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MIDI and external gear

Meiji Sampler lets you map physical MIDI controls — knobs, faders, pads, keys — to actions inside the app. Once mapped, a MIDI control behaves exactly like pressing the equivalent keyboard shortcut.

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When to use MIDI mapping

Use MIDI mapping when you want to:

• trigger pads and chop slices from a drum pad controller
• control loops or scenes from hardware buttons
• mute, solo, or clear loops hands-free during a live set
• control transport and recording from a foot switch or pad
• trigger PerformFX slots from a controller
• trigger normal keyboard shortcuts from a controller pad

You do not need MIDI mapping to use Meiji Sampler. The keyboard workflow is complete on its own. MIDI mapping adds a physical control layer on top.

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The mapping model

Mappings are one-to-one:

• One MIDI control maps to at most one action.
• One action maps to at most one MIDI control.

If you move a control that is already mapped, Meiji Sampler selects the existing mapping row and shows already mapped. Press Enter on that row to edit the mapping. If you choose an action that is already mapped to a different control, Meiji Sampler selects the existing mapping row instead of replacing it. Mappings are saved to your settings file and persist across sessions.

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MIDI Settings

Press Tab to access Settings and then select MIDI from the leftmost menu.

• Mappings — the MIDI learn workflow for creating and managing mappings
• Monitor — a live display of all incoming MIDI events

Switch between them with Left and Right.

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Creating a mapping

The Mappings sub-view opens in the Listening phase. This is a two-column layout showing existing mappings (Trigger on the left, Function on the right) with an animated spinner prompting you to move a control.

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Step 1: Move a control on your MIDI device

Turn a knob, push a fader, or press a pad on your connected MIDI controller. Meiji Sampler detects the control and transitions to the Assigning phase. If the control you moved already has a mapping, Meiji Sampler stays in the Listening phase, selects that mapping row, and briefly shows already mapped. Press Enter on the selected row to edit it, or move a different unmapped control to create a new mapping.

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Step 2: Choose an action from the menu

The Assigning phase shows a hierarchical menu on the right side. Navigate with Up and Down, drill into categories with Enter, and go back with Esc. The top-level categories are: Drill into a category, then a slot, then an action. For example: Loops > Loop 3 > Mute. Leaf items in the menu show [ENTER] and [MIDI] hints when highlighted. Press [ENTER] to assign the highlighted action, or move the same MIDI control again to assign it from the controller. Leaf items also show any existing MIDI mapping dimmed next to them, so you can see what is already assigned.

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Mapping a keypress

Choose Keypress, then press the keyboard key you want the MIDI control to replay. For example, map a controller pad to 1, b, [M], r, p, [SPACE], [ESC], or a function key. When you trigger that MIDI control later, Meiji Sampler sends the captured key through the normal keyboard handler. The result is context-sensitive in the same way as the real keypress. Letter keys are case-preserved, so [m] and [M] can map to different shortcuts. Esc is captured as [ESC] in keypress capture; press Ctrl+Esc if you need to cancel keypress capture instead. Modifier combinations such as Ctrl+S and Shift+1 are not part of this version.

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Step 3: Confirm

Press [ENTER] on a leaf action to assign the mapping. You can also press or move the same MIDI control a second time while the leaf action is highlighted. If the action is already mapped to a different control, Meiji Sampler returns to the Listening list, selects the existing mapping row, and shows already mapped.

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Step 4: Choose how the control fires the action (CC only)

When you map a CC control (a knob or fader) to an action that can hold state — a loop slot, mixer mute, transport, or scene slot — Meiji Sampler shows a Behavior step before saving. Two modes are available:

• Gate (default for faders mapped to play/stop-style actions). High value turns the action on, low value turns it off. A fader mapped to Loop 1 as Gate plays the loop when you push the fader up and stops it when you pull it down.
• Trigger. Fires once each time the value crosses upward through the threshold. Use this for one-shots like pads or scene cues, or when you want a fader to act like a button.

Both modes have:

• Threshold — the value that separates “high” from “low” (default 64). Press Left and Right to adjust by 1; hold Shift to step by 10.
• Invert — flip which end is “on” and which is “off”. Press I to toggle. Useful for faders that you want to control upside-down.

Press Enter to save the behavior. Press Esc to back up to the action picker. Press G or T to switch between Gate and Trigger directly. For Note triggers, Keypress targets, and one-shot CC targets (pads, scene cues, kill-all, etc.), the Behavior step is skipped because there’s only one sensible behavior — fire once on rising edge. You can still customize their threshold or invert later by pressing B on the mapping in the list.

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Step 5: See it on the list

After assignment, the status bar confirms the mapping (for example, CC 21 ch 1 -> Loop 3 Mute [GATE@64]) and the view returns to Listening, ready for the next mapping. The Behavior is shown as a small chip in the Trigger column next to the control name ([GATE@64], [GATE@90 INV], [TRIG@64], etc.). Notes and legacy mappings show no chip. For trigger actions, the next assignment auto-advances to the next matching target. Pad trigger 1 advances to Pad trigger 2, Loop trigger 1 advances to Loop trigger 2, Scene trigger 1 advances to Scene trigger 2, and Pad Chop 1 advances to the next chop on the same pad. The final target stays selected when there is no next slot. This makes batch pad setup fast: choose the first hardware pad, select Pads > Pad 1 > Play Sample, then press that hardware pad again to confirm. After that, double-tap each next hardware pad to map Pad 2, Pad 3, and so on through Pad 0.

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Editing an existing mapping

In the Listening phase, use Up and Down to highlight an existing mapping in the list, then press Enter to reassign it. The Assigning menu opens with the current action’s category pre-selected. Press B on an existing mapping to jump straight to the Behavior step for that mapping — change Gate/Trigger, threshold, or invert without re-picking the action.

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Deleting mappings

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Delete a single mapping

In the Listening phase, highlight a mapping with Up and Down, then press Delete or Backspace to remove it. You can also delete during the Assigning phase: press Delete or Backspace to remove the mapping for the control you just moved and return to Listening.

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Clear all mappings

During the Assigning phase, press Shift+Delete to remove every mapping at once. This returns to Listening with an empty mapping list.

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Leaving the MIDI tab

Press Esc from the Listening phase to close the MIDI tab and return to the Create tab.

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External routing

To route audio between Meiji Sampler and a DAW, use a loopback driver:

• BlackHole (macOS)
• Soundflower (macOS)

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Where MIDI mappings work

Direct app-action mappings respond in the main sampler views and in channel overlays:

• Pads, Loops, Scenes rows: direct mappings fire normally
• Channel Detail and Chop views: direct mappings continue to work while you inspect a channel or chop a sample, so you can trigger pads or control transport without leaving the overlay
• Help overlay: direct mappings still fire (note: triggering a pad action dismisses Help as a side-effect)

Direct app-action mappings are blocked in stateful modals and views (Settings, Bounce, Trim, MIDI Learn, Search, etc.) to prevent mapped actions from silently dismissing work-in-progress UI. Keypress mappings are different. After the MIDI control is resolved, Meiji Sampler sends the captured key through the normal keyboard handler. That means a mapped 1, Space, r, or function key follows the active context, including the Trim/chop editor. The MIDI Mapping assignment page still blocks mapped-controller actions while it is learning a control.

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Good use cases today

• trigger pads from a controller
• trigger keyboard shortcuts from controller pads
• control loops or scenes from hardware
• keep triggering mapped pads while inspecting Channel Detail or chopping a sample
• monitor incoming MIDI while setting mappings
• let external transport messages control session playback when explicitly enabled

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Related pages

• MIDI Implementation Reference — complete list of mappable actions, control types, and behavior details
• Keyboard Shortcuts — MIDI tab shortcuts
• MIDI and Sync Problems — troubleshooting mapping and monitor issues