MIDI recorder
Press Record, play a MIDI keyboard or the letter keys of this computer, press Stop, and download what you played as a .mid file. Notes, the sustain pedal, knobs and pitch bend are all kept, with their timing. Nothing is uploaded.
MIDI is optional: the letter keys work with no device connected.
Record a take
- You: Press Listen to MIDI and allow MIDI, press Record, play, and press Stop.
- The page: Keeps every note and controller message with the moment it arrived, and counts them as you play.
- Check: Play back performs the take, and Download .mid saves it.
Nothing leaves the page: the take is held in the browser until you download it or close the tab. MIDI keyboards need Chrome, Edge or Firefox, because Safari has no Web MIDI.
Record without a MIDI keyboard
The letter keys play notes with no device connected. A is C, and the keys along the row to K run up the white notes, with W, E, T, Y and U as the black notes between them. Z drops the octave and X raises it. Every note from the letter keys is recorded at velocity 100, because a computer key cannot feel how hard it is pressed. An idea can be caught with nothing but the laptop. The virtual MIDI keyboard shows the same layout on screen.
Set the tempo before you play
- Without the click. Play freely. The file starts at your first note, and the tempo only decides where a music app draws the bar lines.
- With the click. Tick Click while recording and play in time. The file starts on the first click, so your notes sit on the grid when you open it in a music app.
- Not sure of the tempo. The tap tempo tool finds it from a few taps.
The click is the difference between a sketch and a take that lines up with a grid.
Know what is recorded
| Recorded | Not recorded |
|---|---|
| Notes, with their velocity and length | Audio of any kind |
| Control Change: sustain pedal, mod wheel, knobs and faders | MIDI clock and Active Sensing |
| Pitch bend, program changes and aftertouch | System Exclusive |
| The channel each message arrived on | Which instrument sound you heard |
The file is a Standard MIDI File, format 0, with 480 ticks to the quarter note. It records what you did, not what it sounded like.
Open the file in a music app
Drag the .mid file into GarageBand, Logic Pro or any other music app and it becomes a region you can edit, with real instruments. How to play a MIDI file on a Mac has the steps. To check it first, the MIDI file viewer and player lists every event, and the MIDI transposer moves it to another key. A .mid file opens in every music app, which makes it the safest way to keep an idea.
Record a game controller
InputConfig, the free Mac app I make, turns a game controller into a MIDI device: buttons play notes, and sticks and triggers send Control Change and pitch bend. It shows up here as a MIDI input named InputConfig, so this page records a controller performance the same way it records a keyboard. Anything that reaches the browser as MIDI can be recorded. Gamepad to MIDI on a Mac has the setup.
Questions
How do I record MIDI online?
Open this page in Chrome, Edge or Firefox, press Listen to MIDI, press Record, play, press Stop, and press Download .mid. The file opens in any music app.
Can I record without a MIDI keyboard?
Yes. The letter keys play notes, laid out like a piano from A to K, and Z and X change the octave. That works in every browser, Safari included.
What kind of file do I get?
A Standard MIDI File, format 0, ending in .mid. It holds the notes and controller moves you played, with their timing, and no audio.
Is my recording uploaded?
No. The recording is held in the page and the file is made on your own computer.
Does it record the sustain pedal and the knobs?
Yes. Control Change messages, the sustain pedal among them, pitch bend, program changes and aftertouch are recorded with the notes.
Does it record audio?
No. It records MIDI: which keys you pressed, when and how hard. To turn the file into audio, open it in a music app and export it.
Why set the tempo before recording?
The tempo decides where the bar lines fall when the file is opened in a music app. Play to the click at that tempo and your notes line up with the grid.
Related
Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.
Updated