A full drum set in your browser: hit the pads with your keyboard, mouse or fingers, switch between acoustic, rock, electronic and jazz kits, keep time with the metronome, then record your beat, loop it, quantize it and download it as a WAV file.
Last updated:
Loading sounds…
Press Record and play to capture a beat.
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How to use the Virtual Drum Kit
Hit the drums: press the keys shown on the pads (Space or B for the kick, S for the snare, E for the hi-hat…), or click or tap the drums.
Pick a kit and a view: the drum set view looks like a real kit, the pad grid is easier on small touch screens.
Turn on the metronome and set the tempo if you want to play in time; tick Count-in to get one bar of clicks before recording starts.
Record: press Record, play your beat and press Stop. The beat appears on the timeline.
Play it back, tick Loop to repeat it, choose a quantize grid to tighten the timing, and press Download WAV to save it.
Keyboard layout
Key
Drum
Key
Drum
Space or B
Kick (bass drum)
Q
Crash cymbal
S
Snare
Y
Ride cymbal
D
Side stick (clap in the electronic kit)
U
Ride bell
E
Closed hi-hat
R
High tom
W
Open hi-hat
T
Mid tom
C
Hi-hat pedal
F
Floor tom
G
Cowbell
Shift + key
Soft hit
The left hand plays the hi-hat keys (E, W) and the snare (S) on the left of the keyboard, the right hand takes the toms and cymbals, and a thumb rests on Space for the kick, similar to how a drummer's limbs are spread around a real kit.
Three beats to start with
Each line is one bar of 4/4 counted in eighth notes: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. Turn on the metronome at a slow tempo (70–90 BPM) and repeat the bar.
Beat
Hi-hat (E)
Snare (S)
Kick (Space)
Basic rock
Every eighth note: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
2 and 4
1 and 3
Pop / dance
Every eighth note
2 and 4
1, 2, 3 and 4 (four on the floor)
Half-time groove
Every eighth note
3
1 and the & of 2
Finish every fourth bar with a fill: four sixteenth notes on beat 4 moving from the snare (S) to the high tom (R), mid tom (T) and floor tom (F), then hit the crash (Q) together with the kick on the next beat 1. Press Load demo beat to hear exactly this pattern.
Recording tips
Use the count-in: you hear four clicks and recording starts exactly on beat 1 of the first bar, so the loop length snaps to whole bars and loops seamlessly.
Quantize to 1/8 for simple rock beats, 1/16 when you play sixteenth-note hi-hats or fills, and 1/8 triplets for shuffle and swing feels. Quantize only changes playback and the WAV file; your original timing is kept, so you can switch it off again.
Bars last 4 × 60 ÷ BPM seconds: 2.4 s at 100 BPM, 2 s at 120 BPM.
The downloaded WAV is 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo and includes the ringing tail of the last cymbal, ready to import into any audio editor or video app.
Frequently asked questions
Which keys play which drum?
Space or B: kick. S: snare. D: side stick (clap in the electronic kit). E: closed hi-hat, W: open hi-hat, C: hi-hat pedal. R and T: high and mid toms, F: floor tom. Q: crash, Y: ride, U: ride bell, G: cowbell. Hold Shift for a softer hit.
How are the drum sounds made?
Each sound is synthesised once when the page loads, using oscillators, filtered noise and envelopes in an offline Web Audio context, and stored as a sample. Playing a pad then simply triggers that sample, which keeps the latency as low as possible, and every hit varies slightly in pitch and level so repeated notes do not sound robotic.
What does quantize do?
Quantize moves every recorded hit to the nearest point of a rhythmic grid, based on the metronome tempo: 1/8 notes, 1/16 notes or 1/8 triplets. It fixes small timing mistakes. It only works well if you recorded in time with the metronome, ideally with the count-in, so the grid lines up with your playing.
Can I play with several fingers at once?
Yes. On touch screens every finger is handled separately, so you can hit the kick and the hi-hat together. On a computer keyboard you can also press several keys at the same time.
Why do I hear a delay between hitting and the sound?
Every device adds some audio latency: usually 10–30 ms with wired speakers or headphones, which feels instant, but Bluetooth headphones add 100–250 ms. For the tightest playing, use wired audio.
Is my recording saved?
Your last recording is stored in this browser's local storage, so it is still there when you come back. Use Download WAV to keep a copy you can open in any audio editor or share.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.