Building BeatKerri: From Burnout to Browser Beats
A few months ago, I was in that uncertain space between endings and beginnings. I had wrapped up a stretch of nonprofit work and was applying to jobs, hoping to pivot into something more creative—something that brought together the things I actually love doing.
At the time, I was helping friends and small businesses with content and websites. I’d been diving into design, learning the bones of UX and UI, and producing beats in Logic and Ableton for my own songs. I’ve always been fascinated by how things are made—from drum loops to digital interfaces—but the world of code always felt… daunting. Too many rules, too little rhythm.
Still, the itch to build something wouldn’t go away.
Then one day, while playing around with a step sequencer in a song I was working on, I thought: What if this was a game?
I’m a sucker for daily puzzles like Wordle—and suddenly the idea of a “beat puzzle” lit up my brain.
The Birth of BeatKerri
The first version of BeatKerri was simple: a drum machine with a Challenge Mode. It generated random beats, and the user had to recreate them. But the randomness made it hard to enjoy. So I started refining it: limiting the instruments, adjusting the BPM, controlling how many layers could stack.
Eventually, I built out an algorithm to guide the Challenge levels—starting with just kick, snare, and hi-hats—gradually adding complexity. I added visual clues, feedback, and a sense of progression. Once that system felt intuitive, Jam Mode was born—a place for open-ended beat creation. And then came my favorite feature: Daily Beatdle, a daily beat puzzle that anyone can solve and share.
What started as a personal experiment quickly became something much bigger than a tool—it became a kind of mirror of how I make things.
Why BeatKerri Matters to Me
BeatKerri is an amalgamation of everything I care about:
- My love of rhythm and sound
- My growing passion for web design and web development
- My curiosity about puzzles and play
- My need to build something that could bridge creativity and technology without requiring perfection
It also gave me something that traditional songwriting sometimes doesn’t: instant feedback. When you tap the right beat into place, it just clicks—literally and figuratively.
I use Jam Mode myself to sketch out beat ideas for songs under my artist name Junkerri. And because you can download the MIDI or WAV files, it’s not just a game—it’s a usable tool for producers and musicians too.
What I Hope for BeatKerri
I built BeatKerri so it could live in the space between fun and functional. It’s for:
- Musicians who want a quirky way to spark new ideas
- Non-musicians who love puzzles but don’t (yet) make beats
- Friends who want to challenge each other with the same beat, then remix it into something uniquely theirs
My hope is that people will solve the daily Beatdle, download the MIDI or WAV, throw it into their DAW, and make it their own. Remix it. Sample it. Play.
Because in a world that tells us we have to finish things to make them worth sharing, BeatKerri reminds me that unfinished can still be fun. And even something tiny—a click, a snare, a browser-based beat—can be the start of something real.
Want to try it out? Head to beatkerri.com
Start with the Daily Beatdle. Share it. Remix it. Break it. Just have fun.