Untitled mega hit v1 READY
tap a pad or hit keys Z X C V… 1.1
PADS A ACTUAL LIFE
BANK

The Dubstep groove

Dubstep at 140 BPM, felt at 70: one kick, a huge roomy snare on 3 only, hats that leave the bar empty, and a sub bassline that stutters into a wobble in the hole the snare leaves.

Tempo 140 BPM  ·  Feel straight  ·  Length 2 bars  ·  Family BASS

What makes it feel this way

Dubstep is written at 140 BPM and felt at 70. The snare lands on beat 3 and nowhere else, so every bar has one backbeat instead of two and the pulse halves; the tempo stays high so the hats and the bass can move in 16ths and 32nds against a slow nod. That gap - a whole beat and a half between the kick on 1 and the snare on 3 - is the genre. Nothing fills it except the sub, and the sub is the tune.

The kick is two pads: a punchy struck kick and a low sub kick under it, so beat 1 has both a click and a weight. The snare is an acoustic model with its wires up and a long room on it, layered with a wide clap, because a dubstep snare is not a hit but an event - South London producers in 2005 were putting the biggest snare they had on a half-time grid and letting it ring into the space. The hats are deliberately thin: 8ths with a tight 16th on the last two "a"s of each half-bar and an open hat on the "and" of 4, and a shaker on the off-16ths so the bar never goes quiet between them.

The three SUB pads are one bassline. In the main pattern it sits on F, drops to Ab on the "and" of 3 and to G on the second bar's turnaround, retriggered in 8ths so the low end pulses instead of holding. The variation stutters it - the same notes retriggered in 16ths and 32nds through the back half of each bar, which is the rhythmic half of a wobble; the filter half is yours, on the pad's FILT knob. The stripped section takes out every kick but the downbeat and every sub but the root. The build keeps bar 1 and turns bar 2 into a riser, three rising toms and a snare roll accelerating into the crash on the next downbeat, which is where the drop goes.

Swing is zero. Dubstep's movement is in the sub's rhythm and the snare's tail, never in the grid.

What BPM is dubstep?

The dubstep groove on this page runs at 140 BPM, straight, no swing, over 2 bars. Change the tempo in the transport if you want it faster or slower - the pattern keeps its feel because swing and velocity travel with it.

Wondering about tempo? What BPM is dubstep? - 138-142 BPM, and why.

It is loaded and playing

This page loads the groove as a full four-part arrangement - a main groove, a variation, a stripped-back section and a fill - chained together, on a kit built only for this rhythm. Press Space to hear it, open EDIT to see every hit on the step grid, and change anything you like. SHARE copies a link that rebuilds your version.

Frequently asked

Is this a dubstep pad online?

Yes. The sixteen pads above are the dubstep kit - kick, sub kick, the big snare, clap, hats, a shaker, three sub bass notes, rim, tom, crash, a riser and a minor stab - and they play from the keyboard (Z X C V is the bottom row) or a MIDI controller, velocity and all. The groove is looping under them; REC records what you play into it.

Why is dubstep 140 BPM if it feels slow?

Because the snare lands on beat 3 only. One backbeat a bar instead of two halves the pulse you nod to, so 140 is felt as 70, while the hats and the sub keep the fast grid. What BPM is dubstep? has the range and the neighbours.

How do I make the wobble bass?

Half of a wobble is rhythm and half is filter. The B pattern has the rhythm: the sub retriggered in 16ths and 32nds through the back half of each bar. For the filter, open PAD on a SUB pad and move FILT while it plays - or record the loop, then automate the filter over it.

Other grooves

BAP Studio is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.

Made by Max Berggren.