How the drum extractor works
The drum extractor runs a full four-stem split, vocals, drums, bass and other, and then solos the drums. The separation is done by HTDemucs, an AI model from Meta AI research, running in your browser with WebAssembly.
You hear a rough preview in about a second. The AI pass follows and gives you a much tighter drum stem, with less bass and vocal left behind.
What you can do with isolated drums
Producers and drummers extract drums for different reasons:
- Sample a break and chop it into a new beat.
- Study the groove, ghost notes and fills of a favourite drummer.
- Transcribe a drum part without the rest of the band in the way.
- Check how a drum sound was mixed, from the kick to the room.
- Layer an old break under a modern beat for extra texture.
- Make a drum-only track for DJ intros and transitions.
Typical tempos for classic drum breaks
Once you have the drums isolated, the BPM finder tells you the tempo so you can set your project to match. As a rough guide, these are common tempo ranges by style.
| Style | Typical BPM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hip hop | 85 to 100 | Classic sampled break territory |
| Funk and soul | 95 to 120 | Where many famous breaks come from |
| House | 118 to 128 | Four on the floor |
| Drum and bass | 160 to 176 | Breaks are often sped up to this range |
Tips for sampling breaks
Look for a section where the drums play alone or with sparse backing. Isolation is easiest where there is less to separate.
Use the highest quality source you can. Old records are often lo-fi already, and the drum stem inherits every bit of noise.
To speed a break up, use the BPM changer. Keep pitch mode keeps the drum tone, while varispeed pitches the drums up like an old sampler.
Trim and chop in your DAW. The drum extractor gives you the full-length stem to work with.
Keep a note of the original tempo and key alongside the file so you can find it again later.
What to expect
Isolated drums will not be as clean as the original multitrack. Bass notes that hit with the kick, and vocal consonants that sound like hi-hats, can leave faint traces. Room reverb is part of the drum sound, and some of it can end up in the other stem. Distorted or lo-fi recordings separate less cleanly.
From isolated drums to a finished loop
The drum extractor gives you the whole drum track from start to finish. Here is a simple way to turn that into a usable loop.
Find the bar you want, often a moment where the drummer plays alone or the band drops out. Cut it on the downbeat in your DAW, set your project tempo to the BPM finder's estimate, and check the loop repeats without a hiccup. Then decide whether to keep the original tone or process it.
Old school producers often pitch breaks up by speeding them up, which also makes them brighter and punchier. Try that with varispeed in the BPM changer before you chop.
- Isolate drums here and download the stem.
- Find the tempo with the BPM finder.
- Chop one or two bars on the downbeat.
- Adjust speed or pitch if the loop needs it.
- Layer with your own kick and snare for weight.
Drum extraction without uploading
Your music never leaves your device. The drum extractor runs in your browser with no account, no watermark and no charge. The AI model is about 166 MB and is cached after the first download.
It works on desktop in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, and on mobile, though phones are slower. If you release a track built on a sample, clear the sample first.