A sequencer stores a plan for a performance
A music sequencer arranges musical events in time and plays those instructions back. An event can say when a note begins, which pitch to use, how strongly it is played and how long it lasts. Change the instructions and you change the performance without having to record it again.
Imagine a kick drum on beats one, two, three and four, with a snare on two and four. A sequencer remembers those placements. When the playhead loops, the same placements repeat, leaving you free to move a hit or add a bassline while listening.
The sequence and the sound have different jobs
The sequencer decides what happens and when. A sound generator turns those instructions into sound. In a modular system these may be separate pieces of equipment; in a groovebox or browser app they can live together.
Float Sequencer combines both jobs: its grid stores note events, while Web Audio oscillators, noise, filters and envelopes create the sounds. There is no need to upload an audio recording before writing a pattern. Exporting WAV turns the instructions and chosen sounds into a fixed audio file.
Source: MDN: Web Audio API
Step grids, piano rolls and timelines
A step grid divides time into equal cells and lets you switch events on or off. It makes repeating drum rhythms easy to see. A piano roll adds a vertical pitch axis: the note’s position sets pitch, and its width sets duration.
An arrangement view places whole patterns in order. This lets you work at two scales: a few notes inside a loop, then several loops across a section. These views can describe the same music from different angles; they are editing tools rather than separate kinds of sound.
Sequencer, synthesizer, drum machine or DAW?
These terms overlap because many products combine several functions. It helps to identify the job you need rather than expect one label to describe every feature.
| Tool | Main job | Typical example of use |
|---|---|---|
| Sequencer | Schedule musical events | Move a bass note from step 1 to step 3 |
| Synthesizer | Generate and shape sound | Change an oscillator or filter |
| Drum machine | Create drum sounds and rhythms | Program kick, snare and hi-hat patterns |
| DAW | Combine broader recording, editing and production tools | Arrange audio, instruments and effects on a timeline |
Choose a useful first task
Start with four kick hits and listen to how the loop feels. Add a snare, then one hi-hat pattern, before exploring melody. This keeps the number of decisions small enough that you can hear each change.
Float Sequencer is suited to quick synthesized sketches with up to eight tracks, eight patterns and a short arrangement. Its current feature set does not include microphone recording, MIDI or external samples. Keep the project JSON if you want to edit it later, and export WAV when you want the sound as a file.