Chrome Music Lab: a first sequencer with nothing to install
A grid, two rows of drums, and nothing standing between a class and a sound
Chrome Music Lab Song Maker is the gentlest way into Learn the DAW. It opens in a browser, costs nothing, needs no account and has almost no interface to explain. A student clicks a square and hears a note. That is the entire barrier to entry.
Which makes it the right first platform for two very different rooms: an upper primary class, and any class of any age meeting a sequencer for the first time. Both need to find out what a grid of pitch against time actually is before anyone hands them a mixer.
"A student who enters the tutorial library with a real question will get far more from it than one who just watches from the beginning."
What you need to run it
| Open it | musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker |
| Cost | Free |
| Runs on | Any device with a browser |
| Accounts | None. Nothing to sign up for |
| Installing | Nothing to install |
| Saving work | A shareable link per project |
Teacher move: because there is no login step, a first lesson can start the moment the room opens the page. Use the time you would have spent on accounts letting them press things instead.
The first of six, and the one you can leave behind
Learn the DAW is the same unit on six platforms. Students tinker before anyone explains anything, work out what they cannot do, then raid a library of short How To clips to answer their own question. The five phases are set out in full on the unit page, and they do not change when the software does.
Song Maker is where a lot of classes start and few of them stay. Once students want more than one melodic part and a drum line, the honest answer is that they have outgrown it, and BandLab is the next step: real tracks, a piano roll and a mixer, still free. The phases carry across intact, so moving up costs you nothing.
The Chrome Music Lab How To library
Each clip covers one technique, made in Song Maker itself. Students watch only the ones that answer the question they wrote down. Nobody starts at video one. This list comes straight from the course, so it stays current as clips are added. Access is via subscription.
1Teacher Guide1 lesson
2Chrome Music Lab Song Maker Recreate Tutorials17 lessons
3Chrome Music Lab Song Maker 'How To' Tutorials28 lessons
Common questions
Is Chrome Music Lab free?
Yes. Song Maker runs in a browser, costs nothing, and there is nothing to install. Students do not need an account and you do not need to set anything up before a lesson.
Do students need to log in or create accounts?
No. That is the main reason this is the gentlest entry point of the six. There is no sign-up step, no email address and no class management to arrange, so a first lesson can start the moment the room opens the page.
What year level is this for?
Upper primary onwards, and any class meeting a sequencer for the first time regardless of year. Song Maker has a grid, two rows of drums and very little else, which is what makes it a good place to learn what a sequencer is before moving to a multitrack DAW.
How do students save their work?
Song Maker gives every project a shareable link rather than a file. Students copy that link into whatever your school already uses to collect work, and it reopens the project exactly as they left it.
You may also like
Ready to run Chrome Music Lab with your classes?
Everything above is ready to go the moment you subscribe. No setup, no printing, no hunting for parts.
Chrome Music Lab is included in Music Tech Pack & Full Access.