Day 9: Four on the Floor & Quantization
Thursday, August 13th, 2026
Warmup: MIDI Controller Scavenger Hunt
Visit a common music equipment retailer like Sweetwater or Guitar Center. Search for “MIDI controller”.
Find at least one example of each of the following types of MIDI controllers:
- Pad controller — usually a grid of squishy square buttons that can be tapped with your fingers
- Keyboard controller — looks like a piano; may also contain pads or knobs
- Pedal controller — played with your feet. Some look like a row of stomp switches; some look like a big piano laid on the floor. (Try searching “MIDI foot controller.”)
- Drum controller — looks like a drum kit made of plastic and foam, played with drumsticks. (Try searching “electronic drum kit” or “drum pad controller.”)
Warmup Form
Submit your findings in the form. Simply name each controller you found.
Work Session: Part 1 — Four on the Floor
“Four on the floor” is one of the most common drum patterns in popular music. The kick drum plays on every beat — 1, 2, 3, 4 — and you’ll hear it in house, disco, rock, and pop. Today you’ll build it up one drum at a time by playing the notes into Soundtrap instead of clicking them into a grid.
Partner Protocol
You and your table-mate will share one MIDI controller. Each of you works in your own project on your own computer. Decide who goes first:
- Round 1 — Kick drum: One of you uses the MIDI controller, the other uses the assigned computer keys.
- Swap the controller after the kick is recorded.
- Round 2 — Snare drum: The person who used the assigned keys now uses the controller, and vice versa.
This way everyone gets a turn with the controller, and everyone finishes with both tracks in their own project.
Recording a Live Drum Track
Soundtrap lets you play drum sounds live and record them, instead of clicking them into a step grid.
The assigned computer keys are the keys on your laptop that trigger drum sounds when the on-screen keyboard is active in Soundtrap.
Build the Beat — One Track at a Time
We’ll follow along with Mr. Willingham. Each track is four measures long. Today we are recording two tracks — kick and snare. You will add two more tracks on Friday.
- Track 1 — Kick drum: Quarter notes on every beat. Count “1 — 2 — 3 — 4” for four full measures. (swap input methods after this track)
- Track 2 — Snare drum: Play the snare on beats 2 and 4 for four measures. This is the “backbeat.”
Listen back after each track. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect — we’ll fix the timing in Part 2.
Work Session: Part 2 — Quantization
What is Quantization?
When you play a beat by hand, your hits almost never land exactly on the beat — you’re usually a little early or a little late. Quantization is a tool that snaps every recorded note to the nearest point on a grid. The grid is usually measured in note values — 1/4 notes, 1/8 notes, or 1/16 notes. After you quantize, every note sits perfectly in time.
Quantization is Like Rounding in Math
Think of quantization as rounding for music.
- In math, rounding 3.7 to the nearest whole number gives you 4. Rounding 3.2 gives you 3.
- In Soundtrap, if your snare hit lands at beat 2.07, quantization “rounds” it down to beat 2. If it lands at 1.94, it rounds up to beat 2.
The grid value you choose is like the place value you’re rounding to:
- 1/4 note grid = the coarsest grid, so the biggest rounding. Every note jumps to the nearest quarter note. Tight, locked-in, robotic.
- 1/8 note grid = a finer grid, so smaller rounding. Good for hi-hats and most grooves.
- 1/16 note grid = the finest grid, so the smallest rounding. Keeps more of the human feel, but it also leaves sloppy hits closer to where you played them.
How to Quantize in Soundtrap
- Select your recorded track, then click Piano Roll.
- Select the notes you want to fix — click and drag to select a range, or click any note and press Cmd/Ctrl+A to select all of them.
- Right-click and select Quantize, then choose a subdivision.
- Watch the notes snap onto the grid. Press spacebar and listen — it should sound tighter.
Quantize kick and snare using a 1/4 Note subdivision today. You’ll quantize the hi-hat and your choice track on Friday.
Closing: Save Your Project
We open this same project tomorrow. Save your project and give it a name you will recognize — if you can’t find your file on Friday, you lose the whole period.
If You Finish Early
Try recording your beat a second time at a different tempo — same kick and snare, four measures each, quantized to 1/4 Note. Save it as a separate project. We’ll compare how tempo changes the feel of a four-on-the-floor beat.
You’ll add the hi-hat and a fourth sound of your choice on Friday.
Standards
- MSMTC8.CR.1 — Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts (playing a four-on-the-floor pattern into Soundtrap using a MIDI controller and computer-key input).
- MSMTC8.CR.2 — Select and develop musical ideas for defined purposes and contexts (refining a recorded beat by choosing appropriate quantization grid values for each track).