Pulseq

Pulseq is a multi-stage MIDI sequencer built for techno, acid, and experimental electronic music. It drives your external synths and AUv3 plugins over MIDI. Made up of 1-16 "stages", each stage carries its own note, velocity, gate behavior, and length. Chain scenes together into full arrangements.

Use Pulseq as a standalone app or as an Audio Unit MIDI effect inside your host.

SEQUENCING

Build patterns from 1 to 16 stages. Each stage sets its own note, velocity, gate mode, and length in pulses. Let a stages hold for two or three pulses, and hear the loop come alive.

PITCH & SCALES

Pitch comes from each stage's note, guided by root and scale. Seventeen scales are available. Snap Notes to Scale keeps emitted notes in key; turn it off and stored notes play exactly as entered.

GATE MODES & RHYTHM

Gate mode is the character of each stage: Off, Single (one trigger per stage), Multi (retriggers every pulse, or every 2nd, 3rd, or 4th), Prob (fires by chance), Long (holds to the end), and Prog (a pattern you draw across up to 16 steps). Add Swing from 0 to 100%, shape Gate Length from tight and clipped to legato, and turn on per-stage Glide with global Portamento.

PLAY & SPLIT MODES

Play mode sets direction: Forward, Ping-Pong, Random, and Fixed. Split mode changes form: run a single lane, alternate lanes A and B by repeat counts (Serial, to build AAAB patterns), or run both lanes at once on two MIDI channels (Parallel) with an independent B clock multiplier.

CC MODULATION

Up to eight CC lanes drive filter cutoffs, mod wheels, or any destination that accepts MIDI CC. Lane values are per-stage, and every new lane starts with Don't Send so adding one can never surprise attached hardware.

CLOCK & TRANSPORT

When hosted, Pulseq follows the host transport and clock. Standalone, an internal tempo from 20 to 300 BPM drives playback, with clock divisions from 1/1 down to 1/32 plus triplet and dotted options. Apply Changes controls when live edits take effect: Immediate, Next Pulse, or Next Bar, for deterministic performance.

SCENES & CHAIN

Sixteen scene slots capture the full musical setup: stages, root, scale, tempo, split, and CC lanes, while leaving your user configuration intact. String scenes into a complete track with the Chain editor: set per-step lengths, loop the whole chain, and hand scene changes to the timeline.

STANDALONE & AUV3

Use Pulseq as a standalone app or as an AUv3 MIDI effect. It runs in AUv3 hosts such as AUM, Drambo, Logic, and Cubasis.