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Install

In the browser

Open drawbar.app. Nothing to install, and your files stay in the browser’s own storage. Chrome and Edge can keep them in a folder on your computer instead.

Only Chrome and Edge can connect to an instrument. Files work in any browser. Which browsers can play the key maps from a MIDI controller is on What is supported.

Close Nord Sound Manager before connecting, since it keeps the instrument to itself.

On the desktop

With Nix and flakes enabled:

nix run github:jmoo/drawbar#drawbar

Or build it with Cargo. On Linux this needs the ALSA headers and pkg-config.

cargo install drawbar

The nord command

cargo install nord-cli                           # installs `nord`
nix run github:jmoo/drawbar#nord-cli -- --help   # or run it with Nix

There are no prebuilt downloads yet. To build either from a source checkout, see Building from source.

If drawbar does not load

The loading page says which step failed and offers to try again. The usual causes:

  • The connection dropped, or the download stopped partway. Reload the page.
  • The browser lacks WebAssembly or WebGL2, which drawbar needs. Every current browser has both. If the page says WebGL isn’t supported, turn on hardware acceleration in the browser’s settings and restart the browser.
  • An extension or a content blocker stopped drawbar. Allow this site and reload.