RhythmSticks

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Video showing how to use the RhythmSticks online drumkit

About the RhythmSticks App

Introduction

This is an app where you can play the drums and record rhythms as a musical score. The drums have zones on most drums and cymbals these are loudness from center to edge (on the drums) and from edge to center for the cymbals. The hihat and the large ride are different as they have different types of sounds such as open hihat, half closed etc. for the hihat and bell type sounds for the 24 inch ride.

How to play and record your tracks

By clicking play button time is started and you can record your beats and see the rhythm track on the score in real time. You can also stop or pause the playback and control the time window using the scrollbar. As the track is being played back you can add more beats to create a really complicated groove. The regions of the drums played are highlighted so you can work out what is being played.

Keyboard to drum mapping

In the top left of the app canvas is a “map keys to drums”. Click in the cell for the drum you want to play, then the keyboard key you want to map it to, then you can use the keyboard key instead of the mouse/touch to play the drum (for this zone only: if you want just one key for the drum then select a mapping for zone 6 as it is the loudest). The settings are stored between browser sessions.