About Ernest Keyz Studios
A keyboard player
who builds the tools
they actually need
Ernest Keyz Studios is an independent music software company. The work sits at the intersection of live performance and software engineering — two disciplines that don't often overlap, but absolutely should.
The name comes from a simple reality: keyboard players are called “keys.” The tools here are built by a keys player, for keys players — and anyone else who relies on MIDI hardware in performance or production.
What drives the work
Core values
Musician-First Design
Every feature originates from a real performance or production problem. No feature is added because it looks good in a demo.
Engineering Precision
Software that behaves exactly as documented. Low latency, stable, and reliable under the pressure of live performance.
Stage-Ready Software
Tools designed for the chaos of live performance — fast to open, simple to read, and impossible to crash at the wrong moment.
The story
How this started
The keyboard problem
Playing live shows with a 88-key MIDI controller and a laptop running Ableton. A stuck sustain pedal mid-performance. No diagnostic tool showed what was actually happening.
First scripts, then tools
Started writing small Python scripts to monitor MIDI output. They worked, but they were command-line utilities — not tools any working musician could actually use on stage.
Learning Swift, building real software
Switched to Swift and built the first version of what would become PulseMIDI. A native macOS app with a real interface. Something that could live in the dock and open instantly.
PulseMIDI goes public
First public release on GitHub. VST3 and CLAP plugin formats added. Other musicians started filing issues, suggesting features, and actually using it in their setups.
Ernest Keyz Studios
Formalizing the work as a proper independent software company. More tools planned. The focus remains the same: software that solves real problems for real musicians.
Follow the work
All development happens in the open on GitHub. File issues, suggest features, or contribute to any of the tools.