Do I need to know music theory to use these?

No. Every part follows the key of your project, so the notes always fit. You learn what the pieces do by moving them and listening.

What is four on the floor?

A kick drum on every beat of the bar, four times, with nothing clever about it. House, disco and techno are all built on it.

Are these free to use in my own songs?

Yes. Collecting the pack copies everything into your library, and anything you drop into a project is yours to change and record.

A free pack

Starter grooves

by The house band · 7 items · every one follows your project's key

If you have never made a beat before, start here. These are the three drum patterns that most popular music leans on, and three parts that fit over any of them. Press play, then look at the grid: every sound you hear is a lit square.

Free. It lands in your library, ready to drop into any project.

What is inside

Press play on any of them. They loop until you stop them.

Pattern

Four on the floor

A kick on every beat, hats in between. The engine of dance music.

Pattern

Boom bap

A lazy kick and a hard backbeat. Nod your head.

Pattern

Half time

The snare waits until beat three, so everything feels twice as slow.

Recipe

Walking bass

Steps up the scale and back down, one note at a time.

Recipe

Offbeat stabs

A chord on every offbeat. The first, third and fifth notes of your key.

Recipe

Rising arp

A chord played one note at a time, with a few happy accidents.

Sound

Dusty pad

Slow, wide and a little dark. Hold long notes on it.

Three beats that carry most of popular music

A drum beat is a pattern in time. The grid has sixteen steps to a bar, and the beat is nothing more than which steps are lit. Four on the floor lights the kick on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13, which is every beat, and that steady thump is the engine of dance music.

Boom bap moves the kick around and puts a hard snare on beats two and four. That snare is called the backbeat, and it is the part your head nods to. Half time keeps the same tempo but waits until beat three for the snare, so the whole thing feels twice as slow without the clock changing at all.

Parts that follow your key

Walking bass, Offbeat stabs and Rising arp are written as steps of a scale rather than fixed notes. Step one is home, steps three and five finish the home chord. Drop one into a project in any key and it moves to fit, which is why nothing in this pack can sound out of tune.

Offbeat stabs plays a chord in the gaps between the beats. Rising arp plays the same chord one note at a time, with a block that leaves a few notes out at random so it never repeats exactly.

What to try first

Put Boom bap and Walking bass in the same pattern and press play. Then move one kick a single step to the left or right. That small change is the difference between a beat that marches and a beat that leans, and hearing it is worth more than reading about it.

Questions people ask

Do I need to know music theory to use these?: No. Every part follows the key of your project, so the notes always fit. You learn what the pieces do by moving them and listening.
What is four on the floor?: A kick drum on every beat of the bar, four times, with nothing clever about it. House, disco and techno are all built on it.
Are these free to use in my own songs?: Yes. Collecting the pack copies everything into your library, and anything you drop into a project is yours to change and record.

Now change it.

Drop any of these into a project and every step, note and sound is yours to move. That is how you find out why it works.

Make a little noise