808 Patterns For Trap And Drill (demos and free MIDI included)

HERE ARE 9 808 PATTERNS FOR TRAP AND DRILL, WITH DEMOS AND FREE MIDI!

What is an 808 pattern? It's the rhythm your 808 plays: which steps the notes land on, how long each note rings, and where the slides go. After the kick, it's the loudest rhythm in your beat, and most producers just guess where to put it.

Below are 9 patterns you can copy, 6 for trap and 3 for drill. Each one has a screenshot of the piano roll, a demo of the drums on their own, the same loop with the 808, and the MIDI so you can drag it straight into FL Studio.

For sound selection and layering, check out our ultimate guide to 808s. This post is about one thing: where the notes go.

Step 1: Pick your 808:

Every demo in this post uses the free DJ Spinz 808, one of the most used 808s of all time. The Spinz 808 is also in our free Iconic Sample Pack. The snare and hi hats come from the drum samples in our Cultures Production Suite. Everything is at 140 BPM in C# minor.

Need more 808s? Our free WavGrind 808 Lab has 808s, bass samples and bassline MIDI.

Step 2: Set up your 808 in FL Studio:

Two settings make all the patterns below work.

Make each note stop when it ends:

If your 808 keeps ringing into the next note, you get mud. Open the 808's channel settings, go to the envelope tab, turn the envelope on, and set HOLD all the way up with the other knobs down. Now the 808 stops exactly where the note in the piano roll stops.

Then right click the 808 channel and make sure Cut itself is ticked. A new 808 note will always cut off the last one, so two 808s never ring over each other.

Tune it to your key:

The Spinz 808 is tuned to C, so a C in the piano roll plays a C. If your 808 sounds like a different note, move every 808 note by the same amount so the bass matches your chords. All the patterns here sit on C#5 in the piano roll, the root of C# minor.

🔥 Pro Tip: deep 808 notes can disappear on phone and laptop speakers. Add a little saturation to your 808 or master so the higher harmonics carry it, and check your beat on a phone before you finish.

Trap 808 Patterns:

In trap the snare (or clap) lands on beat 3 of every bar, the half time feel you hear at around 140 BPM. The 808 decides how bouncy the beat feels around it.

Pattern 1: Lock To The Kick:

The 808 plays exactly the same rhythm as the kick: steps 1, 7 and 11, with the last hit moving to step 15 in bar 2 so the loop doesn't repeat itself. It's the easiest pattern to get right and it hits hard, because the kick and 808 land together.

Pattern 2: Call And Response:

The kick and 808 start together on beat 1, then the 808 answers in the gaps where the kick is silent (steps 7 and 14). They trade hits instead of stacking, which gives you a bouncier, more melodic low end.

Pattern 3: Leave Space (Beat 4):

One long 808 on beat 1, then wait until beat 4. This leaves a lot of room for a vocal, so it's great for slower, melodic beats.

Pattern 4: Before The Snare:

Same idea, but the second 808 hits on step 7, just before the snare. That one move adds a lot of bounce.

Pattern 5: The End Of Bar Roll:

A normal pattern, with two short 808 hits at the very end of bar 2 (steps 15 and 16) to push into the next loop. It works like a hi hat roll: it tells the listener the loop is about to restart. Use it on the last bar of every 4 or 8 bars, not every bar.

Pattern 6: One Long Note:

One 808 on beat 1 of every bar, held for the whole bar. The movement comes from the root notes changing with your chords, not from the rhythm. It's also a good test: if your chords sound strong with only this underneath, the rest of your 808 work will be easy.

Drill 808 Patterns:

Drill 808s are more about movement: short notes, octave jumps and slides. Keep the notes short so they never overlap.

Pattern 7: The 3-3-2 Bounce:

Short 808 hits on steps 1, 4, 7, 9, 12 and 15. The gaps go 3, 3, 2 and repeat, the same bounce as drill hi hats, so the 808 and hats lock together. Keep every note about 2 steps long or it turns to mud.

Pattern 8: The Octave Jump:

The 808 plays C#, jumps up an octave on step 7, then drops back down. In bar 2 a last short note on B pulls into the loop. Octave jumps keep the 808 in key while making it sound like a bass line.

Pattern 9: The Drill Slide:

The 808 on beat 1 glides up to E, then in bar 2 the note on step 11 glides down to B. The slides are what make it sound like drill.

How to create an 808 slide in FL Studio:

Draw your first 808 note and make it long. Then draw the note you want to slide to so it starts while the first note is still playing. Double click the new note and turn on slide (the triangle icon in the note properties). The pitch now glides from the first note to the second.

A short slide note gives a quick bend, and a long one gives a slow drag. Slide to a note that's in your key, like the root, the fifth or the octave, and don't use more than 2 or 3 slides every 4 bars.

Tip: avoid layering a kick with an 808 slide. It sounds good sometimes but can create a muddy mess.

Putting it all together:

Here's how a pattern follows your chords. Take progression 3 from our drill chord progressions in C# minor: C#m, B, A and G#. The 808 plays C#, B, A and G# using pattern 1, with a slide into the loop on the last bar:

Bars 1 to 3 stay simple. Bar 4 changes, so the listener knows the loop is about to restart. Switch up your pattern every 4 to 8 bars so it never gets boring.

Download The Free 808 Pattern MIDI:

All 9 patterns plus the full example as MIDI files at 140 BPM in C# minor. Drag one onto your 808 channel and move the notes to your key.

Free 808s And Drums To Practice With:

The WavGrind 808 Lab has bass samples, 808s and bassline MIDI. It's free and 100% royalty free.

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The Sauce Sound Pack has 122 drum sounds, including 22 808s, 13 kicks, 15 snares and 20 hi hats. Everything you need to build the patterns above.

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The Nightshade Drum Loop Pack has hard hitting drum loops, MIDI and sequences made for hip hop, trap and drill. The pack is 242MB, has 290 files and is 100% royalty free.

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CONCLUSION:

A good 808 pattern isn't about more notes. It's about putting a few notes in the right place, keeping them in key, and changing something at the end of every loop. Start with pattern 1, then try the others and listen to how each one changes the feel of your beat.

To summarize, here's how to make 808 patterns:

1. Pick a good 808 and set HOLD so notes stop cleanly
2. Tune the 808 to the root note of your chords
3. Start on beat 1 and lock with the kick, or answer it
4. Keep drill 808s short and add slides or octave jumps
5. Change the pattern on the last bar of every loop

Thanks for reading and happy producing!

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Written by Luke Alderson