Programming Techniques

Excerpts for the MIDI Sequencing - Made Easy Book

Recording the rest of your file

Using the same techniques demonstrated for drums, you can now record your bass line, chord tracks, melody or whatever else you wish to put into your sequence.

Use this order of events:

1.   Program your basic drum pattern, then copy & paste it to
      last the whole song.
2.   Program your Bass pattern, a bit at a time.
3.   Insert your Marker track.
4.   Program your chords pattern remembering to copy & paste
      when you can.
5.   You may wish to double your chord pattern on another sound
      using copy & paste.
6.   Program your melody. Try to incorporate bends & modulation where appropriate.
7.   Add any other tracks you wish at this point.
8.   Go back and vary your drum track
          o change some hi hats for ride cymbals
          o change some hi hats and ride cymbals for crash cymbals
          o perhaps alter the pattern a little at different sections
          o add fills remembering to take out the hi hats and perhaps snares
9.   Alter the bar 1 setup parameters: Main Volume, Pan, effects etc.
10. Perform a rallentando or fade at the end.
11. Export your work as a MIDI file.

Programming Bass lines Some hints on programming bass lines:   • Play your bass lines on the lower part of the keyboard to give a deep low sound. You may need to use the transpose button on the keyboard here.   • Bass lines can be simple parts. If you are not a very confident keyboard player, keep them simple! Crotchet and quaver rhythms are usually OK.   • Stick to the names of the chords to get the bass note. If you are playing a bass line over a Gm, you’ll probably be playing a G note in the bass.    • Try adding a little movement to other notes before a chord change (passing notes).   • Your bass line should work with the kick drum. Don’t play a different pattern on the bass from the kick drum. Try to make sure they compliment each other.

Programming Chordal patterns
Some hints on programming chords:

• Use 3 or 4 fingers to play each chord, if you’re not a confident keyboard player, input your chords one at a time, fixing the quantization and velocities as you go.
• You might like to try adding a little rhythm or movement to your chord patterns, but keep it simple. Long held chords are also OK too.
• Chords are good to double up on other tracks (using the copy techniques) then change the program number, pan and effect settings.
• Soft chord sounds can work well behind the rest of the track. Try playing your chords through the string ensemble sound (no.49), or the soft pad sound (no.90)

Programming Guitar patterns
Some hints on programming guitar lines:

• This is one of the toughest things to do in a sequencer, as a keyboard does not play in a guitar style well. It is extremely difficult to make a keyboard play like a guitar.
• Also, soundcards and other sound devices often don’t have very convincing guitar sounds which can make the problem even greater.
• If you must sequence a guitar line, you will need to take into account how the strings are laid out on a guitar and play the notes of the chord in the order they appear on the guitar.
• Guitar chord notes are played together, but because of the strum technique, the have milliseconds between each note! You may need to turn off the Snap function and drag each
   note in the chord away from the others by a tiny amount.
• Guitar melody lines are simpler, try adding in some pitch bend & modulation (vibrato) using the joystick or wheel on your keyboard to emulate what a guitarist might do.

Programming Melody lines  
Some hints on programming melody lines:

• What ever instrument you use, try to use techniques that a player of the real instrument might use. For example: pitch bend on a trombone or modulation (vibrato) on a flute. These are
   best inputted via the joystick or wheels on your keyboard.
• Stay away from doing anything that the real instrument can’t do, like a pitch bend on a piano!
• Make sure the notes you are playing can actually be played by that instrument. Don’t choose a tuba and then play very high notes!
• Chorus and reverb effects can sound good on melody instruments.
• Make sure they are loud enough to hear when you adjust the Main Volume controllers; the melody is probably the most important part of your sequence.

Some general hints and tips:

• If you have a recording of the original song, listen to it & try to pick out what each part is doing and copy it as best you can.
• If you have the score or even a lead sheet (Buskers book type) follow it as it will save you a long time working out the chord sequence or melody.
• Practice the parts you’re going to play, even if it’s away from the computer.
• Remember the order of events: Record, Fix and Copy as required.
• If you are unsure about your playing, remember you can play each part in a bar at a time. All you have to do is reset the Drop in and out indicator to the next bar, and start from there.
• Program in the drums first (if you’re using them), then the bass line, then chordal parts, then the melodies.
• Remember to Copy & Paste when you can, this saves a lot of time and effort.
• Insert changes in Program number, Pan, Main Volume, tempo etc. throughout the sequence. This displays mastery of the parameters and keeps the listener interested.
• A chord finder has been provided for you in the Reference section to help you see what all major and minor chord looks like on your keyboard. This is especially useful if you only have the chord name (from a Buskers book for example). Free chord finders (displaying more chors) are also available online.

• Use a Marker Track to help you see where all the different sections of your song are. For information on this, see the Marker Track section in the Reference section.