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How Many Percussion Instruments Are There?

There are over 300 recognised percussion instruments worldwide — from the triangle to the taiko drum. They fall into two families: pitched (xylophone, timpani) and unpitched (snare, bass drum, claves).

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HowManyBeats™

PRO RHYTHM MACHINE · howmany.pro · v3
STOPPED120 BPM
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Step: 1 / 16
LIVE WAVEFORM · SHAPE & LOUDNESS
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How to use the machine. Each row is a track. Use the amber instrument dropdown in a track's label to swap its sound — there are 23 voices grouped into Drum Kit, Hand & Tuned, a tuned Timpani Set, Bells & Gongs and Vocal Hits. Tap the coloured pad beside the dropdown to play that sound by hand — handy for ringing a triangle or gong over a running loop. Play loops the pattern; Once plays it through a single time then stops. M mutes a track, S solos it, and the gear opens its mixer.
1/16·120 BPM

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How Many Percussion Instruments Exist?

Pitched percussion80+ types
Unpitched percussion220+ types
Total recognised worldwide300+
Oldest percussion instrumentClapping stones ~4000 BC
Most common in orchestrasTimpani, snare, bass drum
Most notes on one instrumentMarimba (~61 bars)
Fastest player world record~1,200 BPM single stroke

Percussion Families Explorer

Did You Know?

The Roland TR-808 drum machine was discontinued as a failure in 1983. It went on to appear on over 500 chart-topping songs.

The world's largest drum kit has 813 pieces — built by Dr Mark Temperato. It takes 3 days to assemble.

A professional drummer playing at 200 BPM moves their limbs approximately 40 million times per year.

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