MIDISketch Beta

Highlights

• PolyRack (Beta): play any synth as an MPE instrument, even one that has no MPE. PolyRack runs linked copies of your synth, one per note, so every note gets its own bend, pressure, slide and pan. Open it from the Synth tab, or click the PolyRack pill on a synth’s title bar to send the loaded synth (and its sound) straight in.
• PolyRack node view: synths, effects, outputs and helper cards on one canvas, joined by wires. Stack up to 8 layers, split them by key or velocity on the NOTES map, transpose, pan and level each layer, and route each layer to Main, an aux output or MIDI out (a row of plain synths in your DAW).
• PolyRack mapping: pressure, slide, pan, velocity and key can drive any synth parameter, a CC or aftertouch, per note, with a drawn curve, a range and smoothing. One source can drive up to 4 targets. CURVE, MATH, VELOCITY CURVE, NOTE FILTER and TRANSPOSE cards shape what flows down a wire.
• PolyRack effects: per-note effects (one per copy), effects on a layer, on an output, and an FX RETURN with sends. A DRY..WET fader and a bypass light on every effect card. An effect can be played by notes from any channel.
• PolyRack modules and macros: Cmd/Ctrl+G groups cards into a module you can step inside, reuse and save to My modules. Macro knobs on a module; draw a macro in the roll as a lane, or turn it from a MIDI controller. DAW automation of a mapped synth parameter reaches every copy.
• PolyRack also has: MONITOR and MIDI LOG cards (see the notes, lines, audio and every message on a wire), input cards per MIDI port, CC LANES (where your roll’s CC lanes go), Kit and SoundFont as layers (the Kit shows its pads on its card), presets (.polyrack), copy / paste / duplicate cards, undo, a multicore engine with a CPU readout, and a missing plug-in kept as a card instead of being dropped. Not in the MIDI FX version.
• Lessons: the guided tutorial from the website, now inside MIDISketch. Basics, Curves & notes, Vibrato, Zoom, Sound, and DAW & export. You do each step on your own notes; steps you already know are skipped. 11 languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian. Help > Learn, or the ? button.
• Trigger: Play from a key. Right-click a note > Play from a key and a MIDI key plays that note’s pitch, pressure, slide and pan curves for as long as it is held (Hold, Loop or Stop after the drawn length). Add to playing notes bends everything that is sounding instead. Bake to notes turns a trigger clip in the Playlist into plain notes.
• Convert panel (audio to MIDI): presets, live sliders and Convert to notes right after a scan. New Polyphonic mode (Beta) turns chords and full mixes into notes, with vibrato, slides and scoops traced from the audio, and a sustained vibrato turned into one editable LFO. The scan card is redesigned with two tabs, VIEW and CONVERT.
• Playlist and timeline: arrange your sketch as patterns and clips on a timeline. Each clip can play a pattern or a saved State; triggers play a named pattern with Hold / Once / Toggle launch. Draw, Paint, Select and Cut work as in the roll, and the Playlist pops out into its own window. TIMELINE | PATTERN picks what plays.
• Compact playback controls: a power dot beside the wordmark turns output on and off, and TRIGGER sits in the middle of the window. Layers (was Link) shows other patterns as ghosts, with an eye and a colour per pattern.
• Kit is out of the lab: a drum and sample kit with per-pad pitch (Root + Detect, Follow bend, Mono / Legato + Glide, Pitch drop, Random tune) and smart import from a folder or zip (808s glide, hats choke). New: SLICE mode cuts one long sound into up to 16 pads (AUTO, EVEN, RANDOM), a wave editor (zoom, loop points, Ping-pong), per-pad outputs to your DAW, and pitch options for the Sampler too.

New

• More plug-in formats (Mac): load CLAP synths and effects, and 2.4 plug-ins (older .vst synths like TAL-NoiseMaker), in the Sound tab and in PolyRack. Windows support comes later.
• MIDI 2.0 input (Mac, early work in progress): in MIDI Settings, click the MIDI 2.0 tag on a MIDI 2.0 device (e.g. Erae 2) to record its pitch, pressure and slide at full resolution. Off by default.
• Cymatics (Beta): a new visualizer mode - your notes shape sand on a vibrating plate; in tune = still.
• PolyRack crash safety: if a plug-in closes MIDISketch while a sketch opens, the next open skips it once (it stays in the rack) and tells you.
• Multi-out: 1 main + 15 stereo aux outputs. Kit pads route per pad; a hosted synth’s extra outputs pass through.
• Synth Recipes for any synth: record the settings that moved and apply them to the same synth later. Built-in “MPE ready” recipe for Vital.
• Attached notes: right-click a selection > Link > Attach to this note. Keyswitches move, copy and delete with their note. Attach keyswitches to their notes pairs a whole sketch at once.
• Link menu: click a note’s link icon to see what it shares, select the linked notes, or unlink.
• Live scale lock: in the scale window, Lock live input moves notes you play into the scale.
• Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T): Stretch or Warp on demand. With Lock to scale on, a vertical stretch keeps chords in the key.
• Lane brush: the Brush paints Pressure, Slide, Pan and CC lanes.
• Shortcuts: rebind with chords (Cmd/Ctrl, Shift, Option/Alt + key). N, Q, Shift+Q, Shift+G, Cmd/Ctrl+T, Cmd/Ctrl+D, Cmd/Ctrl+B and more can now be changed.
• Channels: Cmd/Ctrl+0..9 sets the selected notes' channel; patterns can have a channel; MIDI Settings > Channels: Rotate | Fixed + rotate.
• MPE base note: First / Last / Middle globally, or per note from a right-click on the dotted base line.
• Pattern loops: each pattern keeps its own loop; a longer clip repeats it.
• Middle C preference: Auto (your DAW’s) / C3 / C4 / C5.
• EDO grids: Grid starts on... picks the note step 0 sits on, in cents or as a frequency.
• Humanize (extension): loosen timing in ms (Around / Late / Early), vary velocity and length, and add a few cents of pitch if you want it. Install it from the Extensions Library.
• Expression lanes: real values (0-127, Pan L/C/R, the synth’s own text), double-click a point to type a value, rename a lane per sketch, lane colours.
• Trackpad Controller (Beta, Mac): play notes and send expression from your Mac’s trackpad. Grid Settings > Trackpad Controller.
• SOUND page (was Synth) and a Sound setup card on your first visit: how your instrument hears bends and where the sound comes from.
• Design panel opens over any tab and leaves the rest usable. New per-theme note looks: Round Ends, Outline, Shadow Distance, Shading Strength, Points + Handles size. Theme files carry the note look.
• Extensions can read and change the loaded synth’s settings, with live knobs and pinned macros. Extensions > Synth Map... lists what a synth exposes.

Improved

• Expression tool: Saved shapes shared with the LFO window; smart copies stay in sync when you edit the shape.
• LFO, Ramp and Chop windows are compact, with a drawing area you can zoom and pan.
• Light themes are first-class: buttons, readouts, timeline, lanes, the Mixer and Quick Start all follow the theme.
• Notes: lighter selected fill, shadows that fall straight down and never on another note, straight notes fill their row, butted notes join square.
• New cursors and icons for Brush, Stamp, Perform, Point and Cut, readable on light rolls.
• Playlist: resizable PATTERNS column, grid fades with zoom, pops out on top; DAW playback always plays the timeline.
• Toolbar and status bar tidied: scale and time signature pills, joined Undo | Redo and Playlist | Mixer.
• Trigger window and Output Mode popup redesigned and theme-aware.
• Point tool: Shift+click adds a point to the selection; right-click a point always deletes it.
• MIDI file import keeps each note’s release velocity.
• Unrecognised synths say they “may work, or may not”, not a crash warning.
• PolyRack: adding a card no longer moves the others; TIDY lays everything out fresh; a mouse-wheel click zooms an even step; with no synth yet, right-drag offers Pick the main synth.
• In a DAW on Mac, plug-in windows (the synth, PolyRack layers) open in front of MIDISketch, and AUTO | PINNED is on PolyRack’s synth windows too.
• The lesson and setup cards keep the same text size at every UI size.
• Smoother drawing and dragging: zoomed bent notes, the timeline and window chrome all paint faster.

Fixed

• Notes ending inside an audio block now end on time, before a note starting there.
• Tie At Loop no longer drops the tied note from the third pass on.
• Keep note channels: a chord on one channel no longer causes stuck notes.
• Windows: typing into a hosted synth no longer doubles each character (Ableton, REAPER).
• Serum 2 FX loads in the Mixer (it loaded the synth).
• A pattern preview keeps the roll’s loop; a DAW reload opens the pattern you had open.
• Convert: a second Accept no longer doubles the notes.
• Velocity paint no longer skips notes on a fast stroke.
• Group move stops together at beat 0.
• The app opens in your theme (it flashed Midnight first).
• Theme editor: the hex field and Save Theme work as expected; a saved theme keeps its name after a restart; Light/Dark in Quick Start no longer wipes your Custom colours.
• Kit: a missing slice source keeps its cuts; Locate brings it back with its loop points.
• Saving while editing the Playlist is safer in a DAW.

Opening sketches in older versions: see the note above.