About

gatha369 is a musician and former systems engineer from Japan. A guitarist raised on heavy metal, he was drawn to finger drumming, then to chill beats, and finally to acid — the squelching basslines and knob-driven grooves of acts like Hardfloor, introduced to him by a friend he now jams with.

Instead of buying a groovebox, he decided to build one. step16-synth is his own live sequencer, developed together with AI (Claude Code) and shaped by real performance: an MPD218 for hitting pads, an APC mini for muting and switching patterns, and loops that hold the groove while new sounds are layered on top.

The AI writes much of the code, but it can't hear. Every sound, every feel, every decision comes back to his own ears and hands.