Everything it does, step by step

Pick how you'll use it

Everything is on the app's page. Your kits stay on your device in every version.

Take the tour, your way

The first time you open a new version, a tour offers two ways through:

• Show me around: read each card and press Next.
• Let me try it: start on blank paper; each card moves on once you've done what it asks, from adding a piece to playing one.
• Replay it any time from File → Take the tour.

Start a kit

A new kit is blank graph paper with a throne; the pink crosshair marks the drummer's seat and follows the throne.

• Pick a common setup: Jazz 4-piece, Rock 5-piece, Fusion 6-piece or Double bass.
• They're right-handed; File → Mirror flips any kit for left-handed players.
• File → New kit and New from a template start another any time.

Add pieces

Drag a drum, cymbal or piece of hardware from the palette onto the paper, or click it to drop it in the middle.

• Tiles show real default sizes: a 22″ kick, a 14″ snare, an 18″ crash.
• Hardware includes the throne, pedals, stands and a rack bar; Extras has a cowbell, jam block and tambourine.
• My pieces keeps any piece you've customised ("Save to My pieces"), and Custom shape makes one of your own.

Arrange them

Click a piece to select it and drag it into place. It snaps to the 2-inch grid.

• Hold Alt (or press and hold on a touch screen) to place it freely.
• Drag the pink handle to rotate in 15° steps, or press R / Shift+R.
• Arrow keys nudge a grid step; add Shift for a foot, Alt for half an inch.
• Shift-click or Shift-drag to select several; Ctrl+D duplicates, Del deletes, Ctrl+Z undoes.
• Drag empty paper to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, 0 to fit the kit.

Set each piece's details

With a piece selected, the panel on the right edits just that piece:

• Name, brand and model (shown on the drawing if you like).
• Size: type 22, 22" or 56cm and press Enter.
• Its own shell finish, position, rotation and layer, and Bottom / Down / Up / Top to restack it.
• Height, forward tilt and side tilt for the front views (chapter 6).
• Select several pieces to change them all at once.

Set up the kit itself

Click empty paper so nothing is selected, and the panel shows the whole kit's settings:

• Title and "drawn by", used in exports.
• Throne at the bottom (the drummer's view) or the top (the audience's); Shift+V swaps.
• Drawing style and the shell finish for every drum.
• Labels, inches or centimetres, grid size and snapping, and a clickable parts list.

Use layers

The stack button in the toolbar opens the layers: annotations, cymbals, drums, and hardware and racks.

• The eye hides a layer; the lock keeps it visible but untouchable, so you can work on cymbals over locked drums.
• Hidden and locked pieces are left out of selections.

Add notes, arrows and measurements

The palette's Annotate tiles add text notes, arrows and dimension lines.

• Double-click a note to edit its text.
• Drag an arrow or dimension by its square ends; they stick to drum centres (Alt for free).
• Dimension lines show their length, so you can measure drum to drum.

Shaded style and shell finishes

The half-filled circle in the toolbar switches from line art to the Shaded style, with bronze cymbals, coated heads and chrome hardware.

• Kit settings → Shell finish colours every drum: Solid (presets or any colour) or Fade between two.
• Give one drum its own finish in its settings, or leave it on "Same as kit".

Dark or light

The app follows your device's theme until you pick one with the sun and moon button (or File → Dark mode on phones).

See it from the front

The view switch (or V) shows Front: the kit as the audience sees it, each piece at its height and angle, with a height ruler and the floor.

Set heights and tilts

Click a piece in the Front or Drummer view and set it in the panel:

• Height: floor to playing surface. ↑/↓ nudge it an inch (Shift for 6″, Alt for ½″).
• Forward tilt: toward the drummer is positive.
• Side tilt: toward the drummer's right is positive.

Sit behind it

Drummer shows the kit from the throne, looking out: the drummer's left on the left, the nearest pieces in front, tilted drums showing their top heads.

Play mode

Press Play in the toolbar (or P): it turns pink, the paper gets a pink frame, and the play panel takes the palette's place. Click or tap any piece to hear it, in any view.

• Sounds follow sizes: small drums higher, big cymbals lower and longer.
• Hit a cymbal's centre for the bell; Shift-click the hi-hat to open it.
• Several fingers at once on a touch screen. Set the volume in the panel.
• Esc or Done goes back to editing.

Kit files and saved kits

• Kits in this browser lists every kit you've made; pick one to switch.
• Save to a file (Ctrl+S) writes a .drumkit file; after that, Save updates the same file. Save as picks a new one.
• Open file (Ctrl+O), or drop a kit file on the window, to open one someone sent you.

Export a picture

Export saves the view you're looking at as a PNG, JPEG (1×, 2× or 4× size) or SVG, with the handwriting font built in.

• Graph-paper grid and a title with a one-foot scale bar, each optional.
• Dark background keeps the app's dark look; untick it for light paper, better for printing.
• Switch to Front or Drummer first to export that view.

Tap, drag and pinch

• Tap a tile to add a piece; swipe the strip for more.
• Tap a piece, then drag it; press and hold first to place it freely. Two fingers pan and zoom.
• Tap the bar above the palette to open the piece's settings sheet.
• In the Front and Drummer views, tapping a piece swaps the palette for a Height / Forward tilt / Side tilt bar with a slider.
• Play mode's panel sits in the same spot.

The handy ones

Undo / redo

Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y

Duplicate

Ctrl+D

Delete

Del

Rotate

R / Shift+R

Select all

Ctrl+A

Switch view

V

Throne top / bottom

Shift+V

Play mode

P

Fit the kit

0

Save / open

Ctrl+S / O