How to make Afrobeat drums (loop) in Fl Studio

Check your sound library for some dope afro sound instrument…

A good place to find afro sounds in FL studio is the vintage folder and some quality percussions are also in New drum folder.

But to save your time search Google for dope afro samples, some are free and some are paid.

Start sequencing (creating) your drums

1. Swing your beat

In some cases tweaking your swing to about 25-50 is necessary, it helps add Afro flavor to your drums.

2. Set your tempo (BPM)

Best tempo settings for Afrobeat can be:

95, 100, 105, 107, 110, 115-120 (120 is much popular now because it’s a nice BPM for Zanku dance beat).

But for this tutorial set your BPM to 107.

3. Start with kick & clap

Go-to piano roll add your kicks on every first note of 4 bars in 16 bars

Go-to clap sample, open piano roll and add your clap in this sequencing form for every 4 bars in 16 bars

[1..4..7…11.13…]

4. Add your Shaker (shekere)

Go-to shaker sample, open piano roll and add your shaker in this sequencing form for every 4 bars in 16 bars
[1.3,4,5.7,8,9.11,12,13.15,16]

5. Add Conga

Go-to Conga sample, open piano roll and add your Conga in this sequencing form for every 4 bars in 16 bars
[..3…7…11…15.]

6. Bongo

Go-to Bongo sample, open piano roll and add your Bongo in this sequencing form for every 4 bars in 16 bars
[….,….,..11,12,..15,16]

7. Snare

Go-to Snare sample, open piano roll and add your Snare in this sequencing form for every 4 bars in 16 bars
[….,….,…12,…16]

Congrats you just made your first afrobeat drum beat!