feat: global master clock for drift-free multi-sequencer timing

Replace independent Tone.Clock per sequencer/pianoroll with a single
shared master clock running at 960 Hz in audioEngine.

Architecture:
- Master clock starts/stops with audio engine (startAudio/stopAudio)
- Widgets subscribe via subscribeTick(id, callback) receiving
  (audioTime, elapsed) on every tick
- Each widget derives its own step/position from elapsed time and
  its own BPM, so different BPMs stay perfectly in sync
- BPM/steps/bars changes are read from refs (no clock restart needed)

Benefits:
- All timing derived from one clock source = zero relative drift
- No clock recreation on param changes = no glitches
- 960 Hz tick rate ≈ 1ms precision (plenty for musical timing)
- Sequencer at 80 BPM and 160 BPM maintain perfect 1:2 ratio forever

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/components/PianoRollWidget.jsx

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import React, { useState, useEffect, useRef, useCallback } from 'react';
 import * as Tone from 'tone';
 import { state, updateModuleParam, emit } from '../engine/state.js';
-import { setSequencerSignals } from '../engine/audioEngine.js';
+import { setSequencerSignals, subscribeTick, unsubscribeTick } from '../engine/audioEngine.js';
 import { parseMidi } from '../utils/midiParser.js';
 
 const NOTE_NAMES = ['C', 'C#', 'D', 'D#', 'E', 'F', 'F#', 'G', 'G#', 'A', 'A#', 'B'];
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ const ROW_H = ROLL_H / NOTE_RANGE;
 export default function PianoRollWidget({ moduleId }) {
   const mod = state.modules.find(m => m.id === moduleId);
   const canvasRef = useRef(null);
-  const partRef = useRef(null);
   const [tool, setTool] = useState('draw'); // 'draw' | 'erase'
   const drawingRef = useRef(null);
   const rafRef = useRef(null);
@@ -234,38 +233,40 @@ export default function PianoRollWidget({ moduleId }) {
     return () => { if (rafRef.current) cancelAnimationFrame(rafRef.current); };
   }, [draw]);
 
-  // Playback — uses independent Tone.Clock so multiple pianorolls/sequencers
+  // Subscribe to global master clock for playback
-  // don't interfere with each other via the global Transport
+  const bpmRef = useRef(bpm);
+  const loopRef = useRef(loop);
+  const totalBeatsRef = useRef(totalBeats);
+  bpmRef.current = bpm;
+  loopRef.current = loop;
+  totalBeatsRef.current = totalBeats;
+
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!state.isRunning) {
-      if (partRef.current) {
+      unsubscribeTick(`pr-${moduleId}`);
-        try { partRef.current.stop(); } catch {}
-        try { partRef.current.dispose(); } catch {}
-        partRef.current = null;
-      }
       playPosRef.current = -1;
       return;
     }
 
-    const sixteenthRate = (bpm * 4) / 60;
-    const startTime = Tone.now();
     let currentNote = null;
-    let lastPos = -1;
+    let lastQuantPos = -1;
+
+    subscribeTick(`pr-${moduleId}`, (time, elapsed) => {
+      const currentBpm = bpmRef.current;
+      const currentLoop = loopRef.current;
+      const currentTotalBeats = totalBeatsRef.current;
+      const sixteenthRate = (currentBpm * 4) / 60;
 
-    const clock = new Tone.Clock((time) => {
-      // Derive position from audio clock — no counter drift
-      const elapsed = time - startTime;
       const rawPos = elapsed * sixteenthRate * 0.25; // in beats
-      const pos = loop ? rawPos % totalBeats : rawPos;
+      const pos = currentLoop ? rawPos % currentTotalBeats : rawPos;
-
-      // Quantize to sixteenth resolution for consistent note detection
       const quantPos = Math.floor(pos * 4) / 4;
 
-      // Detect loop wrap
+      // Only process on quantized position change
-      const looped = lastPos >= 0 && quantPos < lastPos;
+      if (quantPos === lastQuantPos) return;
-      lastPos = quantPos;
+      const looped = lastQuantPos >= 0 && quantPos < lastQuantPos;
+      lastQuantPos = quantPos;
 
-      if (!loop && rawPos >= totalBeats) {
+      if (!currentLoop && rawPos >= currentTotalBeats) {
         if (currentNote) {
           setSequencerSignals(moduleId, 0, false);
           currentNote = null;
@@ -295,19 +296,12 @@ export default function PianoRollWidget({ moduleId }) {
           currentNote = null;
         }
       }
-    }, sixteenthRate * 2); // 2x rate for tighter detection
+    });
-
-    clock.start();
-    partRef.current = clock;
 
     return () => {
-      if (partRef.current) {
+      unsubscribeTick(`pr-${moduleId}`);
-        try { partRef.current.stop(); } catch {}
-        try { partRef.current.dispose(); } catch {}
-        partRef.current = null;
-      }
     };
-  }, [state.isRunning, moduleId, bpm, bars, loop]);
+  }, [state.isRunning, moduleId]);
 
   // Mouse interaction for drawing/erasing notes
   const handleMouseDown = useCallback((e) => {

src/components/SequencerWidget.jsx

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import React, { useState, useEffect, useRef, useCallback } from 'react';
 import * as Tone from 'tone';
 import { state, updateModuleParam, emit } from '../engine/state.js';
-import { setSequencerSignals, getAudioNode } from '../engine/audioEngine.js';
+import { setSequencerSignals, getAudioNode, subscribeTick, unsubscribeTick } from '../engine/audioEngine.js';
 
 const NOTE_NAMES = ['C', 'C#', 'D', 'D#', 'E', 'F', 'F#', 'G', 'G#', 'A', 'A#', 'B'];
 
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ export default function SequencerWidget({ moduleId }) {
   const mod = state.modules.find(m => m.id === moduleId);
   const currentStepRef = useRef(-1);
   const [visualStep, setVisualStep] = useState(-1);
-  const clockRef = useRef(null);
   const stepsRef = useRef(null);
   const rafRef = useRef(null);
 
@@ -57,30 +56,30 @@ export default function SequencerWidget({ moduleId }) {
     };
   }, [state.isRunning]);
 
-  // Audio clock — ONLY does audio work, no React state updates
+  // Subscribe to global master clock — derive step from elapsed time
+  const bpmRef = useRef(bpm);
+  const numStepsRef = useRef(numSteps);
+  bpmRef.current = bpm;
+  numStepsRef.current = numSteps;
+
   useEffect(() => {
     if (!state.isRunning) {
-      if (clockRef.current) {
+      unsubscribeTick(`seq-${moduleId}`);
-        try { clockRef.current.stop(); } catch {}
-        try { clockRef.current.dispose(); } catch {}
-        clockRef.current = null;
-      }
       currentStepRef.current = -1;
       setVisualStep(-1);
       return;
     }
 
-    const sixteenthRate = (bpm * 4) / 60; // Hz
-    const stepDuration = 1 / sixteenthRate; // seconds per step
-    const startTime = Tone.now();
     let lastStepIdx = -1;
+    let noteOffTimeout = null;
 
-    const clock = new Tone.Clock((time) => {
+    subscribeTick(`seq-${moduleId}`, (time, elapsed) => {
-      // Derive step from audio clock time — no counter drift
+      const currentBpm = bpmRef.current;
-      const elapsed = time - startTime;
+      const currentNumSteps = numStepsRef.current;
-      const stepIdx = Math.floor(elapsed * sixteenthRate) % numSteps;
+      const sixteenthRate = (currentBpm * 4) / 60;
+      const stepDuration = 1 / sixteenthRate;
+      const stepIdx = Math.floor(elapsed * sixteenthRate) % currentNumSteps;
 
-      // Only trigger on step change
       if (stepIdx === lastStepIdx) return;
       lastStepIdx = stepIdx;
 
@@ -91,26 +90,18 @@ export default function SequencerWidget({ moduleId }) {
 
       if (s.gate) {
         setSequencerSignals(moduleId, midiToFreq(s.midi), true);
-        // Note-off via audio-thread timeout (not main-thread setTimeout)
         Tone.getContext().setTimeout(() => {
           setSequencerSignals(moduleId, midiToFreq(s.midi), false);
         }, stepDuration * 0.8);
       } else {
         setSequencerSignals(moduleId, midiToFreq(s.midi), false);
       }
-    }, sixteenthRate * 2); // Run clock at 2x rate for tighter step detection
+    });
-
-    clock.start();
-    clockRef.current = clock;
 
     return () => {
-      if (clockRef.current) {
+      unsubscribeTick(`seq-${moduleId}`);
-        try { clockRef.current.stop(); } catch {}
-        try { clockRef.current.dispose(); } catch {}
-        clockRef.current = null;
-      }
     };
-  }, [state.isRunning, moduleId, numSteps, bpm]);
+  }, [state.isRunning, moduleId]);
 
   const toggleGate = (idx) => {
     steps[idx] = { ...steps[idx], gate: !steps[idx].gate };

src/engine/audioEngine.js

@@ -12,6 +12,48 @@ const audioNodes = {};
 // Active keyboard state
 const keyboardState = { frequency: 440, gate: false };
 
+// ==================== Global Master Clock ====================
+// Single high-resolution clock (960 ticks/sec ≈ 1ms precision).
+// All sequencers/piano rolls derive their timing from this.
+const MASTER_TICK_RATE = 960; // Hz
+let _masterClock = null;
+let _masterTime = 0; // audio-context seconds at clock start
+const _tickListeners = new Map(); // id → callback(audioTime, elapsed)
+
+export function getMasterTime() {
+  if (!_masterClock) return 0;
+  return Tone.now() - _masterTime;
+}
+
+export function subscribeTick(id, callback) {
+  _tickListeners.set(id, callback);
+}
+
+export function unsubscribeTick(id) {
+  _tickListeners.delete(id);
+}
+
+function startMasterClock() {
+  if (_masterClock) return;
+  _masterTime = Tone.now();
+  _masterClock = new Tone.Clock((time) => {
+    const elapsed = time - _masterTime;
+    for (const cb of _tickListeners.values()) {
+      cb(time, elapsed);
+    }
+  }, MASTER_TICK_RATE);
+  _masterClock.start();
+}
+
+function stopMasterClock() {
+  if (_masterClock) {
+    try { _masterClock.stop(); } catch {}
+    try { _masterClock.dispose(); } catch {}
+    _masterClock = null;
+  }
+  _tickListeners.clear();
+}
+
 // ==================== Node creation ====================
 
 function createNode(mod) {
@@ -434,18 +476,21 @@ export function triggerKeyboard(moduleId, freq, gate) {
 export async function startAudio() {
   await Tone.start();
   state.isRunning = true;
+  startMasterClock();
 
   // Rebuild entire audio graph
   rebuildGraph();
 }
 
 export function stopAudio() {
-  // Stop and reset Transport so pianoroll/sequencer Parts don't get stranded
+  stopMasterClock();
+
+  // Stop and reset Transport
   try {
     Tone.getTransport().stop();
-    Tone.getTransport().cancel(); // Remove all scheduled events
+    Tone.getTransport().cancel();
     Tone.getTransport().position = 0;
-  } catch (e) { /* ignore if Transport not started */ }
+  } catch (e) {}
 
   // Destroy all nodes
   for (const id of Object.keys(audioNodes)) {