Skip to Content

Activity Option 4

  1. Go to this 808 instrument .and start creating your own beats
  2. Hit PLAY on the right side.
  3. You should see red dots lighting up across the buttons
  4. Now start clicking the red, orange(ish), yellow, and white colored buttons at the bottom (you should hear a sound play when the computer plays through that part of the beat)
  5. Clicking the same button will take the sound away
  6. Each Color group is a Beat. So there are 4 Beats.
  7. Try clicking the sound on the first of each group (first red, first orange etc.)
    drummachine1
  8. Then switch to a different Sound by clicking on Snare.
    1. The Red light should be highlighted above Snare.
      drummachine2
  9. Now click the first orange button and the first white button.
  10. You might recognize this pattern in music you’ve listened to before.
  11. Add any other sounds and locations you want.
  12. Experiment with adding and taking away parts of the beat.
  13. Once you have a beat you like, go to the “Drum Kit Select” drop-down menu and select a different drum set.
    drummachine3
    1. Click play
    2. Alternate between different drum sets (you will need to click play each time to hear your beat)
  14. Think about the way the different sounds/timbres impact the overall sound and feel of the beat
  15. Think about the way that the different sounds/timbres relate to musical genres and how people might move to the beat.
  16. Discuss in relation to students’ music, students’ questions & perspectives, and the generative questions 

Note: This web app allows you to download the drum patterns created in the app as a wav file, which could be used as a sample or loop in other apps such as GarageBand, SoundTrap, Ableton etc.