Edit drumkit

Play, rename or replace each sound with your own WAV file, add sounds, or remove rows you don't need. Your WAV files are kept in this browser, and Save song can put them into the song file.

    Save song

    Saves all registers, tempo, mixer and effects. The name is also stored in the file.

    Share song

    This song has no notes yet. Set some steps, then share it.

    Send feedback

    What works, what's missing, what bugs you? I read every message.

    Duplicate register 1 to…

    A register that has notes gets this one's notes instead.

    CoffeeDrums app icon

    CoffeeDrums

    How it works

    Grid
    Click a step to set or clear a hit; click an instrument name to hear it. Right-click a step to set its velocity (shown as a lighter color) and to play it 2 to 4 times within the step (shown as a number). Ctrl+click (⌘+click on a Mac) adds a hit to a step, Shift+click takes one away.
    Registers
    Playback moves to the next register that has notes after step 16, and back to the first one after the last. Lock keeps looping the current register. Picking a register while playing queues it for the next bar. Right-click a register to clear it or duplicate it to another one.
    Finger drums
    Turn on Finger drums in the toolbar to play the kit with Q W E R T (cymbal, clap, cowbell, high and mid tom) and A S D F G (low tom, open hat, closed hat, snare, kick). Record starts playback and writes each hit, from a key or a click on an instrument name, to the nearest 16th step of the playing register.
    Song files
    File › Save song writes all registers, tempo, mixer and effects to a .json file (format "coffeedrums", version 1). If the kit has your own samples, they can go into the file too. File › Load song reads it back; settings a file doesn't contain keep their defaults.
    Effects
    Low pass and high pass filters, compression, reverb (Room, Plate, Hall, Cathedral, Spring) and a tempo-synced delay from 1/2 to 1/64, straight, dotted or triplet, in mono or ping-pong. Reverb and delay are sends: the dry kit stays at full level and Amount sets how much echo or room is added.
    Swing
    Delays every second 16th note (each "e" and "a"). 0% is straight, 100% puts it three quarters of the way through the 8th note. Double-click the slider to reset it.
    Shortcuts
    Space play or stop, L lock, 1–8 pick a register, Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+O load.
    CoffeeDrums app icon

    CoffeeDrums

    In-browser drum machine

    Your web based drum machine. Rebuild patterns you know, or invent some new ones. And have fun.

    CoffeeDrums is a project made for the fun of it.

    Drum kit
    Samples of a Roland TR-808, from the hyperreal.org TR-808 archive, served from this site. Your own WAV files are kept in this browser.

    If you want to hang out with me or the community, or chat about this or other project ideas, join our Coffee corner.

    Made with ♥ by Georg Tavonius

    If you like this tool, you can buy me a coffee:

    Buy me a coffee

    This is a free CoffeeApps app.

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    Register 1

    1
    e
    &
    a
    2
    e
    &
    a
    3
    e
    &
    a
    4
    e
    &
    a
    Volume
    Pitch
    60
    0
    75
    0
    55
    0
    80
    0
    80
    0
    80
    0
    55
    0
    65
    0
    85
    0
    100
    0

    Registers

    Playback chains through registers with notes. While playing, a picked register plays after the current bar.

    Effects

    Low pass

    12 dB/oct · cuts above the cutoff

    High pass

    12 dB/oct · cuts below the cutoff

    Compression

    Evens out peaks of the whole kit

    Reverb

    Puts the kit in a room

    Delay

    Echoes in time with the tempo
    Time
    Feel
    Stereo
    Effects run on the whole kit, after the mixer: filters first, then reverb and delay are mixed in, then compression. Drag sideways on a filter display to move its cutoff.

    Play a TR-808 online: the Roland drum machine in your browser

    The Roland TR-808 may be the most famous drum machine in the world. Its deep kick, dry clap and cowbell have been all over hip-hop, electro, house and trap since the eighties. With CoffeeDrums you play the sounds of a real TR-808 right here in your browser.

    The drum machine is at the top of this page: ten 808 sounds on a 16-step grid, just like the original. Click an instrument name to hear it, or load the beat below.

    A trap beat to try

    140 BPM with a half-time feel: the kick stumbles around the beats, clap and snare land on three, and in the second register the hi-hats roll at the end of the bar. One click loads the beat into the grid and plays it. It replaces your current song, so save that first with File › Save song if you want to keep it.

    What makes the TR-808 special

    Roland built the TR-808 Rhythm Composer from 1980 to 1983. Unlike later drum machines it doesn't play recordings of real drums: it makes every sound with analog circuits. That's why it doesn't sound like a drum kit, but unmistakably like itself.

    Its best-known sound is the kick: a low sine tone with a long decay. Let it ring and it becomes a bassline, which is exactly how hip-hop and trap producers still use it.

    The sounds in CoffeeDrums

    The kit has ten 808 sounds: cymbal, clap, cowbell, high, mid and low tom, open and closed hi-hat, snare and kick. You set the volume and pitch of each row. To replace a sound, load a WAV file of your own in the drum kit.

    The samples come from the hyperreal.org TR-808 archive and are served from this site.

    Tips for the 808 sound

    Lower the kick's pitch so it fits your song's key. Stack clap and snare on the same step for a wider backbeat. For hi-hat rolls, right-click a step and have it play 2 to 4 times.

    Questions about the TR-808

    Is this a real TR-808?

    No, CoffeeDrums plays samples, recordings of a real TR-808. The sounds are the original's; the grid and the effects are CoffeeDrums'.

    Does the TR-808 in CoffeeDrums cost anything?

    No. You can play it in your browser without paying and without an account.

    How do I get a long 808 kick?

    Put the kick on a few steps with space between them so it can ring out, and lower its pitch. A short room reverb keeps it together.

    Can I save my 808 beat?

    Yes. File › Save song writes the beat to a file on your device, File › Load song reads it back.