How to begin from scratch

[Synthy]

Starting a song from scratch is a big problem for me. I am new to MidiBoxSEQ so i don't know all the possibilities. Is there someone who can tell me? When i see the examples on youtube and vimeo, i am so jealous. Please help me!!

[JRock]

I'm not good at building midibox, cause I haven't built one yet, but I maybe able to help you with your songwriting troubles. A sequencer will not write your song for you.

Different people write songs different ways. I write songs in a multitude of ways.

Sometimes I will hear a hook in my head and hum it a little and the words or harmonies or the changes will just come right along and it's all I can do to get it down while it's raw and fresh and beautiful.

Other times I will not have anything in particular in mind and fiddle around a bit and catch a cool hook, maybe something very simple, that wants me to add harmonies. A trigger to unlock the band in my head.

Other times I will fiddle and fiddle and fiddle and get nothing I'm satisfied with.

If you don't have a song in mind just bump out a few single notes from a chord in a cool rhythm and see if it sparks the fire. Don't force it if it doesn't or you'll find you can waste days, even weeks trying to hammer something mediocre into what you'll find will still be mediocre. Don't feel you have to finish every song. Some are not meant to be.

Some people are very well musically trained and they do it like math. This note goes with that one and that one goes with the other.

Sometimes they have trouble breaking out of the box to write something original.

It's tough to let go of our learned melodies. They're infectious. Sometimes I have to stop listening to music for a couple months to let mine percolate.

Sometimes I'm dried up and I have to listen to other music for a while to recharge.

All music has already been written a thousand times.

Start simple and focus on your music. Don't try to write to match anyone else. Write from your heart. Write a song that you want to listen to. As your writing improves you will find that you need to learn more about the machine to accommodate your musical desires. You may get more ideas as you learn what this machine is capable of.

The important thing is to write and write. write something everyday. If it isn't good don't keep it. Try again. If it is good work on it. Flesh it out. Listen for the harmonies to go along with it. Don't force it.

I hope this is what you were talking about and not something technical. I hope this is not insulting to you. I hope this helps.

[latigid on]

Of course, to do this you need some kind of "tool". Like a hardware or software DAW. But the MB-SEQ seems to be the ultimate tool for creating step sequenced bass, melodies, drums -- anything really!

For the OP, you can buy nearly everything you need for SEQ via SmashTV's webshop: http://avishowtech.com/mbhp/buy.html

You assemble modules likesuchas DIN, DOUT and CORE32 then link them with ribbon cables. You then need encoders, knobs, buttons, LEDs and two LCDs. The hard part IMO is making a panel and user interface which looks pretty and works straight away. It's not impossible, but because the different components have different heights, you need to layout everything on veroboard and add spacers to make it all level.

Fortunately there is a solution which has been very kindly "ready-made" by Wilba. Basically everything needed for the SEQ is mounted on one board, including a full control surface. Also, the shift registers which scan buttons or encoders, or drive LEDs are multiplexed together, meaning you need less of them.

This is certainly the easiest solution and the one I am pursuing after having most of my components for 2 years and not getting the darn thing finished! :whistle:

The only trouble is the PCBs are not widely available. This is due to people having actual lives and not spending all their time helping others on this forum. I have my panel in the post from "julianf" and will jump on a PCB when I see one. One day I'll be done too :)

If there's any other info you need, try searching this forum or uCApps first. You'll learn a lot this way.