How to make a reggaeton beat on your phone, dembow first

Reggaeton lives in one rhythm, the dembow: boom, ch-boom, chick. In PadLoop you get it going in two minutes: download the Reggaeton kit, load Reggaeton Jam and tap a Dembow pad. Add bass and piano with one tap each. When you want a dembow of your own, you record it on the pads in about fifteen minutes. No kit yet? The free bank A is enough for your first dembow.

Hear the Reggaeton kitA beat built from the sounds and loops of PadLoop's Reggaeton kit, with no effects added.

Reggaeton

Tap it on the table first

Say it out loud: boom, ch-boom, chick. The booms are the kick, straight, one per beat: that's the floor people dance on. The ch and the chick are the snare, which never lands on the beat but just before or just after it. It skips, and that skip is what gets hips moving. Tap it on a table for ten seconds and your fingers will find it on the pads.

Tempo usually sits around 88 to 100 BPM (beats per minute); the kit's loops are at 95. Swing, the tiny delay on every other hit that makes a rhythm sway, stays off here (50% in MORE): dembow is all about tight hits. A little faster, around 100 to 115 BPM, you're in the world of afrobeats and amapiano.

Two minutes with Reggaeton Jam

In MORE → Plugins tap Download next to Reggaeton: 26 sounds in 2 banks, about 4.5 MB, part of the full version and included in the 7-day trial. Then in the PAD tab tap ⊞ (the menu of banks and Ready beats), pick Reggaeton Jam and say yes when PadLoop offers to set the project to 95 BPM.

Tap Dembow 1 and the drums keep going on their own. On the first beat of the loop bring in Bass, then Piano. Tap the Dembow again and it stops: there's your break. When you want a change there are Dembow 2 and 3, a guitar, two synths, a pad and a vocal.

Your own dembow from scratch

Kit already on your phone? Then:

1. In the PAD tab tap ⊞ and load the Reggaeton bank, the one with single hits (marked Plugin).
2. Tap the BPM in the top bar and set it to 95; at the top of the LOOP tab choose 2 bars (a bar is four counts: 1, 2, 3, 4).
3. Tap track 1 (the numbers at the top are tracks, the layers of your song), press REC and play Kick dembow on every beat: those are the booms.
4. Open the SEQ tab (the grid of squares), bring in Snare with Add pad and, in the 1/16 view, switch on squares 4, 7, 12 and 15: those are the snare hits.
5. On track 2 record the chords with Piano or a Synth, on track 3 the bass with 808 or Bass.
6. Before the hook, tap track 1's colored square in the LOOP tab to drop the kick, then save the track as MP3 or WAV with Export.

Watch the video on its own page →

Transcript

1. 0:00 Make a reggaeton beat from scratch
2. 0:02 Pick track 1 and tap REC: a one-bar count-in starts
3. 0:05 Track 1: the dembow, kick on every beat
4. 0:10 The loop starts again by itself: listen before adding more
5. 0:15 REC again on track 1: hi-hats
6. 0:20 Track 2: the chords
7. 0:25 Track 3: the bass
8. 0:31 All the layers, in time. Now arrange it.
9. 0:35 LOOP tab: mute the drums in time for a break
10. 0:41 …then the bass: the tension builds
11. 0:45 Drop: everything comes back in
12. 0:50 Hold an effect while it plays: filter down, then echo
13. 0:59 Note repeat on the hi-hat: rolls in time
14. 1:05 The performance recording is ready to share or export

Steady kick, skipping snare

Before the first layer you get a one-bar count-in, then you play. Slightly off? By default PadLoop snaps hits to the nearest sixteenth, so the loop comes out clean.

Prefer to play the snare instead of programming it? Press REC again on the same track: new hits add to the ones already there. A layer came out wrong? ↶ removes only the last one.

Then the details that make it groove:

• Hat twice per beat, softer than the kick: tap higher up on the pad and the hit comes out lighter.
• Clap on top of the snare now and then, for extra push.
• Timbal for fills: turn on ⟳ (repeats the hit in time), hold the pad and out comes a roll.

Minor chords, a long 808 underneath

Reggaeton chords are almost always minor and cycle through two or three changes. Play Piano or one of the three Synths, several fingers at once if you like.

For the bass, turn on the Keyboard (the piano button) and pick 808: the sound spreads across all the pads, low at the bottom, high at the top. With the Minor scale nothing clashes. A few long notes that start with the kick. Want a tighter bass? Pick Bass.

Riser, air horn and Ey!: the changes that light it up

A loop turns into a song when something happens. The Riser builds the tension before the hook. The Air horn hits on the first beat of the drop. The Ey! shout closes a phrase. They're one-shots: play them live or lock them into SEQ.

The oldest trick in the genre still works: drop the kick for two bars before the hook, then bring it back. Tap the track's colored square in the LOOP tab; with Mute in time on in MORE, the change lands in time even if you tap early.

Singing over it

Reggaeton is made for vocals. Tap the mic button on an empty track: after the count-in your voice drops into the loop in time, in takes of 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars. An eight-bar hook fits in one take. How to set up your voice, levels and headphones is on the page about how to record vocals over a beat.

A dembow on the free banks

The from-scratch video needs no download at all: every sound in it is on bank A, free forever. Kick and Snare for the dembow, Hat for the groove, Stab Cm and Stab Eb for the chords (C minor and E♭), Bass C and Bass G for the bass. The free version gives you 2 tracks: drums on the first, chords and bass layered on the second.

When you want more, the full version adds the Reggaeton kit, 16 tracks and export: more dembow sounds, room for a whole song and an MP3 to share. They're included in the 7-day trial, then it's one purchase. If pads and the sequencer are new to you, our guide to making beats on your phone starts from the very first hit.

Good to know

• Jamming with Reggaeton Jam? Start Record performance first. It keeps everything you play live, effects included, for up to 30 minutes (full version, open during the trial). Loop pads (they keep going until you tap them again) play live but stay out of recorded loops and exports.
• To sing, pick wired headphones or the speaker. Bluetooth headphones add a delay, so your voice would land late on the loop.

Reggaeton beat questions

What BPM is reggaeton?

Usually somewhere around 88 to 100 BPM. The loops in PadLoop's Reggaeton kit are played at 95 BPM; for a 90 BPM beat you lower the tempo and the loops follow without changing pitch.

What is the dembow rhythm and how do you play it?

A kick on every beat and a snare on the 4th and 7th sixteenth of each half bar. Said out loud: boom, ch-boom, chick. In PadLoop's step sequencer those are squares 4, 7, 12 and 15.

Can I make a reggaeton beat for free on my phone?

Yes, with bank A, which comes with PadLoop: kick, snare, hi-hat, two chords and two basses are enough for a dembow on 2 tracks, and they're the sounds used in the from-scratch video on this page. The Reggaeton kit and export come with the full version, and you can try both free for 7 days.

What's in the Reggaeton kit?

26 sounds in 2 banks. The Reggaeton bank has 16 one-shots: Kick dembow, 808, two snares, clap, hi-hats, timbal, bass, piano, three synths, Ey!, riser and air horn. The Reggaeton Jam bank has 95 BPM loops of drums, bass, piano, guitar, synths, pad and vocals.

Can I record vocals over the reggaeton beat?

Yes: the mic button on an empty track records your voice in time with the loop, in takes of 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars. To hear yourself in time, use wired headphones or the speaker.

Can I export the beat as an MP3?

Yes, with Export in the LOOP tab: an MP3 or WAV, or one WAV per track if you want to finish on a computer. Export is part of the full version and included in the 7-day trial.

Last updated: 21 October 2026