Show HN: I built a WebMIDI sequencer to control my hardware synths
2 months ago (simplychris.ai)
Hey HN,
I’m an ex-Google engineer trying to get back into music production.
I needed a way to sequence my hardware synths using AI contexts without constantly switching windows, so I built this.
It runs entirely in the browser using WebMIDI. No login required. It connects to your local MIDI devices (if you're on Chrome/Edge) and lets you generate patterns.
Tech stack: [React / WebMIDI API / etc].
Link: www.simplychris.ai/droplets
Code is a bit messy, but it works. Feedback welcome.
This does not solve the underlying problem at all, which makes today's MIDI, coming from a normal computer, almost unusable for serious sequencing. This is timing and jitter issues! So, may I asked, what is the actual use-case for this sequencer? I would like to see/hear some music you made with it. Or is this just for the sake of using AI?
PipeWire with rtkit works incredibly stably with wildly short buffer lengths (low latency). Given the short buffer size, there's not much chance for big timing issues to arise (unless there's underruns with dead air, which doesn't seem to be the case).
This was a surprising assertion to hear. Maybe on some OS, doing reliable timing is a problem. But with modern audio pipelines, things feel like they are in an extremely good state.
Actually I am using PipeWire with rtkit on Debian. But somehow it does not solve my midi problems. "Audio pipeline" is not "midi". Nevertheless I am doing all my _audio_ (not midi) work on Debian and I am very happy with it.
If you have hardware synths you are going to have a decent midi and audio interface that this is not a problem. It wasn't even a problem 25 years ago. There is no reason for consumer grade audio to be able to do this because most people will never use it.
I have maybe 20 hardware synths and I do a lot of sequencing. And yes it wasn't a problem 25 years ago, that is exactly why I still use an Atari STe! :-) But today it is a problem. It is just not possible to do complex and tight sequencing today with a normal Win, Mac or Linux computer. Even with my RME PCIe card. Your argument, "it wasn't a problem decades ago, so it cannot today either" is simply not correct.
6 replies →
These opinions are not helpful.
I wrote mine also, integrating an Akai Fire, at https://music.gbraad.nl/meister as part of a tool to do live performances. This controls some of my remix tools, mixxx and vj tools too.
Edit: my usecase is more integrating different tools and devices, Bitwig, Electribe, mixxx, my mod/protracker remix tool, etc. I guess your usecase is more to generate music, less my thing, but possible. I just have a particular sequencer/tracker use. Generation happens in bitwig
Thanks this looks intersting and I am going it to try it later. I have old Axiom 49 and it really doesn't work that much with modern DAW as it is assumed it's old and outdated. But I like the form factor and it is solid. I hope I can make it work witht his one ?
Vibe coded? Asking because it looks very similar to my vibe coded webmidi project which is a beatmatching practice for DJ’s :) https://beat.maido.io/
It definitely was made with gemini, you can tell by the fact that gemini shoe horned AI features that only work with a google api key.
Neat - here is another one you might find helpful (chrome only) https://cdn.robrohan.com/seq/index.html
And the source: https://github.com/robrohan/r2_seq
It's kind of annoying when someone shows what they're working on, and the first comment is always, "Oh yeah, here's some alternatives." It feels like less like you're trying to be helpful and more like you're just kind of cheekily crapping on them. 2 cents. Maybe it would be more helpful if you were to ask how it could be different, what it improves upon. Ask if they've seen this. Something more than, "Oh yeah, here's something in addition to what this person is trying to show."
This is pretty cool in concept. Need to go and get stuff to plug into my laptop to test :)
Does webmidi works over usb-otg? Then maybe it could run from a phone or tablet!
Yeah you can connect via USB MIDI using an OTG adapter by enabling "USB MIDI Peripheral mode" in Developer Options. There's plenty of videos on how to set it up from the Android MIDI Arranger App community - just N.B. you may need a powered USB hub depending on your use-case.
I use my tools from a linux machine (reliable) and Android (OK). I got a h4midi wc to improve the setup. Webmidi and JS is not idealz as wakelock is needed and javascript is actually slow.