The MP 2X and SP 40

Drop has two drum machines: the MP 2X and the SP 40. They work the same way and only look different, so everything in this manual applies to both. You can use them on the web or in the Chrome extension.

1Quick start

1. Open the machine. Go to dropsampler.com → Play it now, or open Drop from the Chrome toolbar.
2. Click anywhere on the machine. This turns on the keyboard, so your computer keys play the pads. Click outside the machine to type normally again.
3. Hit some pads. Click them, or use the keys 1234, QWER, ASDF, ZXCV. They're laid out just like the pads.
4. Press Play (P). A demo song is loaded the first time you open Drop. Stop is Space.
5. Make your own. Press Rec (Enter), wait for the four-beat count-in, and play the pads. Your hits loop.
6. Save it. Press SAVE (Y) and pick Project to keep the beat, or Bounce WAV for an audio file.

2The machine, part by part

Here's the MP 2X with its main parts numbered. The SP 40 has the same parts in the same jobs.

1. 1Main screen. Song, tempo, bar and beat, and a picture of the pattern. Drag the braces to set the loop.
2. 2LOAD and SAVE. Bring in sounds and beats, or save your work. More
3. 3Pad screen. The last pad you hit, its sample, and messages. Click it to open the chop card. More
4. 4Kits 1–4. Four drum kits, one per button. More
5. 5Mixer row. Mixer, Levels, Mutes, Patterns, Song, and pad pages 1 and 2. More
6. 6The 16 pads. Click, tap, or use the keys. More
7. 7Track keys and edit keys. Tracks 1–8, Undo, Redo, Choke, Dup, Dbl. More
8. 8Pattern keys 1–8. Pick a pattern. Copy and Roll sit beside them. More
9. 9Tempo. Turn the wheel or use − and +. Also Click, Qnt (quantize), Swg (swing), Tap, and Erase.
10. 10Transport. Play, Stop, Rec, Overdub.
11. 11Effect keys. Lo-fi and four pad effects, then 1/8, 1/16 and the stutter knob. More
12. 12Mic and Rsmp. Sample your mic, or record the machine itself onto a pad. More
13. 13Room controls. Tone, vinyl, levels, siren and filter for the whole sound. More
14. 14Machine switch. Swap between the MP 2X and the SP 40.
15. 15Keys. Shows every keyboard shortcut. More
16. 16Guide. A short guided tour on the machine.

The SP 40

Same parts, same numbers, different look. Switch with the machine switch (14), or type S then P for the SP 40 and M then P for the MP 2X. Two real differences:

• Each SP 40 pad has a small start slider under its number, so you can set where a sample starts without opening the chop card.
• The pad effects differ. The MP 2X has Filter, Delay, Reverb, Comp. The SP 40 has Vinyl, Filter, Echo, Spring.

3Play the pads

• Click or tap a pad. A hit nearer the middle plays a little louder.
• Keyboard: the four rows of keys match the four rows of pads. Click the machine first.
• MIDI keyboard or pad controller: plug it in and play. C1 is the bottom-left pad, then across and up. The notes after the 16 pads play page 2, and after those come the sirens.
• Kits: buttons 1–4 above the pads pick a kit, or press J for the next one. Each track remembers its own kit.
• Page 2: buttons 1 and 2 at the end of the mixer row switch pad pages. Page 2 is 16 more pads for your own samples and resamples.
• Stop everything ringing: hold Choke, press 5, or tap Stop twice.

4Load sounds

Press LOAD (U) at the top of the main screen. The card offers:

Option	What it does
Drop tape	Opens a saved beat (.drop.json): every pattern, kit and sample, exactly as it was.
Community bag	Opens a bag from the community. Its kits fill whole kit slots, and its samples land on empty pads.
Kit file	Loads one kit (.kit.drop.json).
Pick a file…	Opens any of the above, or an audio file.
Sample → pad	Pick an audio file (WAV, MP3, M4A, AIFF, FLAC…), then tap the pad it should go on.
Sticker	Puts a PNG or SVG sticker on the machine's case.
Demo beats	Six songs made on Drop. Open one to see how it was built.

Faster ways to get a sample on a pad

• Drag and drop an audio file straight onto a pad.
• Right-click a pad to pick a file for it. Right-click a pad that has your sample to clear it.
• Mic: press MIC, tap a pad, make your sound, then tap the same pad again to keep it. You don't hear the mic while it records, so it can't feed back. Shift-click MIC if you want to hear it, with headphones on.
• Rsmp (resample): records the machine itself onto a pad, effects and all. Press RSMP (I) and tap a pad; it glows orange and waits. Play a pad or start a pattern and recording begins (the glow turns red). Tap the pad or RSMP again to finish. Up to about 32 seconds.

5Shape a sound: the chop card

Hit a pad, then click the pad screen (or press Shift+S). The chop card opens for that pad. It has two sides.

Front

Back

Press Back to turn the card over: Vol, Filter, Reso, Low, Mid, High for this pad only. In Keys mode a third row appears (Glide, Decay and Vibrato in Mono; Chorus, Detune and Attack in Poly). Drag a knob up to turn it up; double-click to reset.

6Effects

Pad effects

1. Click an effect key (or Lo-fi).
2. Tap the pad you want it on.
3. Click the same key again for a stronger setting. There are three, shown as dots on the pad. A fourth click turns it off.

Lo-fi is also B. The four effects are L M G H. Esc cancels.

Stutter

1/8, 1/16 and the knob beside them repeat the whole beat in short bursts while it plays. Tap again, or turn the knob to 0, to let the beat back in.

7Record a beat

Tracks

Each pattern has 8 tracks, so you can record drums, bass and chords separately. The four keys 1/5, 2/6, 3/7, 4/8 pick them: tap once for tracks 1–4, tap the same key again for tracks 5–8. The color tells you which you're on. Recording, overdubbing and erasing only touch the active track.

Recording

1. Pick a track.
2. Press Rec (Enter). On an empty pattern it counts in four beats, then records from the top. If the track already has hits, it records over the loop straight away.
3. Play the pads. Press Overdub (O) to add more on later passes.
4. Press Stop (Space). Undo (⌘+Z) takes back the last change.

Timing

Patterns

• The blue 1–8 keys pick a pattern (, and . step through them; Shift+1–8 jumps).
• Dup copies this pattern to the next one. Dbl doubles its length (2 bars becomes 4).
• Copy, then a pattern key, copies this pattern there. Copy, then two pads, copies a pad's sound, effects and level to another pad.

A on the main screen controls recorded knob moves: Read plays them back, Write records new ones, Off ignores them.

8Edit in the roll

Press Roll (next to Copy), or double-click the main screen. The roll shows the active track.

• Add a hit: click an empty spot. Remove one: double-click it. Move one: drag it.
• Loudness: scroll over a hit.
• Bars 1 / 2 / 4 / 8 sets the length. 1/5–4/8 switches tracks.
• Zoom: − and +, or Fit to see the whole pattern.
• Clear wipes this track only. Undo brings it back.
• Space plays and stops while the roll is open. ← → step the playhead; add Shift to step a bar.

9The mixer

The mixer lives in the pad area. Use the row above the pads, or press ;.

Button	What it shows
Levels	A volume fader per pad. Tap Levels again for track volumes (tracks 1–8).
Mutes	Mute pads. Tap again to mute whole tracks.
Patterns	The 16 pads become pattern keys, handy while performing.
Song	Opens the song arranger. More

Esc puts the pads back.

10Make a song

1. Press Song on the mixer row.
2. Tap patterns in the order you want; each one joins the chain at the bottom.
3. Use − and + on a block to repeat it. Drag blocks to reorder.
4. Space plays the song. Click a block to listen from there.
5. Press Done. Song mode stays on; One pattern goes back to looping a single pattern.

Each part plays with its own tracks, kits and mix. A song can run up to about six minutes. Saving a Project keeps the song.

11Save and share

Press SAVE (Y). Name the beat at the top; every file uses that name.

Option	You get
Project	A .drop.json file with everything: patterns, song, tracks, kits, effects and your samples. LOAD opens it again.
Bounce WAV	An audio file of the loop, or of the whole song in song mode.
Stems zip	The WAV plus one dry WAV per pad, all lined up, for mixing in another music program.
New beat	Clears the machine. If you have unsaved changes, it asks first.
This kit only	The pads of the current kit, as a .kit.drop.json.

Share a beat in the community

1. Save your beat as a Project.
2. Open the community Beats page.
3. Open Drop a beat, drop your .drop.json in, add a title, a note and the machine, then press Put it in the crate.

Anyone can then Spin it (listen), Take tape (load it into their machine), or Share it. If your beat uses someone else's recording, read what clearing means before you release it.

12The room controls

The lower half of the machine shapes everything you hear, drums included.

13Keyboard shortcuts

Click the machine first so the keyboard is on. On Windows, use Ctrl for ⌘ and Alt for Opt.

14Words Drop uses

15If something's wrong

Still stuck? Ask in the community Talk board or email azwareadmin@gmail.com.