Dubstep drum patterns.

9 dubstep patterns at 140 BPM. Play one, change any step, take it to your DAW as MIDI.

Dubstep is 140 BPM with the snare on beat three only, so the bar feels like 70 and the bass has the room. Early dubstep kept UK garage's 2-step kick and shuffled hats under that snare; the louder styles that came later stacked a clap and a crash on it and let the kick answer the bass line. Drumstep is the same snare placement at drum and bass speed. The patterns here are those frames.

Half-time. Kick on one, snare on three, hats sparse: the frame everything else hangs on.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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2-step dubstep. Kick on one and the and of two, snare on three, shuffled sixteenth hats: the older, garage-born kind.

Hat
Rim
Snare
Kick

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Wobble. The kick doubled on the a of three, a clap on the snare, a stab on the and of four.

Hat
Stab
Clap
Snare
Kick

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Riddim. Kick on one and the and of two, snare on three, open hat on the and of three.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Brostep. Snare and clap stacked on three with a crash, kicks on one and the a of two.

Crash
Hat
Clap
Snare
Kick

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Drumstep. Half-time at 174: the dubstep snare at drum and bass speed.

Hat
Snare
Kick

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Two bars, kick answer. Bar two moves the kick to the and of one and adds a snare on the a of four.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Kick and snare only. Kick on one, snare on three, nothing else: the bar the bass drops into.

Snare
Kick

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Riddim, two bars. The riddim kicks with a second snare on the a of four in bar two and the open hat moved to the and of one.

Open hat
Hat
Snare
Kick

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Open in the drum sequencer →

How a dubstep beat is built

The kick

The snare on three

Hats on every beat

Then a variation: 2‑step dubstep

Kick on step 1, snare on step 9, hats on the beats only. That is the half-time frame, and most dubstep adds to it rather than changing it. 2-step dubstep puts a second kick on the and of two (step 7), swings the hats to 56 and skips them in sixteenths, a garage inheritance. Wobble doubles the kick on the a of three (step 12), stacks a clap on the snare and puts a stab on step 15 where the bass turns. Riddim keeps the 2-step kicks and opens the hat on the and of three. Brostep stacks snare, clap and crash on beat three with kicks on one and the a of two. Drumstep is the snare on three at 174 with a kick on the a of four as a pickup. The two-bar pattern moves bar two's kick to the and of one and adds a snare on the a of four.

More drum patterns

The beat you want is in a song you’re playing.

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Questions.

What tempo is dubstep?

138 to 142 BPM, with the grid at 140, always with the snare on three so it feels like 70. Drumstep runs at 170 to 175 with the same snare placement; riddim sits at 140 to 145.

Why only one snare a bar?

Because the bass is the lead instrument and the snare on three is the one hit that frames it. A snare on two and four at 140 would make it drum and bass's cousin instead.

Where do the hats go in dubstep?

Sparse, on the beats, in the basic frame; shuffled sixteenths in the 2-step style; eighths with a single open hat in riddim. The hats carry most of the difference between the sub-styles on this page.

More free tools

All free tools →

Drum sequencer

Program a beat on a 16-step grid.

Drum pad

16 pads on your keyboard, your own sounds too.

Metronome

A steady click, and a click track to download.