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A keyboard-first sampler and groovebox that runs in your terminal. Browse samples, assign them to pads, record loops, arrange scenes, and mix — all without touching a mouse.
Beatmakers and producers who want a fast, distraction-free sampling workflow. Two constraints — ditch the mouse and embrace the terminal — and the creative focus that comes with them.
Yes. Meiji Sampler is free during early access. Advanced features and services may be available to Pro users in the future — the free version is designed to cover everything you need to make incredible music.
Speed: Keyboard shortcuts and fuzzy search get you to sound fast.Focus: No menus, no toolbars, no visual noise — just pads and audio.Feel: The workflow mirrors hardware (Arm → Record → Play), so it plays like an instrument.
There’s a short learning curve — keyboard shortcuts replace menus and toolbars. Start with Make Some Noise and then move into Learn.
macOS, Windows, and Linux are all official targets. macOS is the primary supported platform and the most stable day to day; on Linux, stability can depend on your audio backend and terminal setup.
On macOS, download the DMG from sampler.meiji.industries or install with:
See the Installation guide for details.
WAV, AIFF, AIFF-C, MP3, AAC, M4A, FLAC, OGG, ALAC, and CAF.
Yes. Point it at any folder and use All Samples and fuzzy search to dig deep across directories. Factory packs are also available to get you started.
The core sampler runs entirely on your machine. Some features like updates and login need internet, but your samples stay local and you can make music offline.
No. All audio stays on your machine — nothing is uploaded.
Yes. See Chopping And Slicing for the current slicing workflow.
Yes. See Sampling From Audio Input for the current recording flow.
Yes. See Exporting And Bouncing for the current export flow.
Scenes are arrangements of loops that can be cued and switched to build a full song structure. See Scene.
Yes. See Mix and Mixer And Effects.
Yes. Real-time pad triggering, quantized scene transitions with countdown, and mixer control make it ready for the stage.
No. Meiji Sampler is a standalone terminal application — plugin support is not possible at the moment.
Meiji Sampler is a standalone workflow, but you can route its audio into your DAW via a loopback driver like BlackHole or Soundflower.
Yes. MIDI controller support is available with customizable mappings. See MIDI Implementation and MIDI And External Gear.
Yes. Meiji Sampler connects to Splice through Splice MCP. Sign in with your Splice account to search, preview, license, and load Splice sounds.
Yes — automatic stem separation (Demucs) isolates vocals, drums, bass, and other instruments. ML classification detects sample types. We do not train AI on your work.
No. Meiji Sampler is closed source.
Delete the application to uninstall it. Your packs, recordings, exports, settings, and preferences remain in your user directories. Remove the following directories only when you explicitly want to delete that data too:macOS:
  • Config and data: ~/Library/Application Support/Meiji Sampler/
  • Cache: ~/Library/Caches/Meiji Sampler/
Linux:
  • Config: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/meiji-sampler/ (default ~/.config/meiji-sampler/)
  • Data: $XDG_DATA_HOME/meiji-sampler/ (default ~/.local/share/meiji-sampler/)
  • Cache: $XDG_CACHE_HOME/meiji-sampler/ (default ~/.cache/meiji-sampler/)
Windows:
  • Config: %APPDATA%\Meiji Sampler\
  • Data: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Meiji Sampler\ (includes the cache\ subfolder)
Packs are stored inside the data directory — deleting it removes them automatically. To free up disk space while keeping your config, delete only the Packs subfolder from the data directory.See Storage Paths for the full path reference.
Email us at the address in the app footer, or start with Troubleshooting.