How to Make a Beat From Scratch Online (Free, Full Walkthrough)

Most beat tutorials assume you've already bought a DAW, downloaded sample packs, and learned where everything lives. This one assumes nothing. You'll go from an empty project to a finished, exported beat entirely in your browser — and you'll learn the why behind each move, so the technique sticks no matter what tool you use later.

We'll build it in Onomo Studio: free, no install, runs on any machine. Here's the whole path.

#What you actually need

Most "start making music" guides open with a shopping list: buy a DAW, buy a MIDI keyboard, buy an audio interface, download 40 GB of sample packs. You need none of it. The whole list is three things you already have:

• A browser. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari — anything from the last couple of years.
• Headphones or speakers. Laptop speakers work to get started; headphones make mixing far easier.
• Twenty minutes. That's enough for a first loop.

No account is required to start playing, and nothing installs onto your machine.

#Step 1 — Start a project and set the tempo

Open Studio to a blank project and the first decision is tempo, measured in BPM (beats per minute). Tempo sets the entire feel, so pick it before you write a note:

• Boom-bap / lo-fi hip-hop: ~85–95 BPM
• Trap: ~130–150 BPM (the hi-hats imply double-time, so it feels like ~70 BPM with fast rolls)
• House / dance: ~120–128 BPM

Don't agonize. Set something in the right ballpark and move on — you can nudge it later, and Studio even lets tempo automate and ramp across a song if you want movement.

#Step 2 — Get the drums down

Drums are the foundation, so they come first. You have two honest paths.

#Path A — program them yourself on the step sequencer

This is where you learn the most. The step sequencer is a grid: columns are steps in time, rows are your drum sounds (drawn from Studio's 7 drum engines). Click cells to place hits. Here's a four-on-the-floor / backbeat starting pattern that works across genres:

• Kick — on every strong beat for a driving four-on-the-floor (steps 1, 5, 9, 13 on a 16-step bar). For hip-hop, pull it off the grid and let it land more loosely.
• Snare (or clap) — on the backbeat, beats 2 and 4 (steps 5 and 13). This is the single most important placement in popular music — it's the "head nod."
• Hi-hats — on the off-beats or every step for momentum.

Now the part that turns a pattern into a groove: every step in Studio carries its own velocity, probability, length, pan, and pitch.

• Vary velocity so hits aren't all identical robotic blasts — accent the downbeats, soften the in-betweens. Human drummers don't hit at one volume, and your ear knows it.
• Use probability on ghost hats and fills so they only fire some of the time. A 16th-note hat at, say, 60% probability stops sounding mechanical and starts feeling alive.

#Path B — grab a kit or loop from Foundry

If you want a head start, Foundry has three free algorithmic generators. They're rule-based, not trained AI, so there's zero copyright risk and a one-click "send to Studio":

• the Kit Generator builds a fresh drum kit,
• the Loop Generator gives you a ready rhythmic loop,
• the MIDI Generator spits out editable MIDI you can drop on any instrument.

Generate, send to Studio, then edit it — change velocities, mute a hat, swap a sound. Treat it as a starting point, not a finished product.

#Step 3 — Add bass and chords

Now the harmony, using Studio's 20 synth engines and the piano roll (full MIDI editing — draw and drag notes).

Chords first. Pick a synth — a subtractive or wavetable engine makes a great pad or pluck — and lay down a simple loop of 2–4 chords in the piano roll. You don't need theory to start: a four-chord loop that repeats is the backbone of countless hits. Keep it simple and let it cycle.

Then bass. Choose a bass-friendly engine (subtractive for a fat analog sub, FM for a sharper digital growl) and write a bassline in the piano roll that follows the root notes of your chords. The golden rule for a beat that knocks:

Lock the bass to the kick. Where your kick hits, your bass should generally speak. When the low end moves together instead of fighting, the whole beat feels tight and powerful. When kick and bass collide randomly, the low end turns to mud.

One more low-end trick: if the bass and kick still sound muddy together, the kick usually wins. Make the bass notes slightly shorter so they get out of the kick's way.

#Step 4 — Arrange the sections

A loop is not a song. Use the arrangement timeline to build sections so there's a journey:

• Intro — strip it back; maybe just drums, or just the chords.
• Main / verse — the full groove.
• Variation / chorus / drop — add an element, change the energy, bring in a counter-melody.
• Breakdown — pull elements out to create contrast before they slam back in.

The trick to arrangement is contrast through subtraction. You don't always add to build energy — sometimes you remove (drop the hats, mute the bass for two bars) so that when everything returns, it hits harder. Copy your core loop across the timeline, then mute and add parts per section.

#Step 5 — Mix it

Mixing is making everything sit together clearly. Work in this order with Studio's Track EQ and 12 Super effects:

1. Levels first. Before any effect, balance the faders so nothing buries anything else. The kick and snare should be present; the bass full but not overwhelming; chords supporting, not shouting. Most mix problems are level problems in disguise.
2. EQ to carve space. Use the Track EQ to make room. Trim some low end from non-bass tracks so the kick and bass own the bottom. Tame harshness where it stacks up. The goal is every element having its own frequency lane. Then pan for width: keep kick and bass in the center, and nudge hats and melodic elements slightly left or right so the stereo field isn't a single stack.
3. Sidechain the bass to the kick. Route a sidechain so the kick momentarily ducks the bass each time it hits. This guarantees the kick punches through cleanly and adds that subtle pump that makes modern beats breathe. It's the single most impactful mix move for a bass-heavy beat.
4. Add character and glue. Reach for the Super effects: a touch of reverb or delay on melodic elements for depth, gentle compression or saturation to glue and add warmth, and a limiter across the master to bring the whole beat up to a competitive level without clipping.

#Step 6 — Export

When it knocks on repeat, render it out. Studio exports WAV (lossless, for further work or distribution), MP3 (compact, for sharing), and MIDI (your parts, to take elsewhere). Audio export supports up to 96kHz and 16/24/32-bit depth as options — pick WAV for quality, MP3 for a quick share.

#Optional: let Airess jumpstart you

Stuck on a starting point? Airess, Studio's AI assistant, can drop editable MIDI, patterns, and presets straight into your project — a chord loop or drum pattern to react to, not a locked file you're stuck with. It's a way to break the blank page; you still produce the beat. Full details in its own guide.

#FAQ

Is this really free? Yes. Building, mixing, and exporting a beat in Studio is free — no download, no plugins, no credit card to start. The drum engines, synths, sequencer, mixer, and WAV/MP3/MIDI export all run in your browser.

Do I need any music theory to make a beat? No. You can program drums by ear on the grid and build a song around a simple repeating four-chord loop. Theory helps over time, but your first beat needs none of it.

Can I make a beat on my phone? You can open Studio in a mobile browser, but programming drums, editing in the piano roll, and mixing are far easier on a laptop or desktop with a real screen and keyboard. Use a phone for quick ideas; finish on a computer.

How long does a first beat take? A simple loop can come together in 20–30 minutes. A fully arranged, mixed, and exported beat is an afternoon when you're learning — and much faster once the workflow is familiar.

What's the difference between the step sequencer and the piano roll? The step sequencer is a grid for fast rhythmic patterns (great for drums), with per-step velocity, probability, length, pan, and pitch. The piano roll is full MIDI note editing (great for melodies, chords, and bass). Most beats use both.

You've got the whole map now. Open Studio and make the kick and snare your first move.