Manual
How to use it
Everything here is built around one idea: dig fast, catch the moment, keep what you find. Here is how each section works.
Section one
YouTube digging
The randomiser pulls records from hand-curated channels of rare soul, jazz, funk and world music. Press the big button or hit D and a record starts playing at a random point.
Transport. S restarts from the beginning, F jumps to a random timestamp in the same record, O and P step to the previous and next record in the crate.
Marking. Z sets the in point, C sets the out point, X loops between them. Tap B in time to measure the tempo. W saves the sample with its markers attached, or favourites the record if you have not marked anything. I opens the metadata panel.
Filters. The genre and decade chips narrow the crate before you dig. If nothing matches, the randomiser falls back to the full crate rather than leaving you with silence.
Stretch changes playback speed. Send to TubeChops hands the record you are hearing straight to the chopper, already loaded.
Section two
TubeChops
An MPC-style chopper for any YouTube video. Paste a link, press Load, press play, and start chopping. Four banks (A to D) of sixteen pads each.
The lazy chop. An empty pad captures the current moment the instant you press it. Let the record run and tap pads as you hear the good parts. A filled pad jumps to its chop and plays.
Trigger pads by clicking, or with 1 2 3 4 / Q W E R / A S D F / Z X C V.
Select a pad to fine-tune it with the nudge buttons, Set it to the current time, or Clear it. Randomize fills bank A with sixteen chops spread across the record. Name the kit and save it; kits load and delete from the list underneath.
Hardware. USB pad controllers work — MPC, SP-404MK2, Teenage Engineering, Ableton Move in controller mode. Press MIDI and allow access. Hardware banks A to D map onto the app’s banks, lazy chop included. Chrome or Edge only; Safari has no Web MIDI.
Section three
Sample digging
The same workflow, but on original material from contributing producers, played through the tape deck. Press dig and a sample rolls; the reels turn while it plays.
Mark in and out, loop the section, tap the tempo. Save and favourite to your account, and download the ones whose creators allow it — their handles are right there, show them some love.
Stretch changes speed while keeping the original pitch. Vinyl couples speed and pitch like a turntable, with the semitone shift shown beside the rate.
Section four
Drums
One-shots and loops, played from decoded audio buffers so they trigger instantly. Pick a kit tab, then hit the pads by clicking or with Q W E R / A S D F / Z X C V / T Y U I.
A USB pad controller connects automatically here — plug it in (controller mode, Chrome or Edge) and the display shows your device name. The sixteen hardware pads play whichever kit is on screen. This is the tightest way to play the site: no video seek delay at all.
Want the full packs? They are on the DF Drumpacks tab.