OXO-Music has released OXO Steps, a free MIDI step sequencer and arpeggiator plugin for macOS.
OXO Steps lets you enter one chord and use it to drive up to six independent sequences on separate MIDI channels. So, once you set it up, one track could follow the lowest note as a bassline, another could play chord stabs, while the remaining tracks generate arpeggios or occasional in-key notes.
If you change the source chord, every connected sequence follows it. So overall, it’s a pretty easy way to build layered melodic ideas without programming the instruments separately.
What’s also cool is that OXO Steps supports both monophonic and polyphonic tracks, and its lanes can use different lengths. For example, the note lane could run for 12 steps while the octave and gate lanes cycle over six and 16 steps, respectively. Pretty cool for getting some evolving polymetric patterns going.
Patterns can move forward, backward, in ping-pong order, or randomly. Probability controls add variation, and two CC lanes let the plugin sequence parameters on connected instruments.
You can organize a performance into eight scenes, with each scene storing a chord and pattern changes for every track. A dedicated performance window brings scene switching and CC controls together, with MIDI Learn available for hands-on control.
If you like the sequence, OXO Steps can record the performance and export it as a MIDI file for further editing in your DAW.
The plugin does not generate audio, so you need to route its MIDI output to one or more virtual instruments. This is also where the six MIDI channels become useful, since each sequence can control a different sound.
Ableton Live cannot normally route a plugin’s MIDI output to separate channels. OXO Steps works around that limitation by creating an Oxo Virtual Port, which you can enable in Live and select as the MIDI input for the destination tracks. Other DAWs use the normal plugin MIDI output.
The developer also provides a quick visual manual on the product page, along with an Ableton setup guide and the preset used in the demonstration video.
OXO Steps is available in VST3 and AU formats for macOS 12 or newer. There is no Windows version.
The download is refreshingly simple. Clicking the macOS download link starts the DMG directly, with no account, email signup, or checkout required.
Download: OXO Steps (FREE)
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Last Updated on September 12, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
