Skip to content

Chapter 2 - Quick Start

This chapter gets you connected in about two minutes. The ideas behind each step are in Chapter 5; they'll make more sense once you've seen it work.

Connect

  1. Open connect.midicake.com in Chrome or Edge on a desktop or laptop. (Safari and Firefox won't work - see Chapter 3 for why, and for Android.)
  2. Plug your Midicake into the computer with a USB-C cable - the same cable that powers it.
  3. Check the device selector in the top bar. CONNECT looks for Midicake devices automatically and picks the first one it finds. If it shows NO DEVICE FOUND, quick press the ↻ reconnect button, and check the cable.

At this point the MIDI-level features are already working: play something on the device and the Visualizer and Log panels respond.

Go Live

  1. Press the Go Live button - the broadcast icon in the top bar. Your browser asks which port to use: pick the Midicake entry and confirm.
  2. The button turns green. You're Live. The Screen panel now mirrors the device LCD in real time, and the Patch Data panel can read from the device.

Live unlocks everything that needs a direct line to the hardware: the screen mirror, patch transfers, backups, diagnostics, and the context-following device guide. The browser asks permission once per session - that's the browser's security model, not a CONNECT quirk.

Do something useful in the first five minutes

  • See your screen big: open the Screen panel, then use the view controls to take it fullscreen.
  • Back up your device: open Patch Data, choose Device Actions → Backup Device. Every patch, bank and global lands in a locked, date-stamped folder in your Patch Store. Two clicks, and everything on the hardware is safe.
  • Watch your music: open the Visualizer, play, and cycle the modes with the glyph button.

If nothing happens

  • Wrong browser is the most common cause - Chrome or Edge, desktop.
  • The device selector only lists Midicake hardware. If it's empty, the cable or the port is the suspect - try a different USB port, and a cable you know carries data.
  • If the Go Live prompt doesn't list your device, another app may be holding the port - close other MIDI software and try again.
  • Full troubleshooting lives in Chapter 14.