MIDI note entry

If you connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer, you can use that keyboard to enter notes via our editor.

This feature is limited to people in a paid plan.

Activating MIDI entry

By default, MIDI entry isn’t active. You need to turn it on in the editor preferences.

Click “Editor preferences” at the bottom left of the screen to open them. (If you’re on a small screen, you won’t see this, and you’ll instead need to click the button at the top left of the interface, then select “Editor preferences…”)

In the editor preferences panel, find the “MIDI note entry” section:

Click “Connect” to get started. This may take a few seconds. In some cases, your browser might prompt you for permission.

If all goes well, you’ll see the name of your MIDI device in the interface:

At that point, you can exit the editor preferences and begin using your MIDI device for note entry.

How MIDI note entry works

Hopefully it’s pretty straightforward and intuitive!

By default, any note you enter via your MIDI keyboard will be appended to your selection, and your selection will not advance to the next beat. You’ll need to manually move the cursor left or right, perhaps via your computer keyboard.

If you enter a note that’s already been entered in the selected beat, we’ll delete that particular note. Effectively this means it works like a toggle.

Click the “Auto-advance” button, at the bottom of the editor, to change this behavior. With auto-advance mode active, the cursor will advance each time you set a pitch. This is optimized for fast note entry, in cases of entering single-note lines.

Automatically connecting

In the editor preferences, if you check the checkbox next to “Automatically connect to MIDI devices when available,” then you won’t have to open the editor preferences to enable MIDI entry next time you open our editor.

Please note that this may not work in Firefox (see below).

Current support

This feature isn’t available in all web browsers. Notably, Safari has not yet made it possible, and it’s not at all supported on iOS due to Apple limitations. For best results, use Google Chrome on either a desktop/laptop or an Android device.

Firefox also works, though it’s slightly buggy. For best results: quit Firefox entirely, then connect your MIDI device, then open Firefox and open Soundslice. As of this writing, Firefox cannot reliably detect MIDI devices that have been connected after you’ve already opened Soundslice. Also, automatic connection doesn’t work in Firefox; you’ll need to manually go into the editor preferences, each time you open the editor, in order to enable MIDI entry.

Troubleshooting

If you’re certain you’ve connected your MIDI device to your computer, but you still see a “No MIDI devices connected” message, try the following:

• Save your slice and close your web browser completely.
• Disconnect the MIDI device and connect it again.
• Open your web browser again.
• Go to the Soundslice editor and open the editor preferences, then try activating MIDI note entry.