Quiet Lab: DJ Beat Maker

A cat in headphones builds a track in front of you.

It starts with a kick. Then a hat, a snare, a bass line, a lead, one lane at a time, and it says what it just did as it goes. By the end the whole grid is lit and the cats are dancing. Then it starts again on different music.

MAKE YOUR OWN

Switch to Build and the grid is yours. Tap the cells you want, press play, and it plays exactly what you put there. Every cell makes a sound.

EIGHT GENRES, FORTY EIGHT TRACKS

House, techno, dubstep, drum and bass, rock, trap, disco and lofi. Six tracks in each. Every one is its own pattern, its own key and sometimes its own tempo, so a genre is not one song on repeat.

House and lofi are free, with all twelve of their tracks and both modes, so you hear exactly what you would be paying for before you pay for it.

NOTHING HERE IS A RECORDING

Every kick, snare, hat, bass note and lead note is generated in code as it plays. There are no samples and no music files. Nothing is licensed from anybody, and the tempo slider changes the music instead of changing its pitch.

TWENTY THREE MACHINES THAT RUN THEMSELVES

The other half of the app is the Simulations tab. Nobody aims, nobody scores, nothing is lost. You set a few numbers, press Play, and watch what the rules do.

Merge Flask. A stream that falls, fuses and climbs.

Crusher. Two arms press, and everything they squeeze makes more.

Ray Optics. Falling dots, one mirror, one focus.

Flood Race. One way down, a tide behind them.

Growth Chamber. It gets bigger every time it touches the wall.

Chord Web. Thousands of points off one circle, drawing as they go.

And seventeen more.

MADE BY HAND

The physics is a solver written for this app, not an off the shelf engine, which is why a pile of soft things settles the way a pile of soft things settles.

MAKE A CLIP

Any machine records a whole run at the settings on screen, with its sound. Watch it back, then save it to Photos or share it. No extra purchase.

HOW IT IS PAID FOR

Merge Flask is free forever. Any other simulation is a one time purchase that opens it for good on your device, or you can open all twenty three at once.

DJ Beat Maker is sold on its own. House and lofi stay free. The other six genres are either a one time payment or a yearly plan, whichever suits you. No account, no sign in.

SUBSCRIPTION

DJ Beat Maker, yearly. One year, renewing. The price is shown in the app in your own currency before you buy anything. It renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends, and it can be managed or cancelled at any time in your Apple Account settings.

Sound plays even when your ring switch is silent, because the sound is the point.