Make house and techno on your phone, four on the floor first

In PadLoop a house beat is one tap away: tap ⊞ (the menu for banks and Ready beats) and pick the House Ready beat at 122 BPM (beats per minute) or Techno at 128. Within a minute a four-on-the-floor kick, bass and chords are looping, and you play the pads on top. From scratch, on the free bank, it takes about ten minutes.

Hear what comes out of PadLoopRecorded inside the app with PadLoop's sounds, exactly as they come out: no mixing on a computer. Tap a title to switch beat.

Deep housePiano house

The video at the top is House straight out of the menu: one tap, and the pads are already in tune with the beat.

A house beat looping in one minute

1. In the PAD tab tap ⊞ and open Ready beats at the top of the list.
2. Press ► next to House or Techno to hear them first.
3. Tap the name: the sounds load onto the first empty bank, and the project takes the beat's tempo and swing (how much the rhythm sways).
4. Press ► and play the other pads on top. Got an idea? Hit REC on an empty track and play it: it stays in the loop.

Each one is 2 bars already recorded: House on the House 95 bank, with Bass stab, Organ and Chord on track 2; Techno on the Dark Techno bank, with Pluck, Analog and Dark stab. From there it's your loop: redo the drums, add layers, change BPM and swing. More on the Ready beats page.

From scratch in ten minutes

A bar is a group of four beats (1, 2, 3, 4); tracks are the numbers at the top, each one a layer of the song.

1. Set the tempo: tap the BPM in the top bar and pick 122 for house or 128 for techno; at the top of the LOOP tab choose 2 bars.
2. Pick your sounds: bank A, which you already have, has kick, clap, hi-hats, bass and chords. For a more house sound, tap ⊞ and load House 95, where you use Snare instead of Clap.
3. Record four on the floor: tap track 1, press REC and play Kick on every beat.
4. Clap and hi-hats without playing them: open the SEQ tab (the step grid) and bring in Clap and Open Hat with Add pad (on House 95 use Snare instead of Clap). Switch on Clap on squares 5 and 13 (beats 2 and 4) and Open Hat on 3, 7, 11 and 15 (between the kicks).
5. Add bass and chords: on track 2 play Bass C and Stab Cm (on House 95, Bass stab and Chord), short hits in the gaps between kicks.
6. Give the track space: in the LOOP tab tap track 1's square and the kick drops out, tap it again and it's back. With Mute in time on (in MORE) the change always lands in time, even if you tap early.
7. Export: use Export in the LOOP tab to save the beat as MP3 or WAV.

Up to step 6, the free version is all you need: bank A and two tracks. House 95 and the export in step 7 belong to the full version, and the trial includes both.

Watch the video on its own page →

Transcript

1. 0:00 Make a house beat from scratch
2. 0:02 Pick track 1 and tap REC: a one-bar count-in starts
3. 0:05 Track 1: four on the floor, kick on every beat and clap on 2 and 4
4. 0:08 The loop starts again by itself: listen before adding more
5. 0:12 REC again on track 1: open hats on the offbeat and a shaker
6. 0:16 Track 2: chord stabs
7. 0:21 Track 3: the bassline
8. 0:25 All the layers, in time. Now arrange it.
9. 0:28 LOOP tab: mute the drums in time for a break
10. 0:33 …then the bass: the tension builds
11. 0:37 Drop: everything comes back in
12. 0:40 Hold an effect while it plays: filter down, then echo
13. 0:48 Note repeat on the hi-hat: rolls in time
14. 0:52 The performance recording is ready to share or export

House or techno: what's the difference?

Both run on four on the floor: a kick on every beat, always. On top of that, the recipe changes.

House:

• tempo usually around 118 to 128 BPM
• clap or snare on 2 and 4, open hi-hat on the offbeat
• shaker, organ, piano and warm chords, sometimes a vocal

Techno:

• tempo generally around 125 to 140 BPM
• a harder kick, offbeat cymbals, repetitive dark synths
• no swing (50% in MORE): straight like a machine

Transcript

1. 0:00 A dark techno groove at 128 BPM
2. 0:01 Tap ⊞: 29 banks are already built in
3. 0:07 ► next to Dark Techno: hear a taste
4. 0:11 Tap the name and load it onto a free bank: F
5. 0:16 Four-on-the-floor kick, off-beat cymbals, an acid line and dark stabs
6. 0:24 Hold Filter down to build the next drop

Swing is how late every other hit lands. In the Ready beats, House has 52% and Techno 50%, which means dead straight. There's a Disco at 120 BPM too and, among the complete ones (4 bars, a track per instrument), a Deep house at 122 BPM with chords, drums, bass and vibraphone: it needs the Marimba & vibraphone plugin. Want it much faster? Drum and bass runs around 170-175 BPM: see how to make drum and bass and jungle.

How to make sequenced drums feel alive

In the 1/16 view each bar has 16 squares. Kick on 1, 5, 9 and 13, clap on 5 and 13, open hat on 3, 7, 11 and 15. The shaker fills what's left.

All the same sounds fake. Long-press a lit square to set its hit strength: strong shakers on the downbeats, soft ones in between, and the groove comes alive. Leave swing at 50% for techno, or nudge it to 52% for house.

The club trick: turn on the bolt (the button for hold-down effects) and hold Filter down while the loop plays: the sound closes up. Let go and it opens back out. Even better right before the kick comes back in.

Which sounds for bass and chords?

In Ready banks you'll find:

• House 95: Bass stab, Organ, Rave piano, Chord and two vocals, on top of the drums.
• Dark Techno: Sub dist, Dark stab, Pluck, Acid, Dub chord, Analog, Detuned, Ambient, Boom and Impact.
• Chords: 16 ready-made chords, including House, Detroit and Rave.
• Drum Machines (plugin, 48 sounds): Machine 80, Machine 90 and Lo-fi Machine, with kick, clap, hi-hats, cymbals, cowbell and basses.

Turn on the Keyboard and a Bass stab becomes a bassline in key, with no wrong notes. In house the bass often sits on the offbeat, in the gap between two kicks: that's what gets heads nodding.

There's also Club Jam, a bank of ready-made loops (House 1, Deep house, Garage, Disco, Acid bass, Dark tech and more). To make one follow the project BPM, tap the pencil (the button that edits pads), open the pad and switch on In time with the project.

How do you arrange a club track?

House and techno live on things dropping out and coming back: the kick disappears for eight bars, then returns. It's the move from step 6, repeated on every layer: one tap on the colored square and the track goes quiet, another and it's back.

The looper goes up to 16 tracks: see the looper app page. To capture a whole set, with mutes and hold-down effects, use Record performance: up to 30 minutes live.

Four on the floor costs nothing

Free bank A is enough for four on the floor with clap, bass and chords on two tracks, with no time limit. The House and Techno Ready beats are free to listen to any time. Loading them is part of the full version (a single purchase, €9.99 in Europe), together with House 95, Drum Machines, tracks beyond the second, the final MP3 and Record performance: the whole set, from groove to file. All of it is included in the 7-day trial.

House and techno beat questions

Can you make house music on a phone?

Yes. In PadLoop you play four-on-the-floor drums on the pads, add claps, hi-hats, bass and chords on separate tracks, tidy them in the step sequencer and export to MP3 or WAV. To start right away there's the House Ready beat at 122 BPM.

What BPM is house music?

Usually around 118 to 128 BPM. In PadLoop's Ready beats, House sits at 122 BPM with a light 52% swing.

What BPM is techno?

Generally around 125 to 140 BPM, sometimes faster. PadLoop's Techno Ready beat is at 128 BPM, straight, with swing at 50%.

What does four on the floor mean?

It means a kick drum on each of the four beats of the bar, every bar. It's the foundation of house, techno and disco.

What's the difference between house and techno?

House is a little slower and warmer: claps, open hi-hats on the offbeat, organ, piano and chords. Techno is faster and drier: a harder kick, repetitive synths and darker sounds.

Is there a free house beat maker app?

PadLoop is free to download and stays free forever with 2 banks, 2 looper tracks and one project: bank A is enough for four on the floor with bass and chords. The full version adds Ready beats, Ready banks and export, and all three are included in the 7-day trial.

Do I need a computer or internet?

Your phone is enough: PadLoop plays everything right there, offline too, on Android and iPhone. To finish a track on a computer, export one WAV per track.

Are the House and Techno Ready beats free?

Listening to them is always free. Loading them is part of the full version: during the 7-day trial you can load them all, then a one-time purchase keeps them, no subscription.

Last updated: 21 October 2026