Applying a sound

Press and hold

Every pad starts empty. To fill one, press and hold it for about a second. There is no load button, so this is worth knowing first.

What a hold does depends on a setting. Open settings in the bottom bar. The Pad hold row offers three sources, and every hold uses the one selected there until you change it.

Record

Recording captures from your microphone while you hold the pad and stops when you let go. Tap a table, hum a bassline, or record a speaker.

Your browser asks for microphone permission the first time. The recording stays in your browser unless you save the kit to your account.

Upload

Upload opens a file picker and puts the chosen audio file on the pad. The file is decoded in your browser, so a long file may take a moment.

This is the usual way to load a sample you plan to Chop: put the whole file on one pad, then slice it across the others.

Built-in sounds

The third source needs no microphone or file. Hold a pad and sampler.fm synthesizes a sound on the spot. There are thirteen types.

• Drums. Kick, snare, clap, closed hat, open hat, tom, conga, perc (rimshot, clave or cowbell), cymbal and shaker, in the style of the TR-808.
• Zap. An electro laser sound, for when a kit needs something that is not a drum.
• 808 Bass and Pluck. Tuned sounds rather than percussive ones.

Choose the type in the Sound row, which appears under Pad hold once sounds is selected. Each type has its own color, so you can see at a glance what is on each pad.

Every hold is a different sound

Holding a pad twice does not give you the same sound twice. Each hold varies the pitch, length and attack, and consecutive holds always differ noticeably. A bank of eight kicks is eight different kicks.

808 Bass and Pluck work differently. Each hold steps through a minor pentatonic scale, with Pluck two octaves above the bass. Fill several pads and you have a run of notes in key with each other. The pad name shows the note.

Copying a sound to another pad

You can also copy a sound from another pad. Double-click the empty pad you want to fill, then double-click the pad that has the sound. On a phone, double-tap instead.

The order matters: destination first, then source. Double-clicking an empty pad marks it, and it stays marked until you use it. Double-click it again to unmark it.

Only the sound is copied. The new pad starts with default volume, rate, pan and playback settings, so you can treat the same sample two different ways.