on beats 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4, hi-hat on every eighth note.
• Four-on-the-floor: kick on all four beats, snare still on 2 and 4 - the backbone of disco and house.
• Half-time: move the snare to beat 3 only. Same tempo, but the groove feels half as fast.
• Syncopation: add a kick on the 'and' of 2 or the 'e' of 4 to pull the pattern off the grid.

Reading the notation while you build

The staff above the grid is real drum notation, redrawn every time you change a hit. This is the fastest way to connect a pattern you can hear with the way it appears on a page - you place a note on the grid, and you immediately see where it sits on the staff, which line or space it uses, and how it is beamed to its neighbours.

If the notation is unfamiliar, the notation guide walks through what each note head and staff position means. Working back and forth between the grid and the staff tends to teach reading faster than either one on its own.

Multiple bars, tempo and count-in

Grooves longer than one bar are built by adding bars and programming each separately; playback cycles through them in order. Duplicate bar copies the current bar so you can make a variation of it - useful for writing a three-bar groove with a fill in the fourth.

Set the tempo with the BPM slider, the ±1 buttons, or by tapping the tap-tempo button in time with the music you are trying to match. The metronome toggle adds a click, and playback starts with a four-beat count-in so you can pick up your sticks and come in with it.

Saving, exporting and sharing

A free account saves up to five grooves, which you can reload and edit later from your saved grooves page. Any groove can be shared as a link that opens with the pattern already loaded, and Pro accounts can export a groove as a PDF of standard notation for printing or handing to a bandmate.

Sharing an exercise with a student

Teachers mostly use the sequencer the same way: program the thing the student is meant to work on, then hand it over as a link rather than a description. The link carries the pattern itself, so there is no ambiguity about which sixteenth the kick was on.

• Program the exercise in the grid, then set the tempo and time signature you want it practised at.
• Check the staff above the grid - it redraws as you edit, so you can see the exercise reads the way you intend.
• Press Share in the pattern strip. It copies a link to the exercise, or opens your device's share sheet.
• Paste the link into a lesson plan, class chat or email. Opening it loads the exercise ready to play - no sign-up, no install, on either side.

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