Check Out This Drum Machine Built With Microsoft Excel
I like to think that I am good at Excel. I know how to work with a pivot table, I like to automate anything and everything with formulas and conditional formatting, and I am as good at vlookup as I am in the awesome new xlookup . However, Excel macros are a whole new game, and I just wish I could do with them what Dylan Talchef does with them.
Talchif hit YouTube the other day to post his latest creation, this insane spreadsheet that serves as a drum machine . It’s like having a beginner’s version or Ableton – or some web-based tool for creating simple bits – right on your desktop.
It is generally recommended that you do not download or use spreadsheets that contain macros from unknown creators. However, this time we’ll give Tallchef a pass because it’s cool. (And if you’re worried, you can always sandbox Excel if you really want to.)
First, take his table and open it. He tested it in Excel 2019 and it remains to be seen how well it will perform in older versions. It’s only 147KB or so, which is surprising considering what you can do in this macro-filled spreadsheet.
Once you’ve got it out, it’s time to start playing the drums. First, make sure you enable macros in your spreadsheet. (You should see a notification below the Excel ribbon.) Click Play Sequence to get an idea of how the sequencer works and, more importantly, how each instrument sounds.
When you’re ready to start creating your own loop, put an “x” in the slot where (and when) you want the instrument to play. It is so simple.
If you want to go to advanced mode, press “2” in the upper left corner of the screen (to the left of the column name “A”), which will then allow you to edit the volume (speed) of each instrument. or enter (pitch) If you don’t feel like entering random numbers to find out which instrument you get, you can always refer to this simple wavetable .
You can also create multiple note patterns (which you open by typing the pattern number next to the open button and clicking on it) and then play those patterns in sequence (by clicking an available sequence and entering pattern numbers on the 57th row). For convenience, you can also enter “l” at the end of the sequence to loop through it.
Is it a little confusing? Sure, but you will learn. Again, you are building drum loops in Excel . Given how absurd this is, a little complexity is warranted. Thank me in your notes as soon as you create yournext EDM hit .