Drum Swing & Humanizer: Add Swing and Groove to Drums
Give stiff drums swing and human feel.
A 16-step drum machine with swing from 50% to 75%, a lazy snare, loose hats and human timing. Swing your own MIDI file too. Free.
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Pattern
Tap a step once for a soft hit, twice for an accent, three times to clear.
Feel
The classic head-nod swing of 90s hip-hop drum machines.
Swing your own MIDI file
Export a drum or hi-hat pattern from your DAW as MIDI, choose it here, and get it back with the feel above: off-beat 16ths moved late, the snare laid back, the hats loosened and the velocities varied.
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How it works
Start a pattern
Pick boom-bap, lo-fi, trap or neo-soul, or program the 16-step grid. Tap once for a soft hit, twice for an accent.
Set the swing
Try 54% for a light bounce, 62% for classic hip-hop swing or 66% for a shuffle. The slider shows how late that is at your tempo.
Humanize it
Add a lazy snare, loose hats, human timing and velocity variation, or choose the Lazy, behind the beat preset.
Export
Download a 4-bar MIDI file or an audio loop, or choose your own MIDI file and download it swung.
About the Drum Swing & Humanizer: Add Swing and Groove to Drums
Completely free: free account, no credits, no limit. It runs in your browser, so your audio stays on your device.
The Drum Swing & Humanizer gives programmed drums the push and pull of a drummer. Swing plays the second 16th note of every pair late: 50% is straight, around 54% is a light bounce, 60–62% is the head-nod swing of classic hip-hop drum machines, and 66% lands on a triplet shuffle. The display shows exactly how many milliseconds late that is at your tempo.
On top of swing you can lay the snare and clap behind the beat, loosen the hi-hats, add small random timing changes and vary the velocities, so no two hits are identical. Presets go from Straight to a lazy, unquantized behind-the-beat feel. Program a pattern on the 16-step grid (or start from boom-bap, lo-fi, trap or neo-soul) and hear the feel change while it plays.
Download the groove as a 4-bar MIDI file for your DAW or as a WAV or MP3 drum loop, or choose your own MIDI drum file and get it back swung and humanized. The feels are general styles, not copies of any producer.
What you can use it for
- ✓Make a quantized hi-hat pattern feel human
- ✓Get a lazy, behind-the-beat lo-fi or neo-soul groove
- ✓Swing a MIDI drum file from your DAW
- ✓Learn what swing percentages actually sound like
Step-by-step guide: How to Add Swing to Drums (and Humanize MIDI)
Frequently asked questions
What does swing percentage mean?
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It is where the second 16th of each pair lands between two 8th notes. 50% is exactly halfway (straight); 66% is two-thirds of the way, a triplet shuffle. Most hip-hop swing sits between 54% and 62%.
What is the difference between swing and humanize?
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Swing moves every off-beat 16th by the same amount, so the groove stays tight. Humanize adds small random changes to timing and velocity so hits are not identical, like a real drummer.
How do I get a “drunk” or behind-the-beat feel?
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Use the Lazy, behind the beat preset, or set a late snare of 15–25 ms, loose hats and a little human timing. The kick stays on the grid while the rest leans back.
Can I swing my own MIDI file?
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Yes. Choose a .mid file exported from your DAW and download it swung. Off-beat 16ths move late, General MIDI snares lean back and hats loosen; tempo is read from the file.
How many milliseconds is 62% swing?
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It depends on the tempo: at 90 BPM, 62% swing on 16th notes is 40 ms late; at 120 BPM it is 30 ms. The slider shows the exact number at your tempo, and our guide What Is Swing in Music has the full table.
Can I import the MIDI into FL Studio, Ableton or Logic?
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Yes. The download is a standard 4-bar .mid file on General MIDI drum notes (kick 36, snare 38, clap 39, hats 42 and 46), so it opens in any DAW and plays on any drum kit.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
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Yes. Program the grid with taps, play it and download the MIDI or the drum loop from the phone browser.
Is it really free?
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Yes. It is completely free, with a free account: no limit and no watermark. It runs in your browser, so your audio stays on your device.