Field guide

Popular guides

Start hereIntroduction

What PUNCHER is, how it plays, and which browsers can run it.

Start hereYour first sequence

Set up a sound, enter a chord, and let four voices play it their own way.

Start hereFind your way around

The sequencer sets the route. The grid holds the notes. The voices turn them into a performance.

Start hereConnect MIDI

Route the voices to an instrument, record a keyboard, or use PUNCHER's built-in sound.

Build a sequenceSteps & the grid

Enter notes, set the loop, and choose how the sequencer travels through the grid.

Tab move through resultsEsc close
Documentation
Support/Start here

Start here

Your first sequence

Set up a sound, enter a chord, and let four voices play it their own way.

On this page

Before you start

Open PUNCHER in a browser that supports Web MIDI, such as Chrome, Edge, Opera, or Firefox. You can use the built-in synth without a MIDI keyboard or external instrument. The first time you enable it, the app downloads a SoundFont and keeps it in your browser.

PUNCHER has two clocks to think about: the sequencer moves between steps, while each voice plays notes from the current step at its own pace. A step can hold up to four notes. Those notes are the material; the voices decide how to play them.

1. Choose a sound

Open Settings → MIDI and tick Built-in synth under Outputs. Wait for the SoundFont to finish loading. In the Voices panel, select Voice 1 and choose an Instrument.

If you want to send MIDI to a DAW or hardware instead, follow Connect MIDI.

Enable the built-in synth to hear the sequence directly in your browser.
Enable the built-in synth to hear the sequence directly in your browser.

Enable the built-in synth to hear the sequence directly in your browser.

2. Enter a chord

Choose File → New for an empty patch, then click step 1 in the grid. In the step editor, use + Add note to add three notes, then set them to C3, E3, and G3. You can type note names into the fields.

Set the sequencer's Size to 4, Pace to 1 Bar, and Loop to Recorded. The recorded loop ends at the last step containing notes, CCs, or a rest. With only step 1 filled, that chord repeats.

The step editor lists the selected step's notes. This example shows a four-note chord and a jump rule.
The step editor lists the selected step's notes. This example shows a four-note chord and a jump rule.

The step editor lists the selected step's notes. This example shows a four-note chord and a jump rule.

3. Give it a rhythm

In Voice 1, switch Enable on, set Pace to 8th and Rule to Up. Turn on a few dots in its pattern row. Disable the other voices for now so you can hear this one clearly.

Press Play. The voice cycles through C, E, and G as its active pattern dots arrive. Click a dot to make it silent; click it again to bring the note back. Change the voice's pace while it plays to hear the pattern speed up or slow down.

4. Add a second voice

Enable Voice 2. Choose Lowest, set its pace to 4th (a quarter note), and lower its pitch with the voice's Transpose control. Give it a different instrument and a sparse pattern.

Voice 1 now plays an arpeggio while Voice 2 returns to the bottom note. Both read the same step. Add notes to steps 2–4 to hear the voices follow a chord progression.

5. Save your patch

Choose File → Save to write a .midiseq.json patch. This preserves the steps, voice settings, patterns, and modulation. Use Export MIDI or audio when you want a performance you can bring into another app.

The browser also keeps a working copy, but a saved patch is the copy you can keep, move, and reopen.

PUNCHER / Support & documentation