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12 Sep 2025 22:20

Show HN: I made a generative online drum machine with ClojureScript (Score: 150+ in 11 hours)

Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6BvFf
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6BvFf

After two years of development, I'm super excited to release Beat Maker! This is my take on what I hope is the best free, web-based drum machine.
My goal was to build something that was not only fun and easy to use for beginners but also powerful enough for serious producers. I did extensive research on existing drum machines, analyzed their UX, and tried to build something that adds something new.
It's a nearly 100% client-side app, written in ClojureScript, and is a PWA so you can install it to your home screen for an app-like experience.
Besides the standard grid editor, Beat Maker has some unique features that I think HN readers might find interesting:
- Procedural sample generation. One annoying thing about writing beats is searching through folders full of samples. I wanted to improve this and so I added the ability to generate new samples with a single click, giving you an infinite supply of unique drum samples.
* Generative beat creation. If you're looking for inspiration, Beat Maker can generate entire patterns for you as a starting point. You can then edit and tweak the beat to your liking. Great for solving the "blank canvas" problem and giving you something good to start from.
* Advanced export options. This is where it really shines for producers. You can export your work as:
* A standard WAV loop
* Individual stems (ZIP)
* A MIDI file
* A ZIP file of all your samples as WAVs
* A SoundFont (.sf2) drum kit from your generated samples
* An Impulse Tracker (.it) file for use in trackers like Renoise, OpenMPT or a Polyend
* Pocket Operator/Volca sync. It can output a sync signal on the left audio channel to sync with these hardware devices for perfect timing.
* Per-Note FX. You can add effects like volume slides, repeats, and start volume changes to individual notes for more complex drum phrases incorporating flam and roll.
As an old school tracker guy, I'm particularly excited about the Impulse Tracker export mode. I was surprised to discover how many DAWs (including hardware like Polyend) can import this format. Of course, you can also pull up Impulse Tracker on DOSBox, or the more modern re-implementation, Schismtracker for that retro experience.
By the way, the beat generator feature is not trained on any artists or anything like that. It's an algorithm I built from scratch myself.
The audio engine is built on a declarative audio graph (using `virtual-audio-graph`), inspired by React's virtual DOM, which makes managing the Web Audio API much cleaner. If you're building web based audio apps I highly recommend checking out this library.
I'd love for you to try it out and let me know what you think. Feedback (and the inevitable bug reports) most welcome! Thank you!
P.S. Also, here's a video summary: https://youtu.be/qVmEn9z3H24