Setup
We run the MSEQ on a Raspberry Pi 4, but it will work anywhere you have Pure Data and some MIDI ports. This page is the short version. For more detail: Installation guide.
What you need
The MSEQ is built around the Novation Launchpad MK2 and LaunchControl XL, with two Launchpads and one LaunchControl per player. You don’t need two players but it’s definitely better if you do.
- The computer: a Raspberry Pi 4, flashed with Blokas Patchbox OS
- MIDI out: a Blokas PiSound is what we use. Any USB-MIDI interface will do
- One player: two Launchpad MK2s (the left and right halves of the 8×16 grid) and one LaunchControl XL
- Two players: the same again, so four Launchpads and two LaunchControls
- No Novation gear at all: just the Pi and a MIDI interface. A phone, tablet or laptop on your WiFi takes the place of a player’s Launchpads and LaunchControl through the webapp (see webapp.md)
Installing
From a fresh Patchbox image, on the Pi, clone the repository to
~/code/sequencer and run the installer:
mkdir -p ~/code && cd ~/code
git clone https://gitlab.com/malleable808/sequencer.git
cd sequencer
sudo ./install/bootstrap-pi.sh --all
Then open http://<your-pi-hostname>:8080/ from any device on the same WiFi.
The webapp asks for a PIN, which ships as 1234 until you change it: how to
set your own is in the “Bootstrap the runtime” section of
Installation guide.
Press play in Ableton (or whatever is sending MIDI clock) and the MSEQ starts sequencing.
That’s it. The installer fetches the runtime, wires up the system integration and udev rules, loads the virtual MIDI ports, builds the webapp’s environment, and installs two services that start MSEQ at boot.
For more install information please look at the install readme in the GitLab repo.
Once it’s running
Two services start with the Pi and keep running:
| Service | What it is |
|---|---|
mseq.service |
The sequencer itself |
mseq-webapp.service |
The webapp, on port 8080 |
The MIDI ports are wired at boot: one per device, plus six virtual ports for the webapp, with the udev rules pinning each Launchpad and LaunchControl to a stable name so they always come up in the same place, even if you accidentally knock a USB cable out in a live performance. Plug it back in and it will come back online.
Where to go next
- setup-debugging.md: services, logs, backups, updates, and what to do when something is wrong
- webapp.md: playing from a browser, with or without the Novation controllers
- Overview: what the MSEQ is and how it’s laid out
- Selecting sequencers and views: your first press
- Trigs: writing a pattern