You can play an entire set of drums from your browser. Using it is simple: just move your finger (or mouse) across the screen, and you’re playing an air drum kit!
There are two main ways to play: swipe your finger (mouse) over invisible areas of the screen to “strike” each drum like you would with a stick. You can also use special keys on your keyboard to get exact placement when hitting a drum. With this option, you can use specific keys on your keyboard for precise control without needing to move your hand across the screen.
How to Play the Air Drums
Whenever you hit a drum, the interface provide some visual feedback. When you play it, what you see is a normal kit set out, although dashed lines show where the parts should of been played. The crash and ride cymbals is at the top, and the hi-hat is on the left. In the center are the snare and the toms, and at the bottom is a kick drum.
To play the kit, you simply flick through one of the zones to trigger the drum. How hard or soft you make the sound depends on how quickly you move your mouse or finger over the zone. If you flick the stick quite rapidly then the note will be louder, whereas dragging it slowly produce a quieter sound. Alternatively, you could click on the zone with your finger to get a regular volume hit without having to change the rate of stick movement.
The controls has been mapped to the bottom row of letter keys on the keyboard. A: Crash cymbal. S: Hi-hat. D: Snare. F: Kick drum. G & H: 1st & 2nd tom. J: Ride cymbal. W: Open hi-hat (a different sound from the closed hi-hat on S). You’ll also be able to see what controls what via a highlight onscreen.
The bottom section includes some useful tools for transport. There’s a master volume slider that controls the overall loudness of your instrument. If you’re sharing an office or playing into the wee hours of the morning this could be helpful. Simply drag the slider right to make it louder or pull it left to soften it up. It will save your setting as long as the page remains open and you don’t have to reset it each time.
There are two play buttons that offer a backing track to assist in keeping time. These are the Rock Groove button, which plays a typical groove at a moderate pace. It is good for learning timing. The other is the Half-time button that changes to a slow groove with an open hi-hat sound. It is good for jams and loose fills. Clicking the button again will turn these tracks off and on.
There are some techniques to learn in order to get the most from the kit. For instance, the mouse can be moved across the snare zone to create a drum roll. The system tracks your streak, so you can see how many consecutive hits you land in quick succession. Cymbals rely heavily on speed. If you want a tight sound on the hi-hat just make a quick flick, whereas a slow push provides a wash. Input methods can be mixed too. Swipe at the tom-toms with the mouse while playing the kick-drum with the F key. This allows more complex fills different than might otherwise be possible using only one hand.
If the interface gets too cluttered, there’s a fullscreen button which fills your entire screen with just the kit. It provides more space to make big gestures without distractions, especially when you want better speed detection or are using it on a touchscreen device. There’s also a help panel in case you’ve forgotten where everything is or what the shortcut keys is.
The keyboard can be used as a simple beat too. You could begin by hitting the kick on the downbeat and the snare on the two and four counts. Once you feel that rhythm then add in some cymbal accents such as the ride and the crash. Work out your rhythm at a comfortabley pace.
If you just want to relax, practice or just have fun then now is the time to go and play the virtual air drums.