Moontide manual

Early: Moontide is a young project with known bugs, and the whole Scratchpad is early experimental. The known limits say what that means.

Moontide lets Claude play live music for you. You describe a mood, a theme or an idea. Claude writes Strudel code that plays in your browser and changes without ever stopping.

This manual is for three kinds of reader: a musician who is starting with Claude, a musician with MIDI gear who wants Claude to play it, and a curious reader who wants to know how it works. Every page is written in plain words and ends with a box that says what was checked and what was not.

Where to start

Everyone starts with the Install page: it adds Moontide to Claude Code or Claude Desktop and ends with your first music. After that, pick the path that fits you.

• A musician starting with Claude: after Install, read First music, then The page and its views, then Asking Claude to learn how to ask.
• A musician with MIDI gear: read MIDI instruments and the setup file to describe your instruments, then The Scratchpad to play in a motif and send it to Claude.
• A curious reader: read How it works, then What was measured.

All the pages are listed below, in order.

Getting started

• Install: add Moontide to Claude, update it, remove it.
• First music: start Moontide, click for sound, ask for the first changes.
• The page and its views: the code, the top bar, the Session drawer, the layouts and the seven views.

Working with Claude

• Asking Claude: how to ask in words, frames, and the reference Claude reads.
• Asking from the page: right-click requests, live or waiting, and the Requests list.
• Small edits and editing by hand: small edits, the harmony line, the Jam view, and edits on the Timeline and in the Mixer.
• Song structure: sections, the Song grid and the groups in the Mixer.
• Tempo ramps: move the tempo over a number of bars.
• History and favorites: every version is kept, with favorites and the history file.

MIDI gear

• MIDI instruments and the setup file: describe your instruments, the models, reset and replug, on and off, and the MIDI clock.
• Sounds, catalogs and drum maps: sounds by name, catalogs, the MIDNAM import and catalogs from a PDF.
• Tone, part and scene settings: settings that no program change carries, what each reaches, what stays and what was heard.
• The Scratchpad: a piano roll to draw, tap and hear a motif.
• Playing in from a keyboard: name an input, the buffer, the live view and Record that.
• Sending a motif to Claude: the words, the phrase, the moment and the limits.

Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting: common problems, and the known limits.

How it works and what was measured

• How it works: the pieces, how they talk, every tool and why it is built this way.
• What was measured: each measurement, how it was made and what it does not say.
• Network, privacy, credits and license: what leaves your computer, what keeps other programs out, how to report a problem, whose work this builds on and the license.