BEEP BOOP

Step sequencer · iPhone and iPad

Press play. A beat is already there.

Eight drum voices, a synth in one key, twelve pads and four lanes of track, on one panel made like an instrument.

Download on the App Store

Free to play and share. To keep your work: US$1 a month after a free week, or US$10 once for life.

DRUMS on iPhone: the window at 92 BPM, the voice dial on KICK, sixteen step keys with four lit, and PLAY.

The spaces

One space for each thing you do, and one row of keys under them: TEMPO, KEEP, PLAY, PRINT and SWING. A notched lever under the window moves between spaces.

  1. SYNTH: a grid of square keys, a tune lit across them.

    SYNTH · Every note in key

    Six leads, a bass and a pad. Every row is a note in one key, engraved beside it, so every tune you draw sounds right.

  2. PADS: twelve pads, one sound spread across them.

    PADS · One sound in 12 notes

    Twelve pads to play over the beat. Hold one and move up or down to tune it a semitone at a time. Touch REC, then a pad, to record up to ten seconds.

  3. SOUNDS: ten knobs over a touch pad, shaping the kick.

    SOUNDS · 10 knobs to a sound

    Choose a sound, then shape it with ten knobs, or drag across the pad beneath them to move two at once. KEEP files it among your own.

  4. TRACK: two shelves of loops above four lanes, the lanes' lamps lit.

    TRACK · Loops in 4 lanes

    Keep up to 64 loops on two shelves. Carry them onto four lanes of up to sixteen bars. Touch a lane's lamp to mute it.

  5. PRINT: a receipt hanging from the panel, the beat's steps and a code on it.

    PRINT · The whole beat in one code

    The space you are on prints as a receipt with a code on it. Anyone with Beep Boop can scan the code with the Camera and play what you made.

  6. LIBRARY: a rail of everyone's receipts, one of them playing.

    LIBRARY · Everyone's receipts

    Everyone's beats, newest first or most kept. Touch a receipt to hear it at its own tempo, and again to put it on your keys.

On iPad

Turned on its side, the panel becomes a console: the window on the left, the voices and keys on the right.

DRUMS on iPad, turned on its side: the window at the left, the voice dial, the step keys and PLAY at the right.

Made for the hand

Time
Every step lands on its exact sample, counted by the audio engine, never by a timer. How it keeps time
Touch
Every key answers the moment it is touched. On iPhone, each key, dial and switch has its own feel.
Sound
Kick, snare, clap, hat, open hat, tom, rim and percussion on one dial, and eight sounds for each. How a drum is built
Share
A receipt's code carries the whole beat. A printed beat opens on the keys of anyone who scans it. What is in the code

What stays yours

No account
Playing, recording and printing need no account.
Recordings
Your recordings never leave your iPhone or iPad.
Library
To share in the library you sign in with Apple once. Beep Boop asks Apple for no email and no name. Privacy

Price

Free
Playing, printing, scanning and browsing the library.
Monthly
US$1 a month, after a 7-day free trial. Cancel any time.
For life
US$10 once. It never renews.
The plan opens
Keeping loops, sounds and receipts, and building tracks.
Download on the App Store
  1. JournalHow beats work, and how Beep Boop is built: the timing, the audio thread, the sounds, the code.
  2. PatternsDrum patterns on sixteen steps: four on the floor, the Amen break, reggaeton, boom bap, trap.
  3. TempoThe BPM of twelve genres, on one scale.
  4. Step sequencerWhat one is, and why sixteen steps.
  5. Media kitThe store sheets, the faces cut out, and the facts.
  6. ContactWrite to a person.
  7. SupportYour plan, cancelling, the library, your account.
  8. PrivacyWhat the app keeps, and where.
  9. TermsThe licence, the plan and the posting terms.