diff --git a/examples/codemirror-repl/main.js b/examples/codemirror-repl/main.js
index ff83122f..815db187 100644
--- a/examples/codemirror-repl/main.js
+++ b/examples/codemirror-repl/main.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { StrudelMirror } from '@strudel/codemirror';
 import { funk42 } from './tunes';
-import { drawPianoroll, evalScope, controls } from '@strudel/core';
+import { drawPianoroll, evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
 import './style.css';
 import { initAudioOnFirstClick } from '@strudel/webaudio';
 import { transpiler } from '@strudel/transpiler';
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ const editor = new StrudelMirror({
   prebake: async () => {
     initAudioOnFirstClick(); // needed to make the browser happy (don't await this here..)
     const loadModules = evalScope(
-      controls,
       import('@strudel/core'),
       import('@strudel/mini'),
       import('@strudel/tonal'),
diff --git a/examples/minimal-repl/main.js b/examples/minimal-repl/main.js
index 68dabe52..aa3bc7cf 100644
--- a/examples/minimal-repl/main.js
+++ b/examples/minimal-repl/main.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-import { controls, repl, evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
-import { getAudioContext, webaudioOutput, initAudioOnFirstClick } from '@strudel/webaudio';
+import { repl, evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
+import { getAudioContext, webaudioOutput, initAudioOnFirstClick, registerSynthSounds } from '@strudel/webaudio';
 import { transpiler } from '@strudel/transpiler';
 import tune from './tune.mjs';
 
@@ -7,14 +7,9 @@ const ctx = getAudioContext();
 const input = document.getElementById('text');
 input.innerHTML = tune;
 initAudioOnFirstClick();
+registerSynthSounds();
 
-evalScope(
-  controls,
-  import('@strudel/core'),
-  import('@strudel/mini'),
-  import('@strudel/webaudio'),
-  import('@strudel/tonal'),
-);
+evalScope(import('@strudel/core'), import('@strudel/mini'), import('@strudel/webaudio'), import('@strudel/tonal'));
 
 const { evaluate } = repl({
   defaultOutput: webaudioOutput,
diff --git a/packages/core/animate.mjs b/packages/core/animate.mjs
index e9650c02..cc7e59b2 100644
--- a/packages/core/animate.mjs
+++ b/packages/core/animate.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-import { Pattern, getDrawContext, silence, register, pure } from './index.mjs';
-import controls from './controls.mjs'; // do not import from index.mjs as it breaks for some reason..
-const { createParams } = controls;
+import { Pattern, getDrawContext, silence, register, pure, createParams } from './index.mjs';
 
 let clearColor = '#22222210';
 
diff --git a/packages/core/test/controls.test.mjs b/packages/core/test/controls.test.mjs
index 49aa6a4f..aa66bf98 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/controls.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/core/test/controls.test.mjs
@@ -4,23 +4,23 @@ Copyright (C) 2023 Strudel contributors - see <https://github.com/tidalcycles/st
 This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU Affero General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 */
 
-import controls from '../controls.mjs';
+import { s } from '../controls.mjs';
 import { mini } from '../../mini/mini.mjs';
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 
 describe('controls', () => {
   it('should support controls', () => {
-    expect(controls.s('bd').firstCycleValues).toEqual([{ s: 'bd' }]);
+    expect(s('bd').firstCycleValues).toEqual([{ s: 'bd' }]);
   });
   it('should support compound controls', () => {
-    expect(controls.s(mini('bd:3')).firstCycleValues).toEqual([{ s: 'bd', n: 3 }]);
-    expect(controls.s(mini('bd:3 sd:4:1.4')).firstCycleValues).toEqual([
+    expect(s(mini('bd:3')).firstCycleValues).toEqual([{ s: 'bd', n: 3 }]);
+    expect(s(mini('bd:3 sd:4:1.4')).firstCycleValues).toEqual([
       { s: 'bd', n: 3 },
       { s: 'sd', n: 4, gain: 1.4 },
     ]);
   });
   it('should support ignore extra elements in compound controls', () => {
-    expect(controls.s(mini('bd:3:0.4 sd:4:0.5:3:17')).firstCycleValues).toEqual([
+    expect(s(mini('bd:3:0.4 sd:4:0.5:3:17')).firstCycleValues).toEqual([
       { s: 'bd', n: 3, gain: 0.4 },
       { s: 'sd', n: 4, gain: 0.5 },
     ]);
diff --git a/packages/core/test/pattern.test.mjs b/packages/core/test/pattern.test.mjs
index bd0aa52b..566038fd 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/pattern.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/core/test/pattern.test.mjs
@@ -51,9 +51,8 @@ import {
 
 import { steady } from '../signal.mjs';
 
-import controls from '../controls.mjs';
+import { n, s } from '../controls.mjs';
 
-const { n, s } = controls;
 const st = (begin, end) => new State(ts(begin, end));
 const ts = (begin, end) => new TimeSpan(Fraction(begin), Fraction(end));
 const hap = (whole, part, value, context = {}) => new Hap(whole, part, value, context);
diff --git a/packages/core/test/value.test.mjs b/packages/core/test/value.test.mjs
index 1a209623..c5472607 100644
--- a/packages/core/test/value.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/core/test/value.test.mjs
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under th
 
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 import { map, valued, mul } from '../value.mjs';
-import controls from '../controls.mjs';
-const { n } = controls;
+import { n } from '../controls.mjs';
 
 describe('Value', () => {
   it('unionWith', () => {
diff --git a/packages/repl/prebake.mjs b/packages/repl/prebake.mjs
index 930f263c..4315b85c 100644
--- a/packages/repl/prebake.mjs
+++ b/packages/repl/prebake.mjs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { controls, noteToMidi, valueToMidi, Pattern, evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
+import { noteToMidi, valueToMidi, Pattern, evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
 import { registerSynthSounds, registerZZFXSounds, samples } from '@strudel/webaudio';
 import * as core from '@strudel/core';
 
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ export async function prebake() {
     // import('@strudel/serial'),
     // import('@strudel/csound'),
     // import('@strudel/osc'),
-    controls, // sadly, this cannot be exported from core directly (yet)
   );
   // load samples
   const ds = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/felixroos/dough-samples/main/';
diff --git a/packages/tonal/test/tonal.test.mjs b/packages/tonal/test/tonal.test.mjs
index 6dfdcfac..2b829ecb 100644
--- a/packages/tonal/test/tonal.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/tonal/test/tonal.test.mjs
@@ -7,10 +7,9 @@ This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under th
 // import { strict as assert } from 'assert';
 
 import '../tonal.mjs'; // need to import this to add prototypes
-import { pure, controls, seq } from '@strudel/core';
+import { pure, n, seq } from '@strudel/core';
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 import { mini } from '../../mini/mini.mjs';
-const { n } = controls;
 
 describe('tonal', () => {
   it('Should run tonal functions ', () => {
diff --git a/packages/web/web.mjs b/packages/web/web.mjs
index e7164197..660acf26 100644
--- a/packages/web/web.mjs
+++ b/packages/web/web.mjs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export * from '@strudel/transpiler';
 export * from '@strudel/mini';
 export * from '@strudel/tonal';
 export * from '@strudel/webaudio';
-import { Pattern, evalScope, controls } from '@strudel/core';
+import { Pattern, evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
 import { initAudioOnFirstClick, registerSynthSounds, webaudioScheduler } from '@strudel/webaudio';
 // import { registerSoundfonts } from '@strudel/soundfonts';
 import { evaluate as _evaluate } from '@strudel/transpiler';
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ import { miniAllStrings } from '@strudel/mini';
 export async function defaultPrebake() {
   const loadModules = evalScope(
     evalScope,
-    controls,
     import('@strudel/core'),
     import('@strudel/mini'),
     import('@strudel/tonal'),
diff --git a/packages/webaudio/README.md b/packages/webaudio/README.md
index 442dc4dd..d89a6d39 100644
--- a/packages/webaudio/README.md
+++ b/packages/webaudio/README.md
@@ -12,9 +12,8 @@ npm i @strudel/webaudio --save
 ## Example
 
 ```js
-import { repl, controls } from "@strudel/core";
+import { repl, note } from "@strudel/core";
 import { initAudioOnFirstClick, getAudioContext, webaudioOutput } from "@strudel/webaudio";
-const { note } = controls;
 
 initAudioOnFirstClick();
 const ctx = getAudioContext();
diff --git a/test/runtime.mjs b/test/runtime.mjs
index 6a40b09d..946c2759 100644
--- a/test/runtime.mjs
+++ b/test/runtime.mjs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import { evaluate } from '@strudel/transpiler';
 import { evalScope } from '@strudel/core';
 import * as strudel from '@strudel/core';
 import * as webaudio from '@strudel/webaudio';
-import controls from '@strudel/core/controls.mjs';
 // import gist from '@strudel/core/gist.js';
 import { mini, m } from '@strudel/mini/mini.mjs';
 // import * as voicingHelpers from '@strudel/tonal/voicings.mjs';
@@ -21,7 +20,6 @@ import '@strudel/xen/xen.mjs';
 // import '@strudel/osc/osc.mjs';
 // import '@strudel/webaudio/webaudio.mjs';
 // import '@strudel/serial/serial.mjs';
-// import controls from '@strudel/core/controls.mjs';
 import '../website/src/repl/piano';
 
 class MockedNode {
@@ -153,10 +151,9 @@ evalScope(
   strudel,
   toneHelpersMocked,
   uiHelpersMocked,
-  controls,
   webaudio,
   tonalHelpers,
-  /* controls,
+  /*
   toneHelpers,
   voicingHelpers,
   drawHelpers,
diff --git a/website/src/repl/util.mjs b/website/src/repl/util.mjs
index 08e31d42..397e2801 100644
--- a/website/src/repl/util.mjs
+++ b/website/src/repl/util.mjs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { controls, evalScope, hash2code, logger } from '@strudel/core';
+import { evalScope, hash2code, logger } from '@strudel/core';
 import { settingPatterns, defaultAudioDeviceName } from '../settings.mjs';
 import { getAudioContext, initializeAudioOutput, setDefaultAudioContext } from '@strudel/webaudio';
 
@@ -92,11 +92,7 @@ export function loadModules() {
     modules = modules.concat([import('@strudel/midi'), import('@strudel/osc')]);
   }
 
-  return evalScope(
-    controls, // sadly, this cannot be exported from core direclty
-    settingPatterns,
-    ...modules,
-  );
+  return evalScope(settingPatterns, ...modules);
 }
 
 let lastShared;