WMT-8 User Manual

Getting started

Open https://wmt-8.live/ in Chrome.

1. Press MIDI CONNECT on the panel.
2. Allow access to your MIDI input and output devices when prompted.
3. Select a part or song, arm a track if recording, and use transport as needed.

A typical song creation workflow

WMT-8 separates parts (where MIDI is recorded and edited) from songs (ordered lists of part references with tempo and mutes). The diagram below shows how a project fits together; the steps that follow walk through naming a song, recording two tracks on a part, quantising a take, building a simple arrangement, editing a note, playing it back, and saving your work.

1. Name your song. Press S or SONG, then enter a two-digit song number (00–99) on the keypad. Hold NAME (or A). The LCD shows the name editor with a cursor. Use the keypad digits, +/− to cycle characters, and PAGE UP/DOWN to move the cursor. Press RECORD to confirm, or release NAME without confirming to cancel.
2. Set the tempo. While still in song mode, hold TEMPO (or B). Adjust the BPM with +/− or enter a three-digit value (40–240). Press RECORD to store the tempo in the current song.
3. Record on track 1. Press P or PART and select a part number (for example, 00). Press R or RECORD to arm recording—the first empty track is selected automatically. Press Space or PLAY to start; play your MIDI keyboard while the transport runs. Press Enter or STOP CONT when finished. The part length is set from this first pass if it was not already defined.
4. Quantise the recording. If your first take needs tighter timing, stay in part mode and hold QUANT (or Q). The LCD shows the grid and mode—for example, QUANT 1/16 START. Use +/− to choose a grid (1/16 is a good starting point). Use PAGE UP/DOWN to cycle the mode: START snaps note-on times only; other modes adjust note ends or preserve note length. Press track buttons to include or exclude tracks (all are selected by default). Press RECORD to apply, or release QUANT without confirming to cancel.
5. Switch to track 2 and record. Press RECORD again to re-arm. Track 2 is selected automatically as the next empty track, or press the second track button while armed to choose it explicitly. Press PLAY again; track 1 plays back while you record on track 2. Recording on later tracks stops at the part length boundary.
6. Use parts in your song. Parts are reusable building blocks—record a verse on part 00, a chorus on part 01, and so on. Switch parts in part mode with two-digit keypad entry. To arrange them, return to song mode and press E for edit mode. Use PAGE UP to insert a step, then enter a part number to assign it. Use +/− to move between steps and the track buttons to set per-step mutes. A song with at least one step plays through its part list in order.
7. Edit a MIDI event. In part mode, press E for edit mode. Press a track button to choose which track to edit. Use ←/→ or REW/FF to step through events on that track. PAGE UP/DOWN moves between fields (beat, note number, velocity, and so on). Change the active field with the keypad or +/−. Press P to leave edit mode when done.
8. Start playback. In song mode, press Space or PLAY to hear the full arrangement from the first step. In part mode, PLAY auditions the current part on its own. Use Enter or STOP CONT to pause and continue from the current beat.
9. Save the project. WMT-8 auto-saves your parts, songs, and settings in the browser as you work. Press PROJ OUT to download a JSON backup you can restore later with PROJ IN or move to another machine.

Panel overview

The panel is organised into these areas:

• LCD: two 32-character lines showing mode, selection, and status messages.
• Transport: REW, STOP/CONT, PLAY, RECORD.
• Mode: PART, SONG, EDIT, LOOP, MIDI ECHO.
• Utilities: COPY, ERASE, LENGTH, MERGE, NAME, QUANT, TRANS, TEMPO, MIDI CHAN, MIDI FILT, CLOCK, CLICK.
• Page and project I/O: PAGE UP/DOWN, MIDI CONNECT, PROJ IN/OUT, MIDI OUT.
• Keypad: digits 0–9, +/−, ENTER.
• Tracks: eight track buttons with activity LEDs.

WMT-8 stores 100 parts, each with 8 tracks, and 100 songs of up to 255 steps. Timing resolution is 96 PPQN (pulses per quarter note).

Display and LEDs

Typical idle displays:

SELECT PART 00 EMPTY PART

SELECT SONG 00 EMPTY SONG

Transport and mode LEDs show PART/SONG/EDIT, PLAY, RECORD, LOOP, and MIDI ECHO state.

Track LEDs indicate:

• Solid: track contains data.
• Flashing: track is record-armed and empty.
• Dim / muted: track is muted for playback.

Transport

While playing in part mode, select another part number to queue it. Playback switches to the queued part when the current part ends.

Part mode

Press P or PART to enter part mode.

• Enter a two-digit part number (00–99) on the keypad, or use +/−.
• Track buttons mute/unmute tracks, or select the record track when record is armed.
• Part length defaults from the first recording pass when unset, up to 682 beats.

Song mode

Press S or SONG to enter song mode.

• Each song has its own tempo and an ordered list of steps.
• Each step references a part and a per-step track mute mask.
• During playback the LCD shows the current step and part.

Song editing

Press E for edit mode in song mode:

• +/−: move between steps.
• Two-digit entry: assign a part number to the current step.
• ] / PAGE UP: insert a step.
• COPY + RECORD: copy the current step after itself.
• ERASE + RECORD: delete the current step.
• Track buttons: toggle track mutes for the active step.

Recording

1. Press R or RECORD to arm recording. The next empty track is selected automatically.
2. Press a track button to arm a specific track.
3. Press R+Space or PLAY while armed to record.

While recording:

• The armed track is overwritten from beat 1 when recording starts from stopped.
• While transport is running, press RECORD to punch in at the current beat. Existing data before the punch point is kept; events from the punch point onward on that track are replaced.
• Press STOP, RECORD, REW, or FF to punch out. Record arm is kept after punch-out so you can pause with STOP/CONT and punch in again on the same track.
• While playing, hold RECORD and press a track button to choose the punch-in target without starting recording.
• On tracks after the first, recording stops at the part length boundary.

Count-in (CLICK)

Hold CLICK to configure the metronome. Use +/− for click division, PAGE UP/DOWN for record/play click toggles, and two-digit entry for countdown length (0–99 beats, default 04). Enable record click to hear a count-in before recording begins. When MIDI output is connected, click beats are also sent as short drum notes on MIDI channel 10.

Hold-button utilities

Most utility buttons use MMT-8-style hold workflows: press and hold the button, adjust settings on the LCD, then press RECORD (or COPY+RECORD / ERASE+RECORD where noted) to confirm. Release without confirming to cancel.

COPY

• Part copy: default; enter destination part with digits.
• +/− while held: cycle part / track / song copy modes.
• [/] while held: cycle selective data type (notes, controllers, etc.).
• Track copy: select source and destination tracks, then RECORD.
• Song copy: append the current song to another song number.

ERASE

• Toggle tracks to include or exclude while held.
• [/]: cycle selective erase type.
• RECORD confirms erasure of selected data on selected tracks.

Other utilities

Edit mode

Press E in part mode to edit MIDI events on the selected track. Track buttons select which track is being edited. Use ←/→ or REW/FF to step through events. Use PAGE UP/DOWN to move between fields. Use the keypad or +/− to change the active field value. REW/FF stop at the first and last events; stepping past the last event shows END OF TRACK rather than wrapping to the start.

During playback in part edit mode, the selected event follows the playhead. When a track has a fixed MIDI CHAN assignment, the channel field shows the assigned channel in parentheses.

Note events

For note-on events, editable fields are beat, sub-beat, note number, velocity, duration, and MIDI channel. ERASE + RECORD deletes the current event.

Other MIDI events

Pitch bend, aftertouch, controller, program change, and SysEx events each have type-specific fields. For SysEx data, PAGE UP/DOWN scrolls through bytes while the sysex byte field is selected.

Inserting events

Hold COPY in part edit mode to choose an insert type with PAGE UP/DOWN, then press RECORD to add a default event at the current beat. COPY + RECORD without holding COPY inserts a default C3 note (velocity 64, one beat long).

In song edit mode, EDIT works on the song step list instead of MIDI events. Use +/− to move between steps, two-digit entry to assign a part, COPY + RECORD to copy a step, and ERASE + RECORD to delete a step.

MIDI setup and filters

• MIDI CONNECT requests Web MIDI access. Use the MIDI in and MIDI out selectors below the panel to choose ports when more than one device is available.
• MIDI ECHO passes input to output during recording, respecting track channel assignment.
• MIDI FILT (while held) controls which message types are recorded and which input channel is accepted.
• Each track can remap output to a fixed MIDI channel via MIDI CHAN.

Projects and export

• Projects auto-save in the browser.
• PROJ OUT downloads the full project as JSON (parts, songs, tempo, filters).
• PROJ IN restores a previously exported project.
• MIDI OUT exports the current part as a Standard MIDI File (.mid). In song mode, all steps are concatenated into one file using each step's part data and track mute mask.

Memory capacity

WMT-8 models approximate MMT-8 note-memory limits (about 10,000 MIDI events across the whole project). Copy, length, offset, and record operations that would exceed remaining capacity show INSUFFICIENT MEMORY on the LCD.

To check how much memory is free, press RECORD and LENGTH together (R+N). The LCD shows MEMORY xxx% FREE. This works in any part, song, or edit mode. While stopped, holding LENGTH first enters the length utility instead — press both buttons at the same time, or hold LENGTH during playback and tap RECORD.

Demo projects

Two ready-made projects are available to download and load with PROJ IN. Each replaces the current browser project with the demo parts, songs, and settings. Use them to explore playback, editing, multi-track mutes, and MIDI export without recording from scratch.

Bach Prelude in C major (BWV 846)

A faithful transcription of the complete first prelude from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (35 bars). Song 00 (BACH PRELUDE C) plays part 00 (BWV 846 PRELUDE) at 72 BPM. The arrangement uses two tracks on a single piano-style part — useful for checking basic multi-track playback and MIDI output.

Download bach-prelude-c-major.json

Both hands share MIDI channel 1 (track channel assignment 00, unchanged). Send both hands to one MIDI instrument, or assign separate channels with MIDI CHAN if you want to split the hands.

The Entertainer

Scott Joplin's ragtime classic (1902, public domain), arranged as a five-track band demo from the Mutopia Project transcription. Song 00 (THE ENTERTAINER) plays part 00 (THE ENTERTAINER) at 92 BPM (76 bars). Each active track uses its own MIDI channel — suited to testing multi-timbral MIDI output with separate synths, bass, and drums.

Download entertainer-joplin.json

The drum groove enters after the two-bar introduction and drops out for the final bar. Loading this project uses about 70% of WMT-8's note-memory capacity — press RECORD + LENGTH to check the remaining free percentage.

Keyboard shortcuts

Hidden shortcuts

These chorded shortcuts mirror undocumented MMT-8 behaviour:

• RECORD + LENGTH — show remaining project note memory on the LCD (MEMORY xxx% FREE). See Memory capacity.
• RECORD + PLAY — start recording immediately without arming first.
• RECORD + STOP/CONT — Oops: undo the last recording pass on the armed track without entering edit mode.
• STOP/CONT while playing — pause; press again to continue from the same beat (sustaining notes are not cut off).
• Shift clock (song mode) — press PAGE UP/DOWN to nudge the selected track timing by one tick (96 PPQ). Hold TEMPO and press PAGE UP/DOWN for the same adjustment. QUANT in song mode also adjusts per-track clock offset with +/−.
• COPY track / song append — hold COPY, cycle to track or song mode with +/−, then confirm with RECORD to copy a track into another part or append one song onto another.

Factory reset

To erase all parts, songs, and browser-saved project data and return WMT-8 to its initial state, press Ctrl+Shift+Backspace (use Cmd instead of Ctrl on Mac). You are prompted to confirm before any data is erased. Press Esc or Cancel to abort, or Reset to continue. Transport stops first if playback or recording is active.

About BandTools

WMT-8 is a fun side project from BandTools, email newsletters built specifically for musicians. If you spend hours programming parts and songs, you probably also need a reliable way to tell fans when something new is ready.

Social platforms change their algorithms overnight and reach can disappear just as quickly. A mailing list is different: it is an audience you own. A hundred fans who actually read your emails will often drive more pre-saves, ticket sales, and merch orders than thousands of followers who scroll past a post.

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BandTools is run by an independent musician, not venture-backed growth machinery. Your fan relationships stay private: no ads in your newsletters, no selling subscriber data, and no tracking your audience for resale.