Current Limits

This page documents important current limits so users know what to expect.

Browser and Device

• Miao is designed for desktop Chrome.
• The layout is dense and expects a desktop-size viewport.
• Some browser APIs may fail if unsupported; the app does not hard-block unsupported browsers.
• Web MIDI depends on browser support and permission.

Accounts and Auth

• There are no user accounts.
• Projects are opened by project ID and password.
• There is no password change or recovery flow.
• Unlock tokens last 12 hours.

Recording

• Single input recording is supported.
• Multi-input recording is not part of the current app.
• Input monitoring is for audio tracks.

Instruments

• The built-in catalog currently uses normalized one-sample instrument manifests generated for Miao.
• User custom sampling uses one imported sample as the source for each MIDI track sampler.
• Full multisample editing UI is not exposed as a user workflow yet.
• Imported melodic General MIDI instruments are mapped to nearest built-in instruments; General MIDI drum-kit mapping is not a full per-note drum-kit instrument yet.

Chords and Scales

• Chord blocks are planning data until converted into MIDI.
• Chord blocks use beat positions and the project uses one fixed tempo and time signature for playback.
• Chord extensions are limited to none, 7, maj7, and 9.
• Snap-to-scale affects newly drawn MIDI notes and the explicit Fit notes action. It does not rewrite existing notes automatically.
• Regenerating chord-generated MIDI replaces the generated region notes from the source chords. Use undo if you need to restore manual edits.

Editing

• Undo/redo is global for region and MIDI edit domains.
• Arrangement edits and MIDI edits are covered, but not every project operation is a deep undo stack entry.
• Bus tracks are routing targets, not recording or region-hosting tracks.

Collaboration

• Collaboration uses shared project ID/password access.
• Temporary locks reduce conflicts but are not a permission system.
• Saving remains the durable snapshot mechanism.

Export

• Export is server-side and downloads a ZIP.
• Export requires an unlocked project.
• Referenced project audio files and built-in instrument samples must be available to the server.
• MIDI file export is browser-side and exports MIDI clips plus preserved MIDI metadata. It does not render audio.
• Imported tempo maps are preserved for MIDI file export, but the app playback engine currently uses the project tempo rather than tempo changes inside a clip.

Storage

• Imported audio upload limit is 100 MB per file.
• Clean unused files removes unreferenced project audio objects.