Connect your hardware MIDI controllers and control the SAL BAN Monolith Synthesizer directly with physical knobs, faders, and keys.
The SAL BAN Monolith Audio Engine supports standard WebMIDI. You can bind any MIDI Continuous Controller (CC) message to any synthesizer or mixer parameter. Mappings are automatically saved to your browser's local storage and persist between sessions.
The Monolith Engine acts as a MIDI Clock master to synchronize external hardware and software devices (like your drum machine, arpeggiator, or the Electra One controller):
MIDI Start (0xFA) message when playback begins and a MIDI Stop (0xFC) message when playback is stopped.0xF8) per quarter note for tight tempo synchronization.Want to assign your own controller knobs? Follow these simple steps in the Synth Console:
These are the standard out-of-the-box mappings on MIDI Channel 1. You can use these standard values to configure any hardware or software controller manually.
| CC (Ch 1) | Parameter Name | Engine Range | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | Bass Cutoff | 150 Hz - 6000 Hz | Filter Cutoff Frequency |
| 21 | Bass Resonance | 1 - 20 | Filter Resonance Amount |
| 22 | Bass Decay | 0.05s - 1.5s | Envelope Decay Time |
| 23 | Bass Accent | 0% - 100% | Accent Envelope Amount |
| 24 | Bass Waveform | Saw, Square, Tri, Sine, Noise | Oscillator Waveform Select |
| 25 | Bass Sub Level | 0% - 100% | Sub-Oscillator Volume Level |
| 26 | Bass Distortion | 0% - 100% | Drive send to Fuzz circuit |
| 27 | Bass Env Mod | 0% - 100% | Filter Envelope Modulation Depth |
| 28 | Bass Env | 0.05s - 1.5s | Filter Envelope Attack time |
| 29 | Bass Transpose (TRANS) | -24 to +24 | Pitch Transposition in Semitones |
| 30 | Bass Mute | On / Off | Mute status of the Bassline |
| 31 | Bass Volume | 0% - 100% | Mixer volume fader for Bass |
In addition to Continuous Controller (CC) parameters, the SAL BAN Monolith Engine processes keyboard and drum pad notes for live play and real-time step recording.
When a MIDI channel is routed to the Sampler Pads (or during active step recording on Pads), incoming note pitches are mapped starting at C2 (MIDI Note 36) upwards:
| MIDI Note | Note Name | Target Trigger | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | C2 | PAD 1 | Triggers Pad 1 (Bass drum / user sample) |
| 37 | C#2 | PAD 2 | Triggers Pad 2 (Snare / user sample) |
| 38 | D2 | PAD 3 | Triggers Pad 3 (Percussion / user sample) |
| 39 | D#2 | PAD 4 | Triggers Pad 4 (Percussion / user sample) |
| 40 | E2 | PAD 5 | Triggers Pad 5 (Synth FX / user sample) |
| 41 | F2 | PAD 6 | Triggers Pad 6 (Clap / user sample) |
| 42 | F#2 | PAD 7 | Triggers Pad 7 (Ride / open hat / user sample) |
| 43 | G2 | PAD 8 | Triggers Pad 8 (Crash cymbal / user sample) |
You can record MIDI note inputs directly into the step sequencer grids in real time:
●) in any sequencer track header (Bassline, Lead Synth, Drums, Sampler, Pads) to arm it.● REC status pill in the MIDI transport bar.SNAP selector in the MIDI transport bar to snap note-on triggers to Free, 1/16, 1/8, or 1/4 note boundaries.TIE (sustain) values based on how long the key was held before release.If you encounter stuck notes, hanging sounds, or buffer issues from your MIDI devices, use the PANIC button:
The transport bar provides high-level control over all internal sequencers and features custom color-coded triggers:
The MORPH 32 Binaural Synth breaks with the conventions of traditional subtractive synthesizers. Instead of panning a mono signal in the stereo field after the fact, this instrument operates with a true dual-monophonic signal pipeline per voice. Every acoustic element is computed in a three-dimensional frequency matrix, from oscillator generation to the final VCA.
The Concept: Flexible voice management with 8, 16, or 32 true polyphonic voices.
Tech Background: To eliminate time-critical audio dropouts and garbage-collection glitches in the Web Audio API, the engine allocates exactly 32 static PolyVoice voice cards in memory upon startup. If the user changes the voice limit, the voice allocator dynamically restricts its searching and voice-stealing routines to the active pool via slice operations. An intelligent Oldest-Trigger-Muted algorithm ensures imperceptible voice stealing during complex chords.
The Concept: 24 dB/octave slope with dedicated, independent signal paths for the left and right channels.
Tech Background: Each voice has four discretely calculated BiquadFilterNode instances. To achieve the classic, fat analog character, two 2-pole filters (12 dB/oct) per channel are connected in series. The global switch allows seamless switching between lowpass (LPF) and highpass (HPF) characteristics in real-time across all active voices.
The Concept: Frequency shifting instead of volume panning.
Tech Background: The heart of spatial width. The Spacing control shifts the cutoff frequencies (f_L and f_R) of the filters asymmetrically in opposite directions by up to ±3 octaves relative to the central cutoff frequency.
The mathematical DSP logic behind it:
f_L = f_cutoff * 2^(-S_voice / 2) f_R = f_cutoff * 2^(S_voice / 2)
Through this exponential spreading, the energetic center of the sound remains perfectly anchored in the mix, while the harmonics spread extremely wide across the stereo field.
Chord Spread: The engine analyzes the played notes in real-time and sorts them in ascending order of their MIDI note numbers. The voices are then distributed linearly from left (bass foundation) to right (highest extensions) in the stereo filter space. Frequency collisions are minimized, making the chord sound crystal clear.
Classic Unison: Layers up to 4 phase-shifted voices on a single key. Each unison layer receives a micro-shifted spacing offset, creating a massive, living "supersaw" wall of sound.
The Concept: Immersive three-dimensionality optimized for headphone listening.
Tech Background: In addition to a voice-specific automatic panning spread factor, the Binaural mode injects a subtle, permanent frequency offset of ±0.08 octaves between the left and right ear filters. This tiny, subconscious difference triggers the brain's interaural level difference (ILD), creating a highly dimensional, physical placement outside of the head.
The Clip Launcher is a real-time matrix grid (5 scenes × 3 tracks) built to allow live loop composition, recording, and editing of MIDI patterns.
The Concept: Seamless, quantized loop transitions.
Tech Background: Experience seamless transitions with quantized clip switching. When trigger-launching a pattern, the engine automatically calculates the upcoming 4-beat bar boundary in the main Web Audio clock, dropping the loop in with sample-accurate, phase-locked precision. Perfect for building massive layers without losing the groove.
The Concept: Multi-mode MIDI loop recording.
Tech Background: Capture creative ideas as they happen using Overdub (layering notes) or Replace recording modes. Dynamic visual feedback turns the progress bar from green (playback) to glowing crimson red during recording, letting you monitor loop lengths and recording boundaries in real-time.
The Concept: Visual piano roll and controller integration.
Tech Background: Refine your clips with professional, built-in tools. Toggle the Pencil to quickly draw notes onto the grid, use the Eraser to spot-delete elements, or utilize the Select Tool to lasso-select and drag groups of notes together across time and pitch. Tap Quantize (Q) to snap notes to the active grid.
Unlike simple browser-timers which are prone to UI lag and main-thread blocks, our loop recorder relies on high-precision Web Audio API scheduling. When you strike a key, the engine intercept-reads the raw browser MIDI timestamp to calculate the exact beat position relative to the main playhead, eliminating input latency and timing jitter.
Phase-Locked Scheduling Math Inside Scheduler Loop:
secondsPerBeat = 60.0 / CurrentBPM; absoluteNoteBeat = (startBeat - (startBeat % clipLengthBeats)) + note.start; noteOnTime = playStartTime + absoluteNoteBeat * secondsPerBeat;