Learn How

May 9, 2017 7:12 AM

Do you want to learn the basics of composing music, but don't have the hardware or software to do it, or don't want to spend time around countless tutorials aimed at a particular DAW or that just tell you what to do without explaining the basics? Ableton has you covered.
posted by lmfsilva (23 comments total)

That's a pretty good tutorial on the basics of pattern-based composition.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:27 AM on May 9, 2017

I went through this last night (as someone who has been doing some music for a couple of years, but really more as a self-taught trial-and-error process without a whole lot of understanding of theory and history) and thought this was really neat.
posted by subversiveasset at 7:29 AM on May 9, 2017

Despite having no experience composing music, it's like I've been waiting my whole life to think my creations are better than anyone else's based on the amount of electronic music I've listened to.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:35 AM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

This looks like heaps-o-fun!
posted by the quidnunc kid at 7:35 AM on May 9, 2017

The use of three repeating variations followed by a new idea is a common composition technique.

Shhhh you're not supposed to tell
posted by uncleozzy at 7:50 AM on May 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is neat, and an amazing piece of marketing for Ableton.
posted by threecheesetrees at 8:05 AM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also a reminder of how much I hate the piano roll for sequencing music.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:25 AM on May 9, 2017

This is neat, and an amazing piece of marketing for Ableton.

Ableton's content marketing strategy has been AAA quality for a few years now. For what is essentially a piece of niche software, they are everywhere in the culture, and have made amazing inroads.
posted by turntraitor at 9:16 AM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

Also a reminder of how much I hate the piano roll for sequencing music.

What do you prefer?
posted by thelonius at 9:29 AM on May 9, 2017

Now, I just wish that they allowed you to have multiple arrangements in a Set (perhaps organised using a tabbed interface, as in spreadsheet software?). It'd make Live much more useful for exploring compositional ideas above the level of individual clips. (Also, other software such as Logic and (IIRC) Cubase has this.)
posted by acb at 9:30 AM on May 9, 2017

The MIT course Developing Musical Structures may be of interest.
posted by Gyan at 9:47 AM on May 9, 2017 [10 favorites]

What do you prefer?

For sequencing drums, something more like a step sequencer where clicks draw velocity instead of just notes. For sequencing anything else, I'd rather play it on a keyboard and fix where necessary. I just find clicking to make music to be a real drag.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:48 AM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

For sequencing drums, something more like a step sequencer where clicks draw velocity instead of just notes

Sorry if you're already aware, but if you hold alt/option while placing a note or with one selected on the piano role dragging the mouse vertically before releasing will adjust velocity.
posted by atoxyl at 11:28 AM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh, yeah, I don't use Ableton, but Logic's got a pretty good step sequence window that works pretty well for me.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:34 AM on May 9, 2017

piano *roll*, I mean, jeez
posted by atoxyl at 12:15 PM on May 9, 2017

This is the best. I guess it's time to throw some money at them.
posted by dominik at 12:20 PM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Well, that was a nice way to lose any productivity at work today.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:54 PM on May 9, 2017

Well, that was a nice way to lose any productivity at work today.

try the dog name app if there's any productivity left
posted by thelonius at 1:20 PM on May 9, 2017

Good for Ableton
posted by rossmeissl at 1:28 PM on May 9, 2017

Now, I just wish that they allowed you to have multiple arrangements in a Set (perhaps organised using a tabbed interface, as in spreadsheet software?). It'd make Live much more useful for exploring compositional ideas above the level of individual clips. (Also, other software such as Logic and (IIRC) Cubase has this.)

That would be useful. It's not quite the same, but a functional approximation of this is to use the rows in the Session view (actually I guess Ableton calls these "scenes") this way, triggering every clip in a single row with the play button for that row in the master track. To avoid duplicating the same clip between rows, you can right-click on an empty cell and click the option to remove the stop button (or press Ctrl/Cmd-E), which means that any currently playing clip in that track won't be stopped when you trigger that row to play. You can also set individual BPM/meter for a row by right clicking on the cell for that row in the master track, there's an option that will change the name of the row in a way that will change the master BPM/meter on trigger. I usually loosely map out sections in a project this way before full-on arranging, it works ok.
posted by invitapriore at 2:41 PM on May 9, 2017

lmfsilva I can't tell you how much enjoyment I've gotten out of this. For a long time I've wanted a simple way of creating music. The only issue now is that I want to purchase Ableton and I can't afford it right now.
posted by Splunge at 4:44 PM on May 10, 2017

If you want to scratch that itch, there's some free alternatives. I've started with Mu.Lab, and the free version should keep you busy for a while. For chiptunes, theres Bosca Ceoil.

Both are simpler versions of the same thing, and less underwhelming than Ableton.
posted by lmfsilva at 5:51 AM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

I find this tutorial rather aggravating. (I am a music theory instructor.) In this tutorial, Ableton gives you some nifty tools for making stuff that sounds familiar enough to be music, but doesn't explain WHY things work as they do; why are some beats stronger sounding than others? What does it mean to subdivide the beat, or syncopate it? What is meter, what meters are available? Why is the "1, 5, 6, 4" progression so common? It doesn't even properly explain what makes chords major or minor, or why chords are inverted (to extend a harmony or create smooth bass motion). It gives the user just enough information to play around in Ableton and do some basic fun things. Which is fine, except the user ends up learning in a really inefficient way, through a LOT of messing around that might make the user really dependent on Ableton, since that's the "playground" they know. It's also frustrating that when they do go into more theoretical explanations, they don't make adequate use of theory terms (using Roman numerals to represent chord function, or even teaching people how to read pop chord symbols).

I'll probably use this as a teaching tool, however; it's in interesting jumping-off point to talk about what people hear in pop music, and how we can use music theory to go beyond what Ableton gives the user here.
posted by daisystomper at 10:07 PM on May 11, 2017