How to make lofi beats on your phone, from vinyl crackle to keys

The quickest lofi beat on your phone starts from a ready-made one: in PadLoop open ⊞ (the menu for banks and Ready beats) and pick the Lo-fi beat: soft drums, upright bass and dreamy chords at 82 BPM (beats per minute). Then wear it down with the Lo-fi slider and play on top in key. A few minutes later you have a lazy, dusty beat of your own.

Hear what comes out of PadLoopRecorded inside the app with PadLoop's sounds, exactly as it comes out: no mixing on a computer.

Lo-fi jazz

Watch the video on its own page →

Transcript

1. 0:00 Make a lo-fi beat from scratch
2. 0:02 Pick track 1 and tap REC: a one-bar count-in starts
3. 0:06 Track 1: slow piano chords
4. 0:12 The loop starts again by itself: listen before adding more
5. 0:18 Track 2: soft, laid-back drums
6. 0:24 Track 3: a round bass
7. 0:31 All the layers, in time. Now arrange it.
8. 0:36 LOOP tab: mute the drums in time for a break
9. 0:43 …then the bass: the tension builds
10. 0:49 Drop: everything comes back in
11. 0:55 Hold an effect while it plays: filter down, then echo
12. 1:07 Note repeat on the hi-hat: rolls in time
13. 1:13 The performance recording is ready to share or export

Six steps, from crackle to file

1. Open ⊞ in the PAD tab, go to Ready beats and tap Lo-fi: sounds, tempo and groove arrive together.
2. Press ► at the top: drums loop on track 1, upright bass and chords on track 2 (each track is one layer of the song, numbered at the top).
3. Turn on the pencil (it edits pads), tap a pad and raise its Lo-fi slider: it sounds like an old sampler. Then turn the pencil off.
4. Tap the piano button for the Keyboard, pick the Dream stab pad and the Min. pentatonic scale: every note fits the beat.
5. Pick track 3, press REC and improvise a melody while the loop goes round.
6. For the file, open the LOOP tab, tap Export and choose MP3 or WAV.

The pencil and the Keyboard stay free forever on banks A and B. The Lo-fi beat, track 3 and export belong to the full version: a dusty groove in one tap and your track as an MP3. All three are included in the 7-day trial.

The sound of a worn-out cassette

Lo-fi is built on flaws. A tape played a hundred times, a record crackling between songs, a piano recorded in a small room. What used to be a limitation is now the genre: dull highs, soft hits, a lazy groove that stays out of the way while you study, read or unwind. That's why study playlists are full of it.

The tempo stays low, usually 70 to 90 BPM: the Ready beat sits at 82. And swing (the offbeat hits arrive a little late and the rhythm turns lazy) is easy to hear here: the Lo-fi Ready beat is at 60%, lazier than boom bap (54-58%). You set it in MORE.

What's in the Lo-fi Dust bank

The beat records two bars (each bar counts four beats: 1, 2, 3, 4):

• track 1, drums: Kick, Snare and Hat with accents and ghost hits, a finger snap (Snap) on beat four and a vinyl hit at the top of every bar
• track 2, music: an upright bass line (Upright), chords on Dream stab and a reversed piano hit at the end

The bank (16 pads on one page, one of the letters A–H) comes with the beat, but you can also load it on its own from Ready banks to start from scratch:

Brake and Tape stop are the record slowing down: they close a phrase right before the loop comes back. The hip hop beat draws on these same sounds, but runs at 90 BPM. All 24 styles are on the Ready beats page.

Dust it up: on the pad, with the bolt, on the whole jam

On a single pad. With the pencil on, tap a pad to open its settings. The Lo-fi slider crushes it like the old samplers. The Filter turned left drowns it: keys that sound like they're in the next room. "Reversed" plays it backwards, Attack makes it swell in. The best part: the pad's Lo-fi slider and Filter stay in the exported file too.

With the bolt (the button for hold-down effects). The grid turns into eight effects: Filter down, Filter up, Echo, Reverb, Pitch down, Lo-fi, Flanger and Robot. Hold a finger and everything changes; let go and it's clean again. A Pitch down held over the last bar sounds like a tape grinding to a halt.

On the whole jam. In MORE, reverb, tempo-synced echo and a filter that rolls off the highs stay on. Rolling off the highs on everything is the quickest route to that cassette feel.

The bolt and MORE effects are for playing live: to print them into a file, use Record performance.

Transcript

1. 0:00 Shape the sound of every pad
2. 0:02 The beat plays the pads of bank E
3. 0:04 Pencil on: tap a pad and its panel opens
4. 0:07 Echo on the chords pad: you hear it right away in the loop
5. 0:09 Filter: the chords get darker
6. 0:11 Snare: pitch up and a touch of Lo-fi
7. 0:17 Volume, attack, release, mode, reverse: every pad is yours

Soft chords with no wrong notes

In lo-fi the harmony is what counts: two or four soft chords going round.

• The Keyboard spreads one sound across all the pads in a scale, low at the bottom, high at the top. With Dream stab or Upright, already tuned to the beat, pick Min. pentatonic or Minor: no wrong notes. Chords work with several fingers. More on the Keyboard in key page.
• The Soul Keys bank has E-Piano, Min7, Funky EP, Organ, the Ooh and Aah voices, a Soul loop and a Jazz loop.
• The Grand Piano plugin adds a piano with real recorded notes.

The Soul Keys bank and the plugin come with the full version, and you can play both during the trial.

Lazier drums, played by you

Mute track 1 of the Ready beat (in the LOOP tab, tap the colored square with its number) and record your own on another track. Want a different kit? The Lo-fi Machine bank in the Drum Machines plugin (full version) has one.

Transcript

1. 0:00 A dusty lo-fi beat with the Lo-fi Machine kit
2. 0:01 Tap ⊞: the plugins add their kits to the list
3. 0:07 ► next to Lo-fi Machine: hear a taste
4. 0:11 Tap the name and load it onto a free bank: F
5. 0:16 Soft kick and snare, hats, congas and 808 bass, all dusty and warm
6. 0:27 Slow it down, add the Lo-fi effect and record it as a loop

• Grid off, in MORE: you hear your exact timing, imperfections and all. You can change it after the loop is done.
• Whispered hits: in SEQ (the step grid) long-press a lit cell and lower its strength.
• Fewer parts: kick, a soft snare and the Snap are enough. Lo-fi lives in the gaps.

For the layer-by-layer approach, see how to make beats on your phone.

Half an hour of lo-fi to study to

A two-bar loop lasts a few seconds. To turn it into background music you have two routes. Export gives you an MP3 or WAV with 1, 2 or 4 repeats; Separate tracks gives one WAV per track in a zip. Record performance captures you live for up to 30 minutes, effects included: let the beat run, change a chord now and then, drop the drums for a moment, and you've got half an hour of your own lo-fi. Export and Record performance are full-version features, open during the trial.

Questions about making lo-fi on your phone

How do you make lofi beats on your phone?

The quickest way is to start from PadLoop's Lo-fi Ready beat and play a melody over it in key. Then wear the sounds down with the Lo-fi slider, add layers on the looper and save the beat as an MP3 or WAV.

What BPM is lofi?

Usually 70 to 90 BPM: slow, so it stays out of the way while you study. PadLoop's Lo-fi Ready beat sits at 82; for something even calmer, lower the BPM by tapping it in the top bar.

How much swing should a lofi beat have?

In lo-fi you can hear the swing: the Lo-fi Ready beat sits at 60%, lazier than boom bap (54-58%). You set it in MORE, from 50% (straight) upwards.

How do I get that vinyl, dusty sound?

The Lo-fi Dust bank already has Vinyl, Scratch, Brake, Rewind and Tape stop. On top of that every pad has a Lo-fi slider and a Filter, and the bolt has a Lo-fi effect you hold down.

Can I make lofi beats with AI or online?

In PadLoop you play the beat yourself, with your fingers, and it all happens on the phone, even offline. The only AI in the app is the optional plugin that splits a song into stems.

Is there a free lofi beat maker app?

PadLoop is free to download and you can use everything free for 7 days. After that, 2 banks, 2 tracks and one project stay free forever; the one-time purchase, no subscription, adds the Lo-fi Ready beat and export, for a finished track to share.

Can I make a long lofi track to study to?

Yes. Export repeats the loop 1, 2 or 4 times; for a longer track use Record performance, which captures you live for up to 30 minutes, effects included. Both are part of the full version and included in the trial.

Can I record guitar or vocals over my lofi beat?

Yes: tap a track's 🎤 and the microphone lands inside the loop, in time. With wired headphones only your instrument ends up in the recording.

Last updated: 21 October 2026