Anybody got tips on writing melodies & synth lines

[nuperspective]

i'm just starting out producing my own tracks. i can throw down some beats and a bass line, but when it comes to starting a melody or synth line i hit a brick wall. one of the main problems is i cant play a note, so i'm trying to teach myself to play chords and the rest. anybody got any ideas for making a start?

[hoffman2k]

Try experimenting with some random sequences. Add a scale/chord plugin. And put a random plugin before the scale.

If this doesn't make sense... Here's a .als file to explain.
Watch the automation in the arrangement view to see what i mean.

http://users.telenet.be/Vayner/random%20melody.als.zip

Cheers

[supster]

you cant play a note, but you can play chords? Not really following you on that one.

best way to write melodies is to listen in your mind. if you can hear how it should go, then keep everything else quiet while you pick the notes and timing out with your instrument

then record it or draw it onto the grid till it matches what you hear.
.

[ethios4]

You can setup an interesting groove, then load a tasty synth sound, hit record (audio or midi) and jam on that for a while, even if you have no idea what you're doing. Just make sure you're having fun Then you can take what you recorded and extract the best parts, and arrange them into something coherent. If you keep doing this, and supplement it with learning a little music theory, you'll be well on your way to becoming a melodic fountain of riff-laying synth mastery!

Sidenote: If you record your jams via midi, you can more easily edit later, and get the parts you come up with to sit right together by changing key/scale/timing etc...

[Angstrom]

if you are after actual melodies, like as in old school tunes rather than 'noink a noink norg'

try going doo be doo be doo, it worked for all the greats !

seriously, just kind of noodle a tune with the hole on the front of your head. Maybe it's just me but I've always been able to come up with a tune this way.

then record it into a dictaphone so that the computer doesnt get in the way... now sample it in and match the notes in a laborious fashion while saving up for piano lessons.

doodle -dee dum dum dum, ba dum te tum

etc.

[Michael-SW]

Settle on a simple chord progression. The use notes from those chords.

[DJSK]

There are a couple of midi converter programs out there one of them you can actually try out a little bit on cnet downloads. www.cnet.com anyway what they allow you to do is change sound into midi notes. So basically if you can hum what you want the melody to sound like in the microphone example :dooo daah di dah dum da dooooo the program will actually take your recorded voice and turn it into midi notes that you can then play with operator or simpler. The programs aren't the best and are a little pricey but with patience they do work and can help you out if you are willing to spend some extra money. They can also take instrumental music and change that to a midi file which is also really cool if you want to remix a song but don't have the sheet music to do so. I myself am learning to play the piano. Everyone pretty much says if you want to learn music it's really good to have some experience on a piano. Hope that helps.

[sweetjesus]

creation through emulation.

learn how to play along to your favorite stuff first and try getting similar sounds.

[Kas.]

if you are after actual melodies, like as in old school tunes rather than 'noink a noink norg'

You just made me involuntarily imagine Chopin wearing a baseballcap. My lawyer will contact you about the costs of the therapy I now need.

:¬p

[Machinate]

and don't forget oldskool step sequencers. You can't really beat 16-step noodlings for inspiration, if you ask me.

[smart1123]

and don't forget oldskool step sequencers. You can't really beat 16-step noodlings for inspiration, if you ask me.

I second that... I use the matrix in Reason to write midi files all the time... then export them into live to play my Hardware synths