I built a WebMIDI sequencer to control my hardware synths
Details
- External ID
- 46234304
- Source
- HN
- Company
- —
- Product
- I built a WebMIDI sequencer to control my hardware synths
- Website domain
- simplychris.ai
- Launched
- Dec. 11, 2025
- Cohort
- —
- Upvotes
- 43
- Upvotes percentile
- 0.7986641221374046
- Tags
- —
- Fetched at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:25 p.m.
- Updated at
- Sept. 7, 2026, 9:25 p.m.
Description
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/dropletsCode is a bit messy, but it works. Feedback welcome.
Enrichment
- Theme
- audio and music production tools
- Vertical
- Media & entertainment
- Function
- Hardware & robotics
- Audience
- Prosumer
- AI stance
- Not AI
- Project type
- Hobby / open-source project
- Normalized one-liner
- webmidi sequencer for hardware synthesizers
- Manually corrected
- False
Could you build this?
Yes The Web MIDI API and Web Audio/Clock scheduling are well-supported in modern browsers and easily implemented with standard JavaScript.
Discussion
20 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Bitwig (DAW/sequencer), Mixxx (DJ software), Ableton (DAW), Akai Fire (hardware controller), Atari ST/STe (hardware sequencer)
Concerns raised: JavaScript too slow and non-threaded for reliable MIDI timing, Browser-based MIDI suffers from unpredictable jitter and latency issues, USB MIDI buffering causes non-real-time-safe behavior vs. original DIN cables, Modern OS abstraction layers prevent tight MIDI clock synchronization compared to 1980s hardware, Requires wakelock and workarounds; not suitable for serious sequencing work
Feature requests: Support for USB MIDI over OTG on Android/mobile devices, Better compatibility with older hardware controllers like Axiom 49, Sample-accurate MIDI timing without loop-point pauses, Integration with multiple tools (Bitwig, Electribe, VJ tools, tracker apps)
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one — 142 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #37 of 143 (itself plus its competitors, highest first — normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 43 days after the earliest competitor.
- Browser based sythesizer, drum machine and squencer · hn · 2026-05-15 · 22 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- Sound2MIDI · ph · 2026-09-19 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- A 16-control subtractive synth for microcontrollers (39k ELF, web demo) · hn · 2026-07-20 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- AwsmAudio · hn · 2026-06-15 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- What if your synthesizer was powered by APL (or a dumb K clone)? · hn · 2026-03-15 · 92 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- jevthoven · github · 2026-09-17 · 10 upvotes · similarity 0.48
- ShevtoneAudio Orchestrator · hn · 2026-08-30 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.47
- Web-REPL "skred" : my OSS sound engine w/retro C64 appearance · hn · 2026-05-10 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.46
Other launches for this product
- No other launches for this product.
Same idea, different domain
Nobody's really built a hardware & robotics tool for Horizontal yet.