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Sketchtone

Project name

Sketchtone: draw lines to make sound

Quiet Medium Loud

Snap

Outline Filled

Low voice Mid High

Knobs shape

Draw a line to make a sound

Left to right is time. Higher up is a higher note. Thicker lines play louder. Try the shapes and the spray too.

Etch mode

Left to right is time, top to bottom is pitch from high to low. With the keyboard: arrow keys move the pen, hold Shift to move faster, Enter starts and finishes a line, Escape cancels it. Space always plays or pauses.

Transport and recording

BPM

Root key Pitch mode

Loop Loop length

Pick a layer, then draw. Each has its own sound.

Playback

Read mode

Reading ·

Divisions

Slice order

Drums

Draw energy Gap

Enabled

Draw the red energy line: high = busy drums, low = sparse, a gap = silence. Or tap a style below.

Left to right is time, as on the canvas. The red line is the drum energy: higher means busier drums. Parts with no line are silent. The dots are the hits the drummer generates. With the keyboard: Left and Right arrows move one step, Up and Down raise or lower the energy there, Delete makes a gap, Enter puts the line back.

Sound design for the selected layer

Mix

Perform

Scenes

Next bar Next loop Now

MPK pads

Scenes Jump in loop

An empty pad keeps the drawing of every layer. A full one brings it back, in time. Shift 1–8.

Macros

One knob, many settings

Keys

Trigger FX Play notes

Keys play with its sound and effects. Pick another layer to change instrument.

Keep in key (every key lands on the scale)

Hold Latch

Lock to

Beat Bar Off

Set up key effects

Default for every key

Keyboard shortcuts

Sketchtone

Project

Your sketch saves itself in this browser while you work. Keep versions to go back in time, or a file to back up and share.

Name

Versions

Project file

A .sketchtone file holds the whole sketch: drawing, sounds, effects, drums and settings.

Export

Render the loop to a WAV file as long as you want, with the project as it is now: BPM, layers, mutes, effects, voice and drums. It renders faster than real time, no recording needed.

Length

or minutes

Ending

Record, in the transport, still captures what you play live, knob moves included.

Settings

Look

Light Dark

Speaker volume Hear lines while drawing Reduce motion (no shaking, no animations)

Controller

Connect a MIDI keyboard like the Akai MPK Mini and map its knobs.

Saved data

Remove the sketch, versions, MIDI setup and settings from this browser. Download a project file first if you want to keep your work.

Privacy

Your work stays on your device. Drawings, versions and settings are kept in this browser's local storage. No account, no cookies, no analytics, no tracking.
Sound files are made in your browser. Exports and recordings are created on your computer and saved straight to it. Nothing is uploaded.
MIDI only when you ask. The browser asks for MIDI access when you press Connect MIDI. Sketchtone only reads your controller.
No microphone, no camera.
No third parties. Everything, fonts included, comes from this site only, and the browser is told to refuse anything else.
Hosting. The site is served by Netlify, which may keep standard server logs (such as IP address and pages requested).
Delete anytime. Settings → Delete all saved data removes everything Sketchtone stored in this browser.

Credits

Sketchtone: draw lines, hear music. Made for people who are not music producers.

Idea and design: Alessio Marcone
Built with: Claude Code by Anthropic
Sound: Web Audio API: every sound, drum and voice is synthesized live, no samples
Controllers: Web MIDI API, tuned for the Akai MPK Mini
Type: Inter by Rasmus Andersson (SIL Open Font License)
Inspired by: 90s paint programs, the two-knob drawing toy, and the robot voices of 90s talking software

Source code on GitHub

MIDI knobs

Last message: none yet. Turn a knob to see what it sends.

Teach the app your knobs

Only needed once. Press Start, then turn each knob a little, from K1 to K8 in order.

How knobs respond Smooth Turning moves the setting from where it is. No jumps when you switch page. Jump The setting follows the knob position exactly. Relative For endless knobs set to relative mode in the controller editor.

Speed

Fine Normal Fast

Pads

Pads launch scenes, or jump the loop to one of 8 slices (choose in Perform). They work out of the box on the MPK Mini. If a pad acts like a key instead, press Start, then hit pads 1 to 8 in order.