1 Source of Inspiration
It happens that, despite your will, no melody wants to be created for the next killer hoo- kline. On the other hand, there are, fortunately, two tried and tested means of achieving this: Arpeggiators and Chords, which almost always lead to inspiring ideas. We use a LaunchKey for this, but every current DAW offers arp and chord plug-ins, as alternatives.
2 Chords
The principle remains the same in both cases. With the Scale Chords, the LaunchKey offers a series of stored chords that are played via the Pads. Instead, we want to fire off chords from the keys, which works with Fixed Chords. Hold the key, press three keys on the keyboard in succession and release Fixed Chords.
3 Fixed Chords
A chord is already stored and you can play or transpose it using the keys. By the way, up to six notes can be stored, but usually three or four are sufficient. Now activate the Arpeggiator, and the chord notes will be played rhythmically. So far, everything is easy. But the Arp Modes make it really exciting.
4 Creative Arpeggiator
Press Shift + the lowest E to switch the Arp to Random mode and Shift + the second C# to make the Arp play over two octaves. Now the melodies become more interesting. Put one on top by playing several keys - that is, several chords - simultaneously. If it gets too wild, switch back to Up mode.
5 Swing, Baby!
With Shift + the second control, we also set Swing to 15% to bring more groove into the game. Depending on the sound, it can be help- ful to change the rhythm of the arp. With Shift + the second F control, we switch to Pattern 2, which adds a little more silence and makes room for delays. This is where the creative process and experimentation begins.
6 Controlled Coincidence
With Mutate and Deviate, the LaunchKey offers random generators for the Arp. Set both to maximum using Shift + Mutate or Shift + Deviate and execute the respective function using Shift + the first F#1 or Shift + the second G# to vary the rhythm or note sequence. This allows you to find great patterns in a short time.
