Sound tools you can use right in your browser

There are some web-based electronic instruments out there like drum machines and synths that you can use right inside your web browser. Some of them allow you to record your output others do not.

The good the bad and the ugly
For each tool I’ve included a list of pros and cons and some notes about ease of use and capturing sound.

808303.studio

https://808303.studio/

808303.studio is a new online music creation platform created by Yuri Suzuki, the Design Museum and Roland, which features Roland’s innovative Step Sequencer technique, as well as emulating the sound of the original TR-808 drum machine and TB-303 bass synthesizer. There are actually other vintage rhythm machines and synths in there too, explore!

It is a professional sounding online musical interface, which records your masterpieces and allows you to share your creations through social media, messaging and also as a download

Type of tool:
browser-based sound generator
Learning Curve:
Low☆☆☆
Pros:
It’s easy to figure this one out.
Just start clicking and it becomes clear!
+++ You can record your output.
Check the “about” section for a demo!
Cons:
None really

Musical Chord Progression Arpeggiator

http://codepen.io/jakealbaugh/full/qNrZyw?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

The Musical Chord Progression Arpeggiator is a web experiment by Jake Albaugh that allows you to generate different musical scores based on a variety of different inputs. This tool allows users to create a series of arpeggios in a chord progression, resulting in a cycle of haunting, looping notes that rise and fall endlessly.

The results span an incredible range of tone and style. Choose a lower tempo, and you can practically see an astronaut silently running down the hallway of a spaceship, while at a higher speed, you can enjoy a new album of songs doing their best impersonation of Philip Glass.

Type:
browser-based arpeggio generator
Learning Curve:
Low☆☆☆
Pros:
It’s easy to figure this one out. Just start clicking and it becomes clear!
Cons:
no SAVE feature, so you’ll need to record via your headphone jack or some other capture method.

106.js

http://juno-106.js.org/
Synths you can play in your web browser are becoming more common place. This emulation of the classic Roland Juno 106 synthesizer is very enjoyable and easy to navigate and play. It’s quite impressive and you can even connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer and use it to playback the synth. Steven Goldberg is the creator of 106.js and has written up a nice overview of analog synthesis controls as well as how to use this particular browser synth on his Github page. In the interface you can share the 106.js and save, rename and recall patches.

Type:
browser-based synthesizer
Learning Curve:
Low ★★☆☆
Pros:
It’s fairly easy to figure out, but if you are unfamiliar with the way a synth works it can take a few minutes of noodling with sliders to understand all of the ways that sounds are shaped. It can be controlled with your computer keyboard. It is polyphonic so you can play multiple notes simultaneously.
Cons:
no SAVE feature, so you’ll need to record via your headphone jack or some other capture method.

Drumbit

http://drumbit.pluraldev.com/
Online drum machine with some nice features include the ability to record as a wav, add multiple pages of drum patterns, pan drums left or right, add a few effects, select from different kinds of genres (Jazz, Hiphop, latin, etc) and more.

Type:
browser-based rhythm generator
Learning Curve:
Low ★★☆☆
Pros:
It’s fairly easy to figure out, but if you are unfamiliar with the way a drum machine works it can take a few minutes to figure out the way the sequencer and multiple pages work as well as the other settings, but all in all this is EASY!
You can save an audio file (WAV format). You can save your pattern so you can open it again later and keep working on it. 
Cons:
Sound sometimes seems to break up a bit during playback in the browser, but the recorded file seems unaffected.