Components

One receiver, nine controllers.

The receiver runs on the computer with the MIDI ports. The controllers, called senders, open from Omnithru's home page on any device on the same network. Here is how to use each one and which messages it sends.

Receiver

Web Thru Box

The routing hub. It detects the computer's MIDI ports, sees every controller that connects and forwards its messages to the port you choose. There is one per session.

One per sessionChrome or EdgeOn the computer with the MIDI ports

How to use it

  1. From Omnithru's home page open Web Thru Box and allow access to MIDI devices when the browser asks.
  2. Every controller that connects appears in the table with a status dot. In the OUT column choose the port its messages go to.
  3. For the Clip Launcher choose both the IN and the OUT port and confirm: Ableton immediately sends back the state of every LED.
  4. To connect two of the computer's ports without a controller use Routes: choose the input, the output and press +.
  5. Added or removed a virtual port? Press Rescan MIDI. Routes stay saved; controller ports need to be assigned again.

Controller status

DotWhat it means
on-lineConnected, messages go through.
connectingThe receiver is reconnecting to the server.
off-lineThe controller has disconnected. Its port stays reserved and it gets it back when it returns. The ✕ clears the row.
Each port has one user: an output belongs to a controller or to a route, not both. If a route loops (over 3000 messages per second) Omnithru switches it off by itself.
Receiver screen

Sender

Clip Launcher

A grid of pads to launch clips and scenes in Ableton Live, with an APC20-compatible layout. It receives too: the pads light up like the clips in your set, even if you open it after Ableton is already running.

Sends and receivesTablet, laptop or phoneOne per session

How to use it

  1. Install the css_omnithru remote script in Ableton's MIDI Remote Scripts folder (from the Download page).
  2. In Ableton, Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI: choose css_omnithru as Control Surface, with input and output on loopback port B.
  3. Open the Clip Launcher from the home page. In the receiver assign IN and OUT on port A and confirm.
  4. The LEDs match your set. Launch clips and scenes from the pads, use the stop, solo and arm buttons and the transport.
  5. The layout adapts to the screen: in portrait the sections are stacked, in landscape the clip grid sits on the left and the other buttons on the right. Rotating the device or going full screen keeps the LEDs on.

Pad colours

green: clip playing orange: clip ready red: recording blue

Green, red and orange also blink, as on hardware controllers.

Older versions of Live: use css_omnithru-2_7 for Ableton Live 9.5 to 10.x and css_omnithru-2_5 for 9.5 and earlier. They install the same way.
The Clip Launcher on an 11" tablet

Sender

Harmonic Table

A hexagonal harmonic-table keyboard. Notes are laid out by interval, so a chord has the same shape in every key: learn a shape once and move it around.

Send onlyTablet or touch laptop

How the notes are laid out

DirectionInterval
righta semitone
up-rightmajor third
up-leftminor third
upfifth

How to use it

  1. Open Harmonic Table from the home page and assign it a port in the receiver.
  2. Use the gear in the bar to choose how many keys to show: Full 14×7, Medium 12×6, Compact 10×5 or Mini 7×4. The layout is remembered on that device.
  3. Play with several fingers at once: a major chord is a triangle (root, major third up-right, fifth above).
On an 11" tablet Compact is the most comfortable layout. On a phone use Mini.
Compact layout, C major chord

Sender

Keyboard

A 25-key keyboard with a pad for pitch bend and modulation, and an arpeggiator. Slide your finger across the keys for a glissando.

Send onlyTablet or phone in landscape

How to use it

  1. Choose the MIDI channel and velocity in the bar. Settings are saved on the device.
  2. Octave −/+ shifts the keyboard from −4 to +4 octaves. At the centre the first key is C2 (note 48).
  3. The pad on the left: vertical movement is pitch bend, moving away from the centre raises modulation. It springs back to the centre on release.
  4. Turn on the arpeggiator and hold notes: it plays by itself at the BPM you set. With Hold it keeps going after you lift your fingers.

Messages

ControlMessage
KeysNote On / Note Off
Pad, vertical axisPitch bend 14 bit
Pad, distance from centreCC 1 · 0–127
ArpeggiatorUp, Down, Up-Down, Order, Random · 1–4 octaves · gate

The arpeggiator has its own clock and does not follow the DAW tempo.

Arpeggiator on with Hold

Sender

Chord Wheel

A chord wheel on the circle of fifths. Choose a key and tap a chord: the wheel shows which chords follow well and why, and moves between chords with the smallest voice movement.

Send onlyTablet

How to use it

  1. Choose the key and the mode, major or minor. The centre of the wheel switches to the relative key (C ↔ A minor).
  2. Outer ring: major chords. Middle: minor. Inner: diminished. The chords in the key are highlighted.
  3. Tap a chord to play it. Up to four numbered suggestions tell you what to play next, and why.
  4. Choose Triad, 7th or 9th, and the octave. With Hold the chord rings until the next one.
  5. The chords you play build a progression: ✕ removes one, Clear starts over.
Voice leading picks the inversion closest to the previous chord. The inversion played is shown next to the notes.
Key of C major: the chord playing and the suggestions are filled

Sender

TouchSurface

A ready-made control surface with faders and buttons. It receives too: move a parameter in the DAW and the matching fader moves.

Sends and receivesTablet or phone

How to use it

  1. Open TouchSurface and assign it a port in the receiver.
  2. Use MIDI learn in your DAW: turn it on, click the parameter, then move a fader or press a button.
  3. Faders send Control Change. Pill buttons stay on while you hold them; square buttons toggle on and off with each tap.
Want more faders, an XY pad or a different layout? Build your own surface with the Controller Builder: same look, same value feedback.
Faders and buttons with DAW feedback

Sender

XY Pad

A grid of pads, each with a dot to drag. The horizontal and vertical positions become two Control Changes: great for filters, effects and sweeps.

Send onlyPhone or tablet

How to use it

  1. The number of pads adapts to the screen (up to 8). Use the gear to fix it between 1 and 8.
  2. Drag the dot: it stays where you release it. Use several pads at once with different fingers.
  3. In the settings each pad has its own CCs. The Send button sends that message on its own, handy for MIDI learn.

Default messages

PadX axisY axis
1CC 102CC 103
2CC 104CC 105
………
8CC 116CC 117

X goes from 0 on the left to 127 on the right, Y from 0 at the bottom to 127 at the top.

Four pads on a phone

Sender

GyroBall

Tilt your phone and the balls roll around the box. Each ball's position becomes a pair of Control Changes: body movement turns into modulation.

Send onlyPhoneGyroscope

How to use it

  1. Open GyroBall on your phone. On iPhone and iPad tap Allow when Safari asks for motion sensor access.
  2. Use the gear to choose how many balls to use and, for each one, its CCs and weight from 1 to 10: a light ball is quick and jumpy, a heavy one moves slowly and smoothly.
  3. Tilt the phone. Use Send in the settings for MIDI learn without moving every ball.

Default messages

BallXY
1CC 20CC 21
2CC 22CC 23
3CC 24CC 25
4CC 26CC 27
The gyroscope only works over a secure connection: that is why Omnithru always opens with https://.
Four balls in motion

Sender

Desktop sender

Brings a second computer's MIDI ports onto the network. Everything arriving on its inputs, from a USB keyboard to a software sequencer, is forwarded to the receiver.

Send onlyComputer · Chrome or Edge

How to use it

  1. On the second computer open Omnithru and choose Desktop sender. Allow MIDI access.
  2. Plug the keyboard or controller into that computer: its ports appear in the list.
  3. In the receiver give the Desktop sender an output port. Play in one room, record in the other.
Like the receiver, the Desktop sender uses the Web MIDI API: open it in Chrome or Edge. Safari does not support it.
The second computer's ports

Sender

Controller Builder

Design your own controller. Place faders, XY pads and buttons on a grid, choose each one's MIDI message and save the layout to a file you can open on any device.

Sends and receivesTabletFile .omnithru.json

How to use it

  1. Press the pencil in the bar to start editing. With an empty layout you are already there.
  2. Drag an element from the palette onto the grid, or tap the type and then a cell. Drag it to move it, use the corner handle to resize it.
  3. Tap an element: in the panel set its label and MIDI message, or Duplicate and Delete it.
  4. Press the pencil again and play. From the gear Save the layout to a file, Load one made on another device, or change the grid (from 2×2 to 16×12).

Elements and messages

ElementBehaviourMessages
FaderVertical or horizontal, depending on its shapeCC, pitch bend, aftertouch
Pad XYOne message per axisCC, pitch bend, aftertouch
MomentaryOn while heldNote, CC 127/0, Program Change
ToggleFirst tap on, second tap offNote, CC 127/0, Program Change
Files stay on your device: the server keeps nothing. Your working copy saves itself with every change.
Edit mode, 8×5 grid

Every controller is included.

One download for your computer. Other devices only need a browser.

Go to downloads