Using a MIDI controller

There are more sliders in this thing than you want to drag one at a time. A cheap box of knobs gets you both hands and stops you looking at the panel.

Short version: advanced settings → enable MIDI, then auto-map or learn in order in the sidebar's MIDI section.

What you need#

Any USB controller that sends CC messages — a MIDI Fighter Twister, a nanoKONTROL, a Launch Control, the knob row on a keyboard. Plug it in before or after loading the page.

You also need a browser with Web MIDI — Chrome or Edge.

Turning it on#

1. Open the ☰ menu → advanced settings (or ctrl+k → "advanced settings").
2. Under MIDI control, click enable MIDI and allow the browser prompt.

A MIDI section appears in the control panel. You only do this once — the app reconnects on later visits.

If you get Web MIDI not supported, try Chrome or Edge. If you get access denied, click retry or clear the site permission and reload.

Binding one knob#

Each slider now has a ⚟ button. Click it, wiggle the knob, done — the button reads CC7 and the pairing shows in the MIDI panel. Esc cancels.

• × in the MIDI panel unbinds. Clicking CC7 re-learns instead, so you can move a control to another knob without unbinding first.
• One knob drives one thing. Bind a knob that was already driving something and it quietly moves.

Two knobs that aren't sliders#

• The motion amount — the strip above the filter box scales every modulation routing at once, and carries the same ⚟. One hand takes the board from still to swimming.
• A preset's weight — every preset is a fader, so a preset on a knob is a macro that moves everything that preset touches. Use the picker at the bottom of the MIDI panel: choose the preset, click ⚟ preset mix, move a knob. Weights layer, so several presets on several knobs is a small desk of looks.

Neither does soft takeover — they grab on the first message, because neither has a track to draw a waiting mark on. A weight also resets once anything else moves the board: the next turn starts a fresh mix from what is on screen.

Mapping the whole device#

Both buttons wipe every binding first, with no confirmation.

• auto-map is for a MIDI Fighter Twister: it assigns the first 64 controls — motion amount first, then look-makers in signal-path order — to CC 0–63 on channel 1, across all four banks.
• learn in order works with anything: sweep your knobs one at a time and each takes the next control down the same list. stop learning or Esc keeps what you have bound.

Fine tweaks rank after the look-makers, and the magnifier ranks last. Bindings are stored per control, so re-ranking never moves one you already have. In a sweep, a knob bumped by accident is consumed and there is no going back a step.

There are more controls than most controllers have knobs, so some stay mouse-only. The panel says how many are left over.

"I turn the knob and nothing happens"#

That is soft takeover. A physical knob at 3 o'clock doesn't know the value is at 10 o'clock, so it stays inert until you sweep it through the current value — then it catches and tracks normally. An amber mark on the track shows where the knob is waiting.

Knobs let go and need re-catching whenever a value is set from elsewhere: loading a preset, recalling a save, undoing, randomising. Expect a row of amber marks after a preset load.

Locking a rate to the beat#

The tempo comes from MIDI clock if anything is sending it (the panel shows clock ♩ = 128.0 BPM), otherwise from the top of the MODULATION box on the signal-path map — type it or tap four times. Clock wins while it runs; the hand-set number waits underneath.

Three things can follow the beat, each through the ♩ in its own ⋮ menu, cycling 1/1 → 1/16 → off:

• sweep — the wipe auto-sweep. Tops out at 2 Hz, so past ~120 BPM the fast divisions all pin.
• line offset — source B's line rate.
• any modulation slot's rate. Tops out at 10 Hz, which 1/16 reaches at 150 BPM.

While locked the rate ignores its own value, and the Hz you dialled in comes back when you unlock. Asking for a lock with no tempo at all sets one at 120 BPM. The app only listens for clock; it never sends it.

What sticks around#

Bindings, the hand-set tempo and the clock locks on sweep and line offset are saved in this browser. They are not in presets, saved looks or the URL — a link carries the look, not your knob layout, and there is no way to export a mapping.

A modulation slot's lock is the exception: it rides along on the link, because "this wobbles on eighth notes" is part of the patch.

A preset weight is bound by name, so a renamed or dropped preset discards that one binding on the next load.

What isn't supported#

• CC only — notes, pads, pitch bend, program change and aftertouch do nothing.
• Absolute knobs only — endless encoders in relative mode will jump around.
• No LED feedback — nothing is sent back to the device.
• No device picker — everything plugged in drives the app at once.
• No per-knob range, invert or curve.

When it seems broken#