Why xx808 exists

xx808 began with one recurring studio chore: you hear a groove you love and want it inside your DAW, fast. Three tools cover that errand — an audio to MIDI converter, a BPM and key finder with tap tempo, and an 808-style drum machine. The name tips its hat to the drum-machine boom that hip-hop, electro and dance music were built on.

Why in the browser?

Browsers now decode audio, run neural networks and synthesize sound in real time. Keeping the work on your machine means recordings stay put, the tools behave the same on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, and running the site costs so little that sign-ups and quotas would make no sense.

Open-source credits

• Basic Pitch by Spotify’s Audio Intelligence Lab — note-transcription model, Apache License 2.0. License text.
• TensorFlow.js by Google — runs the model in the browser, Apache License 2.0.
• Hono — the tiny web framework behind the site’s API endpoints, MIT License.

Tempo detection, key detection, the MIDI and WAV writers and every drum sound were written for xx808.

Trademarks

Roland and TR-808 are trademarks of Roland Corporation. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB. xx808 is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by either company.

Feedback

Spotted a bug, or a track the BPM finder misreads? Head to the contact page.