Going from E to F is a half step, or semitone, because they are directly next to each other with no note in-between. For example, when looking at a piano or keyboard, going from A to B is considered a step. Steps are the distance between musical notes. Shape allows you to control the amount of melodic steps between notes and the size of leaps. You can repeat this as many times as you like, although normally A + B would suffice. If you need more sections than A and B, create a new Idea Box and consider the A and B sections from the new Idea Box to be C and D. It’s also possible to change the size, in beats, of each section and their octave. You can choose the order of these sections from the Layout dropdown menu, this is a quick way to try out different melodic arrangements without having to drag notes around – which can be time consuming and uninspiring.
You could liken this to call and response. Layout TabĪs you can see from the bottom Idea Layout tab, and also at the top of the canvas, the melody is now split into two sections, A and B.
You can also cycle through many variations by pressing the reload button and change the starting point and overall length of the melody. The preset tab gives you a selection of rhythm and timing presets, this is a great way to get started by finding something close to what you would like, or that fits with the rhythm of your chords and bassline. The Idea Box will automatically populate with notes. To add an Idea Box, select ‘Create Idea’ from the tools menu and then press the + button. The Idea Box is the area in which notes will be generated. You can see, in the image above, there are lots of parameters to help you sculpt your melody which are spread across six tabs: Preset, Layout, Shape, Rhythm, First Note and Lanes.īefore we start learning about each control, we need to add an Idea Box to Captain Melody Epic’s canvas. It can automatically update with the click of a button to offer alternative melodies, lock certain notes you like and then only update the notes in the melody you don’t like.
This includes rhythm, timing, steps, leaps, which notes in the scale are used or omitted, call and response and more!īecause the Idea Tool understands the rules around what makes a melody sound good, it will not only help you to create melodies, but also help you to understand what makes a melody sound great. It breaks down a melody into its component parts, allowing you to consider each aspect of the melody. The Idea Tool presents a structured way to write melodies. If you haven’t already done so, please read the Captain Chords Epic and then Captain Deep Epic how-to guides before this one. Since most of the features in Captain Melody Epic are also present in the other Captain Plugins Epic flavors, the Idea Tool is the feature we’ll focus on in this guide. It connects to Captain Chords Epic to create melodies that fit harmonically with your chord progression and similar to the other Captain Plugins Epic flavors, Captain Melody Epic features sound presets powered by the award-winning PhasePlant.Īdditionally, Captain Melody Epic features a completely unique melody-generation feature called the ‘Idea Tool’. How-to Guide: Captain Melody Epic IntroductionĬaptain Melody Epic is a powerhouse for creating melodies.