Welcome to Lucent Guide v1.2! This site was last updated on September 21, 2022. Site is currently on hiatus indefinitely.
Welcome to Online Sequencer! This article is an extensive manual on how to use all of the necessary functions on the site. It will explain the usage of each button on the sequencer interface as well as detailing some useful keyboard shortcuts to get the user started.
While the Draw tool is active, you can use left click to place a note and right click to remove it.
To select multiple notes, switch to the Select tool and lasso over the notes you want to select.
You can easily switch between the Draw and Select tool using Tab.
Using middle click/spacebar will play the sequence from the selected point. If you don't have a middle click button, you can also left click the measure bar to play.
To save a sequence, locate the blue cloud button towards the right side of the interface. From here, you will obtain a link with the sequence ID.
You can also use Ctrl+S to quick-save a sequence!
It is recommended to start an Online Sequencer account so that you can keep all of your music in one place. Creating an account will also let you use the site’s chat and forums to share music with other users! You can register an account through this page.
While you can use the Forum immediately, you will need to wait 24 hours to use the chat. In the meantime, you can also join the OS Discord! After the 24-hour period, you can link your OS account which will allow you to relay messages to website chat remotely from Discord.
After registering an account, you can access your profile by clicking your username at the top right of the sequencer. It might be a good idea to remember your user ID (number at the end of the link) so that you can easily share your sequence page with other people.
A. Play Button (Spacebar) plays the sequence from the beginning.
B. BPM sets the tempo of the sequence.
C. Title can be set so that they can be found more easily later on.
D. Draw tool will place notes upon left-clicking.
E. Select tool lets you use the rectangular lasso to select multiple notes.
F. Erase tool will erase notes upon left-clicking. You can just right click while using any of the other tool modes above.
G. Instrument menu will dropdown a simple selection of instruments put into several categories. I recommend using the Show options menu (I) instead as it displays both instrument selection and instrument settings.
H. Highlight this one button highlights the currently selected instrument.
I. Show options will give a detailed menu of each instrument. You can change various instrument settings within this menu.
Simple—This tab will display every instrument and their most basic settings. You can also select instruments here.
Lock buttons—Locking an instrument will prevent them from being selected. You can try Ctrl+Lock to lock every other instrument except the one selected. Ctrl+Lock twice on the same instrument to reset all locks.
Slider—Changes the overall volume of an instrument.
Delay—Applies echo effect on the instrument.
Reverb—Applies instrument atmosphere.
Advanced—This tab will display only the selected instrument. From here, you can fine-tune more specific settings that can be also found in professional software.
Mute—Toggle whether an instrument plays or not.
Solo—Isolates the instrument during playback.
Reset—Returns all settings to default for this instrument.
Volume—Another slider to adjust volume.
Delay—Enables Delay.
Reverb—Enables Reverb, more reverb options can be found via the dropdown menu.
Reverb Slider—Affects the amount of reverb.
Panning—Shifts an instrument's presence between the left and right outputs of a stereo system.
Detune—Allows you to pitch bend the instrument. The slider will automatically snap to basic values in the 12-tone temperament system, but you can use Shift+Drag to freely change the slider so you can make microtonal music.
Equalizer—A three-band system where you can change the EQ properties of an instrument. For more information about using EQ, I've written another article here.
Online Sequencer supports universal shortcuts.
J. Copy (Ctrl+C)
K. Cut (Ctrl+X)
L. Paste (Ctrl+V)
M. Select All (Ctrl+A)
N. Zoom out (Ctrl-)
O. Zoom in (Ctrl+)
Undo—Ctrl+Z
Redo—Ctrl+Y
Reset Zoom—Ctrl+0
There are many shortcuts that have been added over the years in order to promote site workflow. I will mention a handful over the course of this manual, but you can quickly reference all of them here.
P. Save (Ctrl+S) will generate a new sequence link if you haven't saved it before. Otherwise, it will override the previously saved version.
Save a copy—Generates a new sequence link even if it has been previously saved.
Save local file—Generates a .sequence file that you can drag and drop onto the sequencer. This is useful for when the site is down.
Export Ogg—Starts sequence playback before exporting an .ogg file.
Export MP3—Starts sequence playback before exporting an .mp3 file.
Export MIDI—Immediately exports a .mid file.
Q. Show help loads a quick guide to the site's basics and shortcuts.
R. More tools provides miscellaneous functions to help you compose.
Invert—Flips the entire sequence vertically over the B4-C5 axis.
Minor ⇄ Major—Nudges notes depending on the currently selected key.
Fast graphics—Disables graphic elements to improve performance.
Reverse Selection—Flips currently selected notes horizontally.
S. You can easily access the guide from the front page!
Lucent Tutorial is a site designed to provide in-depth information about using community techniques exclusive to Online Sequencer.
While it won't teach you how to make music from scratch, reading the material on this site will educate you on making fleshed out creations. You can start learning about basic techniques after this article.
T. Changes the measure bar to display the current measure. Default.
U. Changes the measure bar to display actual time.
V. The measure bar can be used to play your sequence from a certain point as well as generating a timestamp in your sequence link!
Via the measure bar, you can also create markers that can edit global settings under the Show options menu. I will mention markers later.
The timestamp can be identified using #t(number) shown in the image.
W. Records keyboard input onto the sequencer. You can use either your computer keyboard (with limited control) or plug in a MIDI keyboard.
X. Quantizes or "snaps" notes to the current grid measurement.
Y. Enables the metronome.
Z. Allows you to use different lengths of notes. Changing the grid will also snap dragged notes to the specified accuracy.
You can use Alt+1 through 6 as shortcuts to access grid measurements more easily. This is useful for quickly applying grace notes!
a. Changes the grouping of measures based on the selected time signature. This setting is retained after saving a sequence.
b. Key (Auto Detect) will highlight light grey lines over in-scale notes the next time you load a sequence. Manually setting the key will also change the note input scale of your computer keyboard.
c. Auto Scroll changes the horizontal scroll animation while your sequence is playing. This setting is not saved except for Markers.
Smooth—Cosmetic scroll that smoothly flips to the next set of measures.
Fast—Default scroll that automatically jumps to the next set of measures.
Off—Turns off scrolling. Sequencer stays in one place during playback.
d. Add Audio Track lets you upload an audio file from your computer. This will display the audio waveform in order to help you transcribe music! The file is not saved when you leave the page.
e. Changes the master volume of the sequence.
You can use Ctrl+V to paste notes onto the original location it was copied from. Using Ctrl+Alt+V will paste copied notes on top of the cursor.
You can also copy-paste notes from other sequences. Due to site limitations, you cannot use Ctrl+Alt+V directly from another sequence.
You can access instrument locks via the Show options menu. Locking an instrument will prevent it from being selected. When an instrument is locked, it will turn transparent.
An easier way to lock instruments is to use Ctrl+Shift+Click. This will automatically lock the instrument of the note that you click on.
Ctrl+Shift+Click prioritizes selected notes. If you want to lock two instruments that share the same space—lock the first instrument, deselect, select the second instrument, and then lock it again.
Shift+Scroll will scroll the sequencer horizontally.
To zoom in and out with ease, you can also use Ctrl+Scroll.
You can use Alt+Drag to pan around the sequencer canvas.
Ctrl+Arrow keys will nudge selected notes in any direction.
Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Keys will shift your notes even further.
Up/Down will move your notes by the octave while Left/Right will move them by the measure.
Ctrl+Home selects all notes before the cursor, while Ctrl+End will select everything after.
If you want to deselect everything from a certain point, Ctrl+Alt+Home will deselect everything after the cursor, while Ctrl+Alt+End will deselect everything before.
You can use Ctrl+Drag while drawing notes to extend them.
Ctrl+Drag will also extend notes that have been already placed.
You can change the individual volume of selected notes by using Alt+Scroll. Note volume is indicated by the thin line on the note.
Alt+0 will reset the individual volume of selected notes.
If you don't have a scroll button, you can also use Alt+/-.
Markers allow you to automate—in other words, change instrument settings in the middle of the sequence.
You can right-click the measure bar to expand the marker area. Marker groups can be identified by the < icons.
From there, you can define various parameters such as song BPM, instrument volume, pitch bending and more.
For a more detailed guide on how to use Markers and Automation, please visit this article here.
Using the Save local file button will export a .sequence file that can be dragged onto the sequencer like so.
Sequences—Here you can find every sequence on the site! Under this tab, you can also set search criteria to find your favorite creations!
Members—This is a user database that can be sorted by the last time a user was online, sequences, and cumulative number of plays.
Import MIDI—If you want to import a MIDI file onto the site, you can do it here. Import MIDI only supports .mid extensions and not .midi files.
Chat—A chatroom of currently active OS users! You can use the chat as a quick means of discussing music-related topics and sharing sequences.
Forum—A place to organize thoughts and ideas. Feel free to introduce yourself on the forums and participate in recurrent sequencing contests!
After being registered for 24 hours, you can share your creations with others on the website chat!
When you post a sequence link (after saving the sequence), it will automatically convert into a thumbnail.
You can also use ##(sequence ID) in the chat to quickly post sequences. For example, I would write ##1727604 if I wanted to get the sequence shown in the screenshot.
Whispering lets you message people privately. To do this, use @(username) at the beginning of the message.
@LucentTear This is a whisper.
Admin Given only to the owner of Online Sequencer. Jacob is responsible for site maintenance and pushing out updates to the sequencer.
Moderator Selected staff with the ability to mute and ban users. They can also perform higher-level actions on forums and delete others' sequences.
Contest Winner Winning participants of community contests held by the Online Sequencer staff.
Bot Services that have been authorized by Jacob to run on Online Sequencer.
[Robo] Tags appended to linked users who are using Online Sequencer's Discord to Chat service. Join the OS Discord at https://discord.gg/GQbpyeR!
VIP A special title given to website donors. They have the ability to post images on Discord! You can donate $5 to Jacob on his Buy Me A Coffee page.
Regular You'll likely be here if not anywhere else.
Custom Only a few users have a color outside of the aforementioned roles. These are very special users who have earned a cosmetic role on the site.
Please read the official Online Sequencer Rules. Most common offenses can be avoided by adhering to what's on the list.
I also recommend reading this community guide on internet etiquette specific to Online Sequencer. This will maintain your reputation in good standing.
Keep in mind that anything you say over Online Sequencer (even whispers!) can be searched at a later time. Be mindful of what you post in chat.
You can change your profile picture here. I recommend using Gravatar to easily and save profile pictures online. It's quite reliable!
If you would like to change your username, please notify me on Online Sequencer. I can permanently delete your existing account which should allow you to reuse your email address that was used to register on the site. Note that you have to wait another 24 hours to use the chat on your new account.
On your profile, you can view the number of sequences you've made as well as cumulative plays.
You can also easily search for previously saved sequences under your profile.
While there is a search bar, you can also sort your songs by how recent they are (Newest), the highest number of views (Popular), and the highest number of notes (Longest).
Another way you can easily organize your sequences is by featuring them! If you click on the dotted box, you can type in the link of your sequence. They will appear at the top of your profile.
If you want to remove a sequence from featured, click the ✖ at the bottom right of the sequence.
On a saved sequence, you can find the Delete button at the top of the sequencer interface.
There is no confirmation window for deleting a sequence, so make sure that you absolutely want to get rid of it!
The browser console is an integral part of using higher-end techniques on Online Sequencer. You can access the console using Ctrl+Shift+J.
Knowing how to use the console allows full customization of using the sequencer. For example, you can set custom grid values to get specific lengths of notes.
While intimidating at first glance, there are basic tools that are commonly used through the console that can't be found on the sequencer interface. I've curated a few tutorials dedicated towards the console to make the learning curve less daunting.
You can view a basic list of console commands here.
This concludes the in-depth site manual.
If you still have any questions about how to use the site, feel free to send me a message on Discord (contact information at the footer of the page)!
From here, I highly recommend browsing Basic Techniques to get started. This section will teach you fundamental composition skills exclusive to the site.
Another convenient page to visit is the List of Sequencer Shortcuts. Learning how to use these shortcuts will improve your user experience!
Again, I highly recommend joining the Online Sequencer Discord for receiving site announcements and being able to chat remotely from the messenger!
