FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Everything about kits, browsers, songs, the free tier and Pro. Anything missing? Ask through the contact page.
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Getting started
Which e-drum kits work?
Any kit whose module connects over USB as a MIDI device: that covers nearly every electronic kit sold in the last fifteen years, including Roland, Alesis, Yamaha and Millenium modules. The Roland TD-02KV is the kit we test on. Pads are detected from the standard General MIDI drum notes and you can remap any pad in Settings.
Which browsers are supported?
Chrome and Edge fully. Firefox 108 and newer works too, with two differences: it asks you to install a small site-permission add-on the first time you connect a kit, and it cannot remember the songs folder, so you pick or drop it again on each visit. Safari has no Web MIDI, so it cannot talk to a kit at all. On phones and tablets, any browser can play the demo song by touch.
Where do the songs come from?
From the community, never from us. Search Chorus Encore's drum charts in the app's library and add one in a click, or point WebEDrums at a folder of Clone Hero, YARG or Rock Band files. A chart you add goes from the community's own site straight to your browser, not through our servers. WebEDrums does not bundle or distribute third-party copyrighted music files within its software, and nothing is uploaded. What is built in is WebEDrums' own: the demo, a public-domain tune it arranged, recorded and charted itself, and the lessons, short grooves it wrote.
How do I connect an electronic drum kit to a laptop?
With one USB cable, from the module’s USB port (labelled USB, USB COMPUTER or USB TO HOST, usually a square USB-B socket) to the laptop; use a data cable, not a charge-only one, and an adapter if the laptop only has USB-C. Switch the module on, open WebEDrums in Chrome or Edge and allow MIDI access when the browser asks. Modules with only a 5-pin MIDI OUT need a MIDI-to-USB interface. The connection guide under Guides covers the details and what to do when the kit does not show up.
What software works with the Alesis Nitro, Roland TD-02 or Yamaha DTX?
Anything that takes USB MIDI: recording software and drum plug-ins, lesson apps, the desktop rhythm games and WebEDrums in a browser tab. All three families connect as class-compliant USB MIDI devices, so there is no driver to install for MIDI (the TD-02 needs Roland’s driver only for USB audio). WebEDrums has a preset for each family; the kit pages under Guides list the notes each preset maps.
Can I play without a kit?
Yes. On a computer the keyboard is mapped to the lanes, so you can try songs and charts before the kit is connected or when you are travelling. On a phone or tablet, tap the lanes instead.
Does it run on Mac and Linux?
Yes. It runs on any operating system that has Chrome or Edge: Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. No drivers; the module is read over Web MIDI.
Linux: why doesn’t Chrome see my kit?
If Chrome came from Flathub or your distribution’s software store, it is the Flatpak version, and its sandbox hides the device information Chrome needs to recognise a USB MIDI kit: Linux sees the kit, Chrome lists nothing. Run this once in a terminal: flatpak override --user --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.google.Chrome, then quit Chrome completely and open it again. Installing Chrome from google.com/chrome instead also works.
Does Clone Hero run on a Chromebook, and what does?
Clone Hero lists Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS; there is no ChromeOS version, and the project does not say whether its Android build runs on a Chromebook or sees a USB kit there. WebEDrums runs in Chrome on ChromeOS: plug the kit into the Chromebook’s USB port, allow MIDI access and play the same .chart, .mid and .sng charts from a folder or a zip on the Chromebook.
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Playing and practising
Where do I get drum charts for songs?
From the community. Chorus Encore is a search engine for Clone Hero and YARG charts with instrument and difficulty filters, RhythmVerse indexes Rock Band customs and more, and the YARG launcher offers a free official setlist. WebEDrums hosts no charts. It can search Chorus Encore for you (the library's Find songs box, or Try in WebEDrums on the song index pages), or you point it at the folder where you keep your downloads. The guide on drum charts explains how to tell which charts have a drum part.
Is there a free app to play along to songs on an e-kit?
Yes. WebEDrums gives you three full plays a day for free, with every feature and no account, in Chrome or Edge. Clone Hero and YARG are free games that play the same community charts. The lesson apps (Melodics, Beatlii, Drumeo) have their own free tiers or trials, with their own song catalogues rather than community charts.
Does WebEDrums work with Rock Band drums?
Not with the plastic kits. Rock Band drum controllers reach a computer as game controllers, often through a wireless adapter or a mapping program, not as MIDI devices, and WebEDrums reads USB MIDI only. The other way round works: WebEDrums plays Rock Band song files (Xbox 360 CON packages) from your folder on any USB MIDI e-kit.
Can you learn drums on an electronic kit?
Yes. The pads are laid out like an acoustic kit, the sticks and the pedals are the same, and the module knows how hard you hit, which is useful feedback. Technique still comes from a teacher or a course such as Drumeo; WebEDrums is where you apply it: short groove lessons by level for the coordination side, then real songs with feedback on every hit, loops on the bars you miss and slow-down. It is not a course and does not claim to be one.
Does WebEDrums have drum lessons?
Yes, a small set: short groove lessons in four levels, from quarter notes on the hi-hat to the shuffle and ghost notes. Each one is built up in steps, loops in Practice with a tempo that climbs as you play it cleanly, and counts as done at 90 % accuracy at its tempo. They teach coordination and time on your kit, not grip or stroke; for a full curriculum, see the learning guide and the apps in the comparison.
Can I practise drums with feedback without a subscription?
Yes. The free tier has everything: timing and dynamics feedback on every hit, section loops, slow-down with the pitch kept, a metronome that follows the song's tempo, the heat map of your weakest sections and the timing calibration. The only limit is three plays a day, and a play counts only after 30 seconds. Pro removes the daily limit and nothing else.
Is there a metronome?
Yes. Press M while playing, or turn it on in Settings → Audio, and it clicks on every beat of the song, following the chart's tempo through every tempo change, with an accent on the first beat of the bar. You can click on beats or eighths and set its volume; the count-in uses the same click. It keeps time with you when you slow a loop down, and a Stage score notes that the metronome was on.
Is there input lag?
Web MIDI delivers hits with millisecond timestamps, so the game sees them as soon as the module sends them. Audio output adds a few milliseconds that differ per computer; the built-in calibration tool measures that offset in six seconds of clicks and compensates.
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Free, Pro and your data
Is it free?
Yes. Every day you get three plays with every feature, with no account. A play only counts once you are more than 30 seconds in, so short tries are free. When the three are used, play resumes the next day, or at once with Pro.
What does Pro add?
Unlimited plays, every day, in every browser you sign in to. Practice mode, the heat map, statistics and players are free for everyone. It costs $10 a month or $72 a year.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Install it as an app from the browser menu and it loads without a connection; your songs are local anyway. Pro stays active for 7 days without a connection, then needs to check in once to renew.
How do I cancel, and can I get a refund?
Cancel any time from the account page; it opens your subscription at Polar, our merchant of record, where you can also download invoices. Pro stays on until the end of the paid period. Customers in the EU have a 14-day right of withdrawal; see the refund policy.
Can I use Pro on another browser or computer?
Yes. Sign in on the other browser with the same account, through Google, Discord or an email link, and Pro switches on there. Up to five browsers can be signed in at once; the account page lists them and can sign them all out.
Which sign-in methods exist, and why does Pro need an account?
Continue with Google, Continue with Discord, or a one-time link sent to your email. There are no passwords. The subscription is stored against the account rather than in a license key, so you can restore Pro on any browser just by signing in, and nobody can share a key around. Free play needs no account.
How do I delete my account?
From the account page: Delete account removes your email, name, linked sign-in providers, sessions and subscription status. Cancel an active subscription first, or it will keep billing at Polar. You can also ask through the contact page.
What happens to my data?
Songs, scores, settings and pad maps stay in your browser; nothing is sent to us. If you create an account for Pro, we store your email, name, the linked sign-in providers and your subscription status. Payment details are handled by Polar, never by us. There are no analytics cookies. Visits and a few app actions, including which song is played (by artist and title), are counted anonymously and without cookies.
Guides
Step-by-step guides for your kit, starting with connecting it to WebEDrums, with screenshots and browser fixes.
- Connecting your e-drum kit to WebEDrums: steps and browser fixes
Every step of connecting a USB electronic drum kit to WebEDrums, with screenshots: Drums setup, Chrome’s MIDI prompt, the drum sounds and the pad setup. Then what to do when Chrome or Edge blocked MIDI, Firefox stopped asking, Safari has no MIDI, or the kit is not found.
- How to connect an electronic drum kit to a computer
One USB cable, no driver for most modules, and a browser that asks once for MIDI access. What the cable carries, which port and cable to use, what to do when the kit does not show up, and how to hear the song and the drums together without delay.
- Clone Hero drums setup with an electronic kit
How to set up an electronic drum kit in Clone Hero, from the MIDI input device and Quick Setup to zones, Pro Drums, Expert+, calibration and the fixes for missing or doubled hits, with every step checked against the Clone Hero wiki.
- YARG drums setup with a MIDI electronic kit
How to play drums in YARG with a USB MIDI kit: the MIDI Drumkit profile, bindings and thresholds, Pro Drums against 4-lane and 5-lane, the three calibration offsets, and what to check when YARG does not see the kit, from the YARG wiki.
- Where to get drum charts for songs
What a drum chart is, where the Clone Hero, YARG and Rock Band communities share them, how to tell whether a chart has a drum part, what Pro Drums and Expert+ mean, and how to play along without the original drums in the mix. Links only, no files.
- Apps for electronic drum kits in 2026: an honest roundup
Seven apps and games that work with a USB electronic drum kit, compared on where they run, where the songs come from, whether they score your hits over MIDI, their practice tools and their price, with the method stated and the fact that we make one of them said first.
- Learning drums on an electronic kit: what works
Can you learn drums on an electronic kit? Yes, with two honest caveats about feel. Where technique comes from, what an e-kit gives a learner that an acoustic kit cannot, how to practise songs with feedback on every hit, and how to set the kit up so the practice is honest.
- Rock Band drums on PC: what connects, what plays and what does not
How Rock Band drum kits reach a PC (wireless adapters, Bluetooth, mapper programs), which games read them, why a browser app cannot, and the other direction: playing your Rock Band song files on a USB MIDI electronic kit.
- How to connect electronic drums to Fortnite Festival
Fortnite Festival’s Pro Drums take any electronic kit with MIDI output, on Windows only: the cable, the MIDI Controller tab, the cymbal option, double kick, what Epic lists as supported on each platform, and what the game does not do that the community’s charts can.
Songs
Drum charts for real songs, one page per song with its facts (artist, drum tier, Pro drums, length) and where the community publishes the chart.
An index of community drum charts for real songs, one page per song with the chart’s facts and a link to where the community publishes it: artist, album, drum tier, Pro drums, difficulties charted, double kick, length and charter. Metadata only; the charts stay with the community.
Lessons
Short drum grooves to learn on a USB kit, in four levels, each played in the browser with every hit judged.
Short drum grooves to learn on a USB electronic kit, in four levels from the first backbeat to the shuffle and ghost notes: the pattern of each one, its steps and tempo, and the same lesson played in the browser with every hit judged. Free, no account.