Learn
A step-by-step journey from your first kick drum to a finished track — with players you can hear right here, and the exact buttons to press on the device.
You don’t need a tbd 16 to start. Every lesson opens with something you can play in the browser, so you can hear the idea before you build it. Then a Now do it on your tbd 16 section gives you the exact button sequence.
Start with a beat
Stage A is the current hands-on preview. Lessons 1–4 include a live virtual tbd 16 whose buttons, OLED, LEDs, pattern grid, parameters, and audio share one device state. Later stages are visible as a roadmap and clearly marked Planned.
The players are browser demos with simple synthesised drums. They teach the pattern and what each control does — the tbd 16’s own sound engines sound considerably better.
The journey
Work through it in order. Each lesson adds exactly one thing, and picks up where the last one left off.
Stage A — your first beat
| Lesson | What you’ll be able to do | Availability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your first beat | Put a kick on the grid and understand what a step is | Live practice |
| 2 | The backbeat | Add the snare that turns a pulse into a beat | Live practice |
| 3 | Hats and the in-between | Fill the gaps and make it move | Live practice |
| 4 | Make it sound great | Shape a Synth Kick with the production OLED and four physical knobs | Live device practice |
Stage B — make it move
| Lesson | What you’ll be able to do | Availability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Swing and accents | Stop it sounding like a computer | Planned |
| 6 | Variation | Make a 16-step loop that never quite repeats | Planned |
| 7 | Parameter locks | Change any sound on any single step | Planned |
Stage C — add notes
| Lesson | What you’ll be able to do | Availability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Bass | Write an acid bassline on the TBD03 | Planned |
| 9 | Playing it in | Use the pads as a keyboard and record live | Planned |
| 10 | Lead sounds | Find and shape a lead on the Mono Synth | Planned |
| 11 | Chords and harmony | Play in key, and let the device build the chords | Planned |
Stage D — make it a track
| Lesson | What you’ll be able to do | Availability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Samples | Use the Rompler, kits, banks and slices | Planned |
| 13 | Space and mix | Make room with levels, pan, delay and reverb | Planned |
| 14 | Arrange and perform | Turn a loop into a performance | Planned |
Then
| Page | ||
|---|---|---|
| ★ | Genre recipes | Complete setups for house, techno, acid, boom bap and more |
Learn or manual?
These lessons teach you how to make music. They deliberately don’t list every parameter.
When you want the full reference — every knob on every machine, every function-button shortcut — that’s what the rest of this manual is for. Start at Sequencer, Sound & Tracks or Machines. In a hurry? Quick Start gets you making noise in five minutes without the theory.
The tbd 16 is still in preview and its firmware is moving quickly. Lessons that cover a feature which hasn’t reached a stable firmware build yet say so at the top.