Beat Crew
Game Overview
Become a beatmaster! Drag and drop modular synths, drums, and bass lines onto your animated crew to build an electronic symphony. A simple loop-based music maker for kids and adults.
How to Play
Drag icons from the bottom palette and drop them onto the empty silhouettes. They will automatically dress up and start playing their designated sound loop perfectly in sync with the master beat.
About Beat Crew
Incredibox has been on my screen at home for years, and the kids load it up almost every weekend. I wanted to see if I could get the same drag-and-drop feel with nothing but Web Audio and a handful of looped samples, and that's how Beat Crew happened. It isn't as deep as the original. The core idea is there, though. Drop an icon onto a character and that character starts performing its loop in lockstep with everyone else on stage.
Layering is what makes it sound good. Put a kick or a bassline in the leftmost slot first so you have a foundation, then add a hat or shaker for movement, and only after that bring in the melodic synths. If a mix sounds muddy, swap out one of the bass layers. Two sub patterns at once almost always fight each other. Every loop is the same number of bars and snaps to the master beat, so anything you drop in will fit rhythmically. Whether it fits harmonically is up to you.
Under the hood
Keeping every loop perfectly in sync was the hard part. Everything plays off one shared clock, so no matter when you drop a new icon, it comes in on the next bar instead of starting immediately. That seems obvious when you're playing, but it took me a couple of evenings of arguing with audio buffer scheduling to get it working. If you'd rather hold a beat in your head than build one, try Rockin' Tempo.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from Incredibox?
It's a small homage, not a clone. You get fewer sounds and only one stage, but the same drag-and-drop feel and lock-step looping. If you love Incredibox proper, definitely go buy it.
Why does my loop start on the next bar instead of right away?
Every sample is quantized to the master clock so dropped icons fall in on the next bar boundary. It's the only way to keep everything in sync no matter when you click.
Can I save or share my track?
Not yet. There's no recording or export right now. It's a live toy. Add it to the list of things I'd like to build next.
Does it work on mobile?
Yes, drag-and-drop works with touch. On iOS you may need to tap once to unlock audio (a Safari requirement) before sounds will play.