BEEP BOOP
Public beta
Journal 03

How to make a beat

A beat needs three sounds and one number: a kick, a snare, a hat and a tempo. On a step sequencer that is four moves. Each move below is drawn on sixteen steps and can be played, so the beat is heard as it is built.

Before the first move

A bar is four beats. A step sequencer cuts each beat into four, so the bar is sixteen steps. The beats fall on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13. A step that is switched on sounds when the playhead reaches it, and the bar repeats until it is stopped. What a step sequencer is has more.

Put a kick on steps 1 and 9

The kick is the low drum, and it is the floor of the beat. Put one on step 1 and one on step 9: beats one and three. Press PLAY. Two kicks a bar is already a pulse.

Fig. 1
Move one: a kick on steps 1 and 9, at 100 BPM.
Kick1, 9 Beats one and three.
Tempo100 BPM
Move one. The kick alone.

Put a snare on steps 5 and 13

The snare answers the kick. Put it on steps 5 and 13: beats two and four. This is the backbeat, and most music counted in four has it. The kick and the snare now take turns: low, high, low, high.

Fig. 2
Move two: the kick, and a snare on steps 5 and 13.
Kick1, 9
Snare5, 13 Beats two and four: the backbeat.
Tempo100 BPM
Move two. Kick and snare take turns.

Put a hat on every odd step

The hi-hat is the short, bright sound that fills the space between the drums. Put one on steps 1, 3, 5 and so on to 15. That is every eighth note, twice as many as the beats. The hats give the bar its speed. The kick and snare give it its shape.

Fig. 3
Move three: the kick, the snare, and a hat on every odd step.
Kick1, 9
Snare5, 13
Hat1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 Every eighth note.
Tempo100 BPM
Move three. A whole beat: kick, snare and hats.

Set the tempo, then change one step

Turn the tempo until the beat feels right. The figures here are at 100 BPM. The same steps at 85 are slow and heavy, and at 125 they are close to dance music. Then change one step: add a kick on step 11. It falls between beats three and four, where no beat is, and the bar starts to move. That one kick is the difference between a pattern and a beat of your own.

Fig. 4
The finished beat at 100 BPM: the steps each voice plays, of sixteen.
Kick1, 9, 11 Beats one and three, and one more on step 11.
Snare5, 13 Beats two and four.
Hat1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 Every eighth note.
Tempo100 BPM
Move four. The finished beat. Touch a voice to see it on the keys.

Where to go from here

On Beep Boop

Beep Boop opens with a beat already on its keys. To start from nothing, press CLEAR.

  1. Turn the voice dial to KICK. Press step keys 1 and 9. A lamp lights above each.
  2. Turn the dial to SNARE. Press step keys 5 and 13.
  3. Turn the dial to HAT. Press every odd key, 1 to 15.
  4. Press PLAY. Turn TEMPO to 100. Turn the dial back to KICK and press key 11.

Or take the beat as it stands. On an iPhone or iPad with Beep Boop, touch the link under the receipt. From a computer, point the phone's camera at the code.

Fig. 5. The finished beat as Beep Boop prints it. Open this beat in Beep Boop

Sources

More sheets

  1. What BPM means in musicA beat, a bar and a step, in seconds.
  2. What syncopation isThe weight off the beat, on sixteen steps.
  3. What swing is in musicThe late step, measured in milliseconds.
  4. Ghost notes and accents on drumsLoud and quiet strokes in one bar.
  5. PatternsDrum patterns drawn on sixteen steps.
  6. Tempo by genreBPM for twelve genres, on one scale.