Niko of Anarchy Music wrote in to share about an open-source desktop app that lets you sketch a beat on a step-sequencer grid and instantly find matching grooves in your local MIDI library.
Point Rhythm Lens at your MIDI / BFD / EZdrummer library, and get every file ranked by how closely it matches your pattern — with a thumbnail, audio preview, and drag-to-DAW export.
For the last few months, I’ve been struggling with managing my drum libraries (especially BFD). While tools like Toontrack’s EZdrummer offer great MIDI search features, their cost is simply too high—and I know I’m not the only one facing this issue.
That’s why I wanted an alternative. Rhythm Lens is my open-source “Tap-2-Find” iteration built for any drum library you already own or use.
Rhythm Lens features
- Step sequencer — click to draw hits per lane (Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, Crash, Ride, Tom, etc.)
- Mute / Solo per lane — M mutes a lane (dimmed buttons), S solos it (only active solo lanes play).
- Results browser — filter by name, score (>80), or BPM range (120-140).
- BPM tooltip — hover a result to see name, match %, BPM, time signature, map.
- Keyboard shortcuts — Space (play/pause grid), Ctrl+Z (undo), Delete (clear).
- Save-as-MIDI — export your grid as a .mid file from the transport bar.
- Drag MIDI to your DAW — grab the ↗ handle to drag MIDI directly from the editor into your DAW.
- Preview before loading — select a result and preview it (or hit Space / double-click); loops the matched bar or the whole groove.
- Metronome — click-track toggle for keeping time while playing the grid.
- Time-signature-aware — matching respects the grid’s time signature (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc.), shown beside each match percentage.
- Tom expand / collapse — toggle between 7 and 9 lanes.
- Themes — Dark, Midnight Blue, Light, Nord, Orange.
Rhythm Lens is available to download for Windows and Linux from Anarchy Music’s GitHub page.
