Hacking the Beats

bpm
—
bar
—

Deck B is empty

Load a second beat here, then bring it in with the crossfader or Mix.

Live-coded music · press play

 

The code is the score. It plays itself — you mix it.

    Song knobs

    Channels

    M mute · S solo · ● capture

    Pads

    hold

    Master

    A
    B

    This is music made by code.

    Every sound you hear comes from the code above, running live in your browser. Press play, then take the knobs: no account needed.

    The knobs are yours. Sign in, free, to change the code, keep your version and share it.

    We store your name, email address and the songs you save. Privacy · About

    Beats

    My songs

      Beats

      1. Speak and Spell 2 136 bpm

      Click a song to load it on the deck in focus, or pick a deck with A / B.

      Account

      The knobs, channels and pads are free to use. An account adds the rest: editing the code, a second deck, recording, MIDI, and your own songs, kept in your account and shareable by link. It is free.

      We store your name, email address and the songs you save. See the privacy notice.

      Snapshot

      A pinned snapshot loops in time on that deck as a channel of its own, muted until you bring it in with its pad or its M.

      Unsaved changes

      Share

      More ways to share

      Video clip

      Recorded live on this device as the music plays, starting on the next bar. Nothing is uploaded.

      Admin

      The site's beats, in this order. Anyone can play the featured beat, signed in or not. A beat switched to Members can be played by everyone who is signed in. Every other beat is yours alone.

        Add a beat

        A file is a strudel.cc export. Patterns already here are skipped. A new beat is yours alone until you open it to members.

        Hack The Beats

        Every sound here is made by the code on screen, running live in your browser. Each knob is a slider() from the song, each channel is one of its labelled patterns, and two decks let you bring a second beat in over the first. The code is yours to change: click in it and type.

        Keys

        While you are typing in the code, the single-key shortcuts are off.

        Space
        Play or stop the deck in focus
        X
        Switch focus between deck A and deck B
        M
        Mix: start the other deck in time and fade across
        ← →
        Previous or next beat
        1–9 0 - =
        Mute channels 1 to 12
        Q W E A S D
        Hold a pad: echo, drop, wash, half, stutter, no drums. With Shift it stays on.
        T Y U I H J K L
        Snapshot pads 1 to 8: bring one in on the next bar, or stop it. With Shift it plays once. Capture one with ● on a channel in the Mixer (Esc lets a capture go).
        [ ]
        Jump back or forward four bars
        F G
        Follow the music with the code; gallery (full-screen) view
        R B ?
        Record the mix to a WAV file; open the beats list; this help
        V
        Make a video clip of the code and the music (Esc cancels one being recorded)
        Ctrl+.
        Stop the deck in focus (works while typing in the code, too)
        Ctrl+Enter Ctrl+S
        Run your changes without stopping the music; save

        On screen

        Editing
        Click in the code (or press Edit) to change it, and Update runs it. A mistake is shown in plain words and the last good version keeps playing. Changed lines are marked until you Save; Save as new keeps your version as a song of its own, Revert throws the changes away. Esc leaves the code.
        In the code
        Click a track label to mute it, click a highlighted number to find its knob, drag an inline slider. Try, top left, makes one of the song's suggested changes; tap it again to put it back.
        Song map
        The sections of the code, beside it (or behind Map when the window is narrow). Rest on one to read what it does; click to glide there.
        Views
        Follow glides the code to whichever track comes in, Split shows both decks' code, Gallery is full screen. Click a channel's name to focus on that track; click again to let it go.
        On a knob
        Arrows adjust, Shift for fine, Enter or double-click resets. Reset puts every knob back to what the code says.
        Pads
        Hold one, or Shift-click (or switch Latch on) to keep it on.
        Snapshots
        Press ● on a channel in the Mixer to capture it (1, 2, 4 or 8 bars) from the next bar. Tap its pad to bring it in on the next bar; right-click or long-press to rename, pin, download as WAV or clear it.
        Two decks
        With Sync on, a deck started while the other plays comes in on the bar, at its tempo. Mix does that and fades across over eight bars.
        Arrangement
        Which tracks play in each of 32 bars; click a bar to jump there. Drag across bars, Shift-click one, or type the bar numbers to pick them, then: Cut or Keep only them; move them a bar with ‹ › (or ← →); Copy them, pick other bars and Paste them in after (or Paste over to replace those). Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V copy and paste, Delete cuts, Esc lets them go. Open the strip and drag along one track to Silence it there. Every change is made in the code: Save keeps it.
        Your songs
        In the beats list: New, Import and Export, and each song's ⋯ menu to rename, duplicate, share or delete it. Each shows when it was last saved, and whether it is shared.
        Sharing
        The link icon shares a song by link, which always plays its latest saved version; switching sharing off closes the link for good. Make a video clip there (or V) records the code lighting up with the music, ready to post.

        MIDI controller

        Not connected.

        With Learn on, click any knob, fader, pad or button on the deck, then move a control on your hardware.

        Support the site

        Hack The Beats is free: no ads, no paywall, no subscription. If it has had your head nodding, help us keep hacking the beats. Tell a friend who makes music, share a song you made, and wear the shirt.

        Every shirt helps keep the site running, free, and full of new beats.

        Buy a shirt
        A black long-sleeve shirt with the Hack the Beats logo in white and orange pixels

        Credits and source

        Built on Strudel, © Strudel contributors, under the GNU AGPL v3. This site is free software under the same licence, with no warranty: download the source of this version, or read it on GitHub.

        Hacking the Beats is owned and operated by Built By Signal LLC (builtbysignal.com).

        Songs are credited in their own code, and sounds come from public sample packs that belong to their authors. About this site, credits and contact · Privacy

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