A free, in-browser sketchpad that sits beside the DAW
A digital audio workstation is where a track gets finished. VerkLabs is a lighter place to build a sound from nothing, try an idea, and put visuals to it, in a browser tab with no install, and notes can move between the two as MIDI files. It does not replace a DAW and does not try to: it has no plug-in support, no multitrack audio recording, and no mixing console. This page says how the two can sit together.
What goes in and out
| You want to… | In VerkLabs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bring a song or a part in | Import a MIDI file | Each track becomes its own part with a suggested instrument. A drum track is split into one part per drum. A multi-track file lands in a group named after the file. |
| Take a part out | Download a clip as a MIDI file | The notes only, not the sound, so open it in a DAW and choose an instrument there. |
| Take the whole project out | Download all music as a MIDI file (Settings) | One file with every track you can hear, named after the tracks, with the tempo and the beats a bar. Muted tracks are left out. Drums go on channel 10 as General MIDI drum notes. |
| Reuse the music in another VerkLabs project | Export a music pack (Settings) | The tracks, notes, instruments (sampled ones too) and references to audio files in one file, to add to any project. Not for a DAW: use the MIDI file for that. |
| Play it from a MIDI keyboard | Connect a controller (Settings, Music) | Keys play a Live Music event, the pads play drums, and the knobs, faders and strips are learned by moving them and then drive an instrument or a visual. Chrome and Edge only. |
| Record what you play | The Record button on the on-screen piano | Notes, not audio: it records to the end of the event (or until you stop), quantized if you like, as a track you can edit, loop and layer. |
| Make written notes sound played | Style of Play (Settings, Music) | Swing, a rolling chord, a phrase that breathes, a pause for rubato. The notes are never changed, only how they are played, with styles from jazz ballad to a drunk pianist. |
| Draw or edit notes | The piano roll | Ghost notes from other tracks, velocity lane, and a Fit button. Stays above the timeline. |
| Start from ready-made sounds | The instrument library | Synths, basses, keys, strings, drums, effects and buses, with sampled orchestral instruments. |
| Use your own sampled instruments | Load an SFZ file or a sample pack | An SFZ is a sampled instrument mapped across the keyboard. Many sample libraries are available in this format. |
| Build a sound from scratch | The instrument editor | Oscillators, filters, envelopes and effects wired as nodes. A first step into synthesis. |
| Process several parts together | Groups, buses and a track's own instrument | A reverb, delay, low cut or sidechain pump on a track or a group, built as an instrument. |
| Share the result | A link to the project, or a recording | A recording captures the run, with the sound, as a video file. There is no audio-only export or per-track stems yet. |
Synthesis by wiring. Ableton's Operator or Wavetable can hide what an oscillator, filter and envelope do. Here a student draws the chain and hears each stage.
At home, no license. Students without a DAW installed can still practise arranging and sound design in a browser, then bring the ideas to the studio session.
Visuals for the music. The timeline can drive visuals from the sound, for courses that ask for a visual, a performance or a short film with sound.
A way in for non-musicians. The guided lessons need no music theory: a first techno track, chords and a melody, and building your own instrument. An AI can draft the notes for a part (Notes from AI), which students can then edit.
What it is not
No plug-ins (VST or AU), no recording of audio from live instruments, no mixing console, and no audio-only or stem export.
A MIDI keyboard can play VerkLabs' own instruments, but VerkLabs does not send MIDI to a DAW's synths or follow a DAW's clock. Move notes between them as files.
It is for sketching, learning and audiovisual projects. Mastering and production for release belong in a DAW.
A simple way to use both
Sketch a part or a sound in VerkLabs, download the notes as a MIDI file, and finish the track in your DAW. Or do the opposite: export a MIDI file from the DAW, import it, give it instruments and a visual, and share the project by link. The Instruments and Music chapter of the manual covers each step.
Try it, or talk it through
Free, in a browser tab, nothing to install. The guided lessons run beside a student's own project, so you can try one yourself in a few minutes. If you would like a short demo, example projects or a conversation about how it could sit next to your course, get in touch.
Try the lessons Teaching with VerkLabs Email education@verklabs.ai