How to Play Drum Machine

Learn Beats

Each level is a real drum beat. Listen to the target, place hits on the 16-step grid, then Check Beat. Match every step to clear the level.

Two ratings per level — Hear: match the beat = ★. Play: any perform = ♪, 60%+ = ♪♪, 90%+ = ♪♪♪. How many tries it took doesn't matter.
Hint places one missing step for you
After a wrong check, the message tells you which drum is off

Perform Beat

Recognized it? Now play it. A 4-beat count-in clicks in, then the playhead sweeps the grid — hit every drum in time on the pads or keys 1–8. The target stays silent: you are the drums.

Perfect within 75ms · Good within 170ms
Score 60%+ to earn a ♪ badge on the level; 90%+ rains confetti
Play 2 loops; retry any time to beat your best

The Grid

16 steps = one bar of 4/4 in 16th notes. Count 1 e & a 2 e & a… — steps 1, 5, 9, 13 are the main beats. Brighter borders mark the beats.

Free Play

Full 8-drum sequencer with tempo, swing, and 12 genre presets. Tap the pads or press 1–8 to play drums live. Space starts/stops.

Beats: the bold name shows the groove you're editing. + New starts a fresh groove (Untitled); the Load… dropdown lists genre presets plus every groove you've saved — picking one loads it instantly; Save opens with the current name prefilled (just press Enter to update it) — type a different name to save it as a separate groove; Delete removes the groove you're editing. Grooves stay on this device and survive Reset Progress.
Export: 🔗 Share copies a link that opens this exact beat on any device; ⬇ WAV downloads the beat as an audio file (2 loops); 🖨 Sheet opens a drum score sheet in a new tab — real staff notation with a drum-map legend. Press Print / Save as PDF there.

Tips

Play Mine vs Listen — compare back to back
Start with kick and snare, add hats last
Swing delays every other 16th — feel the groove loosen

Clears this game's stars & ♪ records only — other games on this site are not affected.

Drum Machine

Beat Cleared!