Swing and groove lab

Hear what swing really does. Pick a groove, drag the swing slider, hold the straight button to compare, and balance every sound on the mixer. All sounds are built in. Free, in your browser.

1. Pick a groove

2. Play it and shape the swing

Swing 62%

Tempo 90 BPM

Faint lines are the straight grid. The dots slide later as you add swing. Tap a dot to add or remove a hit.

3. Mix it

M mutes a channel and S solos it. Switch on the straight click to hear a metronome on the unswung grid and hear exactly how far the groove drifts from it.

What is swing?

Notes come in pairs: on the beat, then the note in between. Swing delays the second note of each pair. At 50% the pair is dead even. At about 66% the second note lands two thirds of the way along, which is the triplet feel of jazz and shuffles. Anything between is a gentler push.

Jazz and blues usually swing eighth notes. Hip hop, neo soul and garage usually swing sixteenth notes, which sounds tighter and busier. Drum machines, including the MPC family, let you set swing as a percentage like this. Rough guide: up to 55% is a light touch, around 58 to 62% is the boom bap and lo-fi zone, 66% is a triplet.

Want your beats to feel better, with a teacher?

At Ministry of Tunes we teach music technology, with a focus on the MPC and Cubase, as well as guitar and bass theory and practice. We can help you tune your groove, timing and workflow for your own style. Book a free skill assessment and we’ll map out your first steps.