Free Drag and Drop Music Creation App

Help, Tips and more

You can also watch the video tutorials and demonstrations for help with certain features.

Basic Usage:

• Install app
• On login screen press Guest
• Select Sample Category such as Drum or Chords
• Press left or right arrow buttons labelled Sample to cycle through all your sample packs
• Press any sample to preview it
• Drag any sample on to the sequencer to add it
• Reposition any sample on the sequencer by dragging it
• Press Play

Info On Menu Functions:

File Menu:
New – Deletes all project data from memory and sets up a new blank project

Load – Load a saved project from your device

Save – Saves the current project.  If a new project you will be asked for a new name to save as, if the file already exists you will be asked to confirm to overwrite it

Delete – You can delete any saved project.  Press Delete then select the project to delete

Prefs – Opens a list from where you can select different preferences.
Set Beat BPM – You can press left / right or enter a new value for the projects BPM.  Or select a pre defined BPM such as Hip Hop
Auto Rewind Off – If On whenever the project stops playing it rewind back to the start automatically
Auto Save – If set as zero it is off.  Or select a time in minutes after which the project will auto save in the background.  The file must be manually saved atleast once.
Beat Speed – This allows you to control the length of the page.  For example if set as normal with BPM of 90BPM each page will last 5.33seconds if set as Double each page will last 2.67seconds i.e twice as fast.  This can be used to ‘fit’ more beats/notes into smaller period of time.  For example at double speed you can fit in twice as many samples in the same time.
Loop Fine Tune – Some times a page/project can loop back to the start too fast or too slow, this is most likely due to cpu overloading, too many background apps in your phone etc..  for example a hip hop drum loop sample is 5.33seconds long, but you might get a gap in the sample when looping the page.  So you can use this feature to fine tune the loop so that there is no gap.  To get the perfect loop playback compare the Set and Actual Page Lengths and make them equal by adjusting the value.
Program Speed – Program Speed controls the overall speed of BeatDrops.  Normally you dont have to change this.  If you experience issues with performance try to increase the value.  If you find that BeatDrops uses up too much of your devices resources like cpu then decrease the value.
Switch On Vibrations – You can toggle vibrations on/off with this.  Vibrations occur on pressing a menu button, or when a drum sample is played on the sequencer.

Help – This opens the Help website for BeatDrops on your default web browser.

More – Access more features here like checking out the version number, official website, video tutorials website, change your existing password and
Update User From Server (Use this if you do a new install on a new device with the same Google Account and you can retrieve your account along with purchased items such as Save/Edit)
Backup Profile – This will upload your account profile and all your projects from your current device to the server, this does not include personal information, just program related account information like username, beat speed, program speed, theme, etc…
Download Projects From Server – If you have saved projects on another device and you are using Beatdrops on a different device, then click on this and it will download all your backed up projects from the server.  Please note this will replace most of your program settings too.  To use this feature you must have previously made a backup of your projects to the server using the feature above.  You may still need to Update User From Server to restore purchases you have already paid for.

Pages Menu:
Add appends one new page to end of the project.
Delete deletes the last page.
Copy the current page to memory.
Paste page in memory to the current page.
Clears all samples on the sequencer on the current page.
You can Skip to the FIRST page.
You can skip to the LAST page.

Edit Menu:
Volume – Select any sample on the sequencer, then you can set its volume from 0 to 100.  Or set the volume then press Track to change volume of ALL samples on that track.  Or press Master to set the overall master volume of the app.  Reset the volume of all samples on all pages by pressing reset.
Pan – This works in the same way as Volume but you can set the pan to left, right or centre.  You can set the pan of ALL samples and also invert the pan of all samples.
Mute – Select a track using the arrow buttons, press mute / unmute or invert the mute of all tracks.
Tracks – Allows you to copy whole tracks, move tracks and erase a selection of tracks.  Set the tracks to and tracks from and press the relevant button.
Pitch – Select a sample on the sequencer then you can set its pitch.  The original sample is always preserved so dont worry you can easily reset to the original pitch whenever you want.Increase the pitch value to get a more high frequency sound.  Decrease the pitch to get a deeper sound.
Modify – Select a modifier using the arrow keys.  Copy allows you to copy (instead of moving) samples on the sequencer when you drag them. Erase lets you erase samples on the sequencer by tapping or swiping.  Select Stop the drag the white Stop modifier from its placeholder on to the sequencer, this will stop the sample playing on the track it is placed on when the cursor reaches its position.  Mute – Works same as Stop but this this when the cursor reaches it the track will mute / unmute.  Break – Works like Stop, drag it on to the sequencer when cursor reaches it the playback will stop at the cursor position. 
Find – Click on the textbox, enter the search term or keyword like “drums” or “hey”.  Press Search button (magnifying glass icon).  If samples are foundyou can scroll through them using the arrow buttons and press preview to play the sample.  If you found the right one you can then drag it out from its placeholder on to the sequencer.

Song Menu:
Sample – Counts the number of total and unique samples in the project
Info – Here youc an view the project info if its by aother user.  Or if its your own you can set the project related URL and info.  This can then be seen by other users, after you share the project.
Upload – Lets you upload a saved project to the server so other BeatDrops users can download and remix/edit it.  Select a Genre from the drop down box, read the terms and conditions, agree to the terms and conditions then press OK.
Share – Share the app and your project name via SMS to all your friends.  This will use your phones SMS allowance.  Or you can share your current project via social widgets.
Browse – Lets you view all projects shared by other users.  You can search by genre, bpm or a keyword, just tap the first textbox to select.  Tap the second textbox to select genre, enter bpm or keyword depending on your choice.  You can also set the sorting filter.  Once set press search and then select a project from the list.  Once you have checked out the project come back to the Browse section to Rate the users project (Star button) or if appropriate report the project / user if you deem it is offensive or breaching copyright etc…
Import – Lets you import OGG samples only from your device.  Press the first button.  OR you can press the URL button to enter a direct link to an ogg sample file online.  Once download or found you can preview the sample and then drag it out onto the sequencer.
Record – Press the first selection box to select MP3 or Ringtone.  In the next textbox press it to enter the name to save as (Without any extension!).  You might need to rewind the project to the start.  Then press Start.  Note the app will record in realtime using your devices MIC or input device continously until you press Stop.  MP3 files will be saved to your device, the path will be shown.  Ringtones will be saved to your ringtones folder and set as the phones DEFAULT ringtone.

Store Menu:
Add 1 more Page
Add 1 more Track
Sounds – Click this to buy or download new samples packs.  First select a sample category like Drums of Chords.  Next use the arrows to scroll through all samples packs in that category.  OR tap the textbox in the middle to see a list of sample packs, this will also tell you which samples packs you have already purchased and which ones you can redownload.  Please note when you Update User from server you may still need to actuall download the purchased sample packs to that device.  Once you select a sample pack you can press any sample button 1-12 to preview the sample pack.  Once happy press OK to download or purchase using Google Wallet.  Some packs are free others are on offer and others premium priced HQ packs.
Save – Unlocks the save project feature aswell as the Record to mp3/ringtone and the Uploading of projects
Edit – Unlocks ALL the Edit menu features like Pitch and Find.
No Ads – Remove all ads from the app
Combos – Click to see a list of combo offers which let you save money by buying in bulk.  Like 30 tracks or Godmode which lets you download all sample packs for free.

Loop:
You can toggle looping of the whole song, just the current page or turn it off.

Hide:
Pressing the Hide/Show button toggles the visibility of the Samples and Category buttons.  When hidden you can access more of the tracks on screen if you need to rearrange samples on the sequencer.  Press hide to see more tracks on screen and hide the sample section.  Press Pads to see the 8 customizable pads.  Press Show to see the normal view.

When using the Sound Pads, simply drag a sample on to the pad, to clear the pad Press Edit->Modifiers->Select Erase and tap the Pad to remove the sample.  When using Sound Pads press it near the top where the plus sign is to play it loud, or near the bottom so play the sample with low volume.  You can hold down and move up/down on the button to change the volume as the Sound Pad plays the sample.

On the sequencer you can drag (on empty slots) left/right to scroll though pages.  Or Up/Down to Scroll through Tracks.

You can drag samples to the edge of the screen to position samples on different pages.

More Help and Videos:

The best way to learn how to use BeatDrops is by practice and by watching the official video demonstrations and live broadcasts on the Facebook Page.