About Beatstave

Beatstave is a drum sequencer and drum notation editor that runs in your browser. You program a beat by clicking cells on a grid, hear it play back, and see it written out as real percussion sheet music that you can export as a PDF. It is made for drummers, students and teachers, and for anyone who wants to sketch a groove and read it back on a staff without learning notation software first.

What you can do

Program beats on a step grid

Each drum sound has its own row: kick, snare, snare stick, closed and open hi-hat, hi-hat foot, ride, crash, and high, medium and low toms. Every beat can use its own subdivision, so a bar can mix steady sixteenth notes with a faster roll on the last beat. Add as many bars as you need, reorder them, and loop a single bar or play the whole pattern through.

Shape how it sounds

Set the tempo and swing, switch between drum kits, and adjust the volume, pitch and pan of each instrument. Add a metronome click, mute individual instruments, and apply effects such as reverb, delay or distortion. Notes carry dynamics from ghost notes to accents, and can be marked with flams, drags and double strokes, and with R, L, kick and foot sticking.

Read and print your beat

Patterns are drawn as percussion notation as you build them, with cymbal noteheads, beams and ties worked out for you. Open the full sheet-music view to see every bar at once and export it as a PDF to print or share with a student or bandmate.

Work with audio

The built-in audio editor lets you load a track, zoom the waveform, trim a section, set the tempo and mark the downbeat, then listen to your pattern against it and export the result as a WAV file.

Save and share

Sign in with Google to save patterns to your account, or copy a share link to send a beat to someone else.

How to make your first beat

1. Open Beatstave and set a tempo you are comfortable with.
2. Click cells in the grid to place drum hits. A kick on beat one and a snare on beat three is a good start.
3. Press Space to play and stop. Click cells while it plays to hear the change on the next pass.
4. Hold 1 to 5 while you click a cell to set how hard that note is played, from a soft ghost note to a full accent.
5. Add a hi-hat pattern on top, then add more bars to build a full groove.
6. Turn on the notation view to see your beat as sheet music, and export it as a PDF when you are happy with it.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Space to play or stop
• Hold 1 to 5 while clicking a cell to set its dynamic
• Ctrl/Cmd + A, C, V to select all, copy and paste a selection
• Delete to clear the selected cells
• Esc to clear the selection

Common questions

Is Beatstave free?

Yes. The web version is free to use and is supported by advertising. See the privacy policy for how ads and cookies are handled.

Do I need to install anything?

No. Beatstave runs in a modern desktop or mobile web browser.

Do I need an account?

You can build and play beats without saving. Signing in with Google lets you save your work and open it again later.

Where does my data go?

Patterns you save are stored in your account. Nothing you make is shared unless you send a link yourself. Details are in the privacy policy.

How do I get in touch?

Email fretandbeat@gmail.com.