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Connecting your e-drum kit to WebEDrums: steps and browser fixes

WebEDrums reads your electronic drum kit through the browser: one USB cable, no driver, and a browser that asks once for access to MIDI devices. This page walks through every step with screenshots of a Roland TD-02 connected in Chrome, then covers what goes wrong in each browser and how to fix it. For the general picture (which port, which cable, how to hear the song and the drums together) see how to connect an electronic drum kit to a computer.

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Three full plays a day, every feature, no account. Chrome or Edge.

What do I need?

  • Chrome or Edge on a computer. Firefox works too, with one extra prompt and a few quirks (below). Safari has no Web MIDI, so on a Mac use Chrome or Edge.
  • A USB data cable from the module’s USB port to the computer. Charge-only USB-C cables power the module but carry no data.
  • Nothing else. Roland, Alesis and Yamaha modules are class compliant for MIDI: no driver, no app.

How do I connect my kit, step by step?

  1. Plug the kit in and switch it on. Connect a USB data cable from the module’s USB port (USB COMPUTER on Roland, USB TO HOST on Yamaha, USB on Alesis) to the computer, then switch the module on. Do it before you open the browser if you use Firefox.
  2. Open Drums setup. Open webedrums.com/app/ in Chrome or Edge and click Drums setup at the top right. It shows what you play with on the left and where the drum sounds come from on the right.
    The WebEDrums header with the Drums setup link between Go Pro and the player menu.
    The Drums setup screen: What you play with on the left (E-drum kit, Keyboard, Touch or mouse) and Where the drum sounds come from on the right.
  3. Click the E-drum kit card and allow MIDI. Click the E-drum kit card. Chrome asks whether the site may control and reprogram your MIDI devices; click Allow. While it waits, the card shows Connecting to your kit.
    Chrome's permission prompt under the address bar: the site wants to control and reprogram your MIDI devices, with Block and Allow buttons.
    Chrome’s prompt. Its wording covers all MIDI access; WebEDrums only reads the notes your pads send and never sends anything to the module.
  4. Check that the kit is found. A few seconds later the card names your module, for example “TD-02 MIDI OUT is connected”. If it says No kit found instead, see the checklist further down.
    The E-drum kit card selected, saying TD-02 MIDI OUT is connected, with the Set up pads button.
  5. Choose where the drum sounds come from. Pick Drum sounds from your module to keep your kit’s own sounds with no delay, or Drum sounds from WebEDrums when the module is muted or has no output.
    The two sound choices: drum sounds from WebEDrums, and drum sounds from your module joined to the song with a splitter.
    With the keyboard or touch the module card is disabled: they make no sound of their own.
  6. Set up the pads. Click Set up pads. For a Roland, Alesis or Yamaha module, Use Roland defaults instead (or Alesis, or Yamaha) fills in the usual notes in one click; otherwise Start asks you to hit each pad in turn and records every zone it hears. Review the list and click Save mapping.
    Set up your kit: how it works, the kit diagram, and the Start, and Use Roland defaults instead buttons.
    Step 2 of 9: hit the snare head, then the rim. Notes 38 head and 40 rim have been heard.
    Each zone you hit within a second and a half is recorded for that pad.
    Review your mapping: every pad with its notes and the lane it plays on the highway.
  7. Play. Back on Drums setup the card says the kit is connected and set up. Click Continue to the song, or Done, and play.
    Drums setup with the TD-02 connected and set up, Edit pads on its card, and the Continue to the song button.

Chrome and Edge

I clicked Block. How do I allow MIDI again?

Chrome and Edge remember a Block, and the kit card says so:

The E-drum kit card with an error: MIDI is blocked for this site, and how to fix it.
  1. Click the icon left of the address bar, open the site settings and set MIDI to Allow.
  2. Or, in Chrome, open chrome://settings/content/midiDevices, find webedrums.com under Not allowed and remove it with the bin icon. Edge has the same list in its site permissions settings.
  3. Reload the page and click the E-drum kit card again. Chrome asks again.
Chrome's MIDI device control and reprogram settings, with the site listed under Not allowed to control and reprogram your MIDI devices.
Chrome’s MIDI settings with the site blocked (taken on a local copy, so the address is blurred).

If the prompt still does not come back, quit the browser completely (not just the tab), open it again and retry.

I clicked the kit, but no prompt appeared

A prompt closed by clicking elsewhere on the page stays waiting behind a small MIDI icon in the address bar. Click the E-drum kit card again: each click asks again. After a few seconds without an answer the card points you to the address bar.

The E-drum kit card connecting, with a hint: click the icon left of the address bar, or click the kit card again.

Why does Chrome say “control and reprogram your MIDI devices”?

Since Chrome 124 every site needs permission for any MIDI access, and the prompt uses that wording for all of it. WebEDrums asks for plain MIDI access, without system-exclusive messages, and only reads the notes your pads send. It never sends anything to the module, so it cannot change its settings.

Firefox

Firefox asks to install an add-on

On a secure site Firefox grants MIDI through a small site-permission add-on, made by Firefox for this site only. Accept it: without it, MIDI access is refused. It appears under Add-ons and themes, in Site permissions.

Firefox stopped asking, and nothing shows by the address bar

After Never Allow on that prompt, Firefox refuses every request without asking again, and the panel by the address bar lists no MIDI entry to undo it. The kit card says MIDI is blocked:

The E-drum kit card in Firefox: MIDI is blocked for this site, with the Page Info steps.
  1. Open Page Info: Cmd+I on a Mac, Ctrl+I on Windows and Linux.
  2. Go to Permissions and set Access MIDI Devices to Allow.
  3. Reload the page.

I plugged the kit in after opening Firefox and it is not found

Firefox reads its list of MIDI devices once, when it starts, and never updates it. A kit plugged in or switched on later stays invisible until you quit Firefox completely (Cmd+Q on a Mac) and open it again. Reloading the page or opening a new tab is not enough.

The E-drum kit card in Firefox: No kit found, Firefox only sees kits that were plugged in before it started, with a checklist.

I unplugged the kit, but Firefox still shows it as connected

Firefox does not report an unplugged kit: the kit stays listed and the app cannot tell. If the pads stop responding, check the cable and plug it back in; the hits come through again.

Firefox does not remember my songs folder

Firefox has no folder picker that a site can keep, so you pick the songs folder again on each visit. Chrome and Edge remember it.

Safari, iPhone and iPad

Safari has no Web MIDI, and browsers on iPhone and iPad are built on Safari’s engine, so a kit cannot connect there. On a Mac, open WebEDrums in Chrome or Edge. On an iPhone or iPad you can still play by tapping the lanes on the highway.

The kit is not found, in any browser

After a click on the E-drum kit card WebEDrums looks for a kit for a few seconds, then goes back to the keyboard and shows what to check. In Chrome and Edge a kit plugged in afterwards is picked up by itself.

The E-drum kit card: No kit found, plug the module in over USB and switch it on, with a checklist.
  • The cable. Use the module’s USB port with a data cable; a charge-only cable is the most common cause.
  • The module’s USB mode. Some Alesis and Yamaha modules have a USB mode setting: set it to MIDI.
  • The port. Try another USB port, and avoid unpowered hubs.
  • Windows. Only one program can open a MIDI port there: close your recording software, the maker’s editor app, or another tab that has the kit open.
  • Bluetooth. Web MIDI does not read Bluetooth MIDI; use the cable.

Can I play without a kit?

Yes. On Drums setup, choose Keyboard to play with the computer keys (and pick your own keys with Set up keys), or Touch or mouse to click or tap the lanes on the highway. WebEDrums plays the drum sounds for both.

Sources

Checked on October 22, 2026. If one of these pages has changed and this guide has not caught up, tell us on the contact page.

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