Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Lots of people rag on LMMS and Linux music making in general, because they don’t know JACK. However, you do not need to know JACK to make music. I never use it, but then again I am not musically inclined, I do play the fool at a professional level, so I suppose that counts for something. So if you play instruments and want to connect them to LMMS, let me know and I will see what I can do, but mostly we will be making music with what we have when we download LMMS. This time we will take a different approach, as not all people learn in the same way. This time we will shoot first and ask questions later. So do as I do and we can make our awful cover/mix together. I have decided on something SIMPLE, yet very recognizable. Ray Parker jnr, Ghostbusters. If you don’t know, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe93CLbHjxQ
I am going to skip the drums for now – let us just distil the melody. I want you to keep the melody in your heads, pa-pa-pa paa… Now open LMMS and clear what is there in the song editor. I am going to drag in the “orion string01” and double-click in the very first black block, or right-click > open piano roll. This is where we will make our melody. (You should see it change to a lighter color when you do.) I have no formal music training so I chose C4 for that base buzz (don’t worry, it won’t stay here or even on this instrument, we just want to lay down a foundation). That base buzz will just repeat over and over, so draw it in, copy & paste it in, I don’t care, but plop down about sixteen (16) bars of them. When I use the word “bar”, I am referring to the first sixteen (16) blocks that go up to the double line, horizontally. Half notes and quarter notes please (half notes then will be eight (8) blocks long, and quarter notes, four (4) blocks long. If your note is longer or shorter, grab it by the little white nip you see at the end, and drag it to the correct size. If you click on a note, the icon should change to a hand, and you can move it if it is in the wrong position. See the image, and monkey see, monkey do.
Feel free to hit play at ANY TIME to listen to what you have made. The melody you can copy from my images too, I will give it three (3) bars at a time, as the magazine is not too wide. Copy, copy, copy, for now. (They follow each other horizontally). Block 1: Block 2: Block 3: Block 4: And that is it! Now trim the base buzz down to twelve bars as well. We will make the file available for download if you don’t come right, but I highly recommend you draw the notes yourself. Hit play again. Can you hear the Ghostbusters tune?
This is how *I make a tune, you may work differently. I am making this tutorial for people who do not have fancy keyboards and MIDI instruments. You should be able to do everything I do with only Ubuntu OS and LMMS. Who knows, you may be the next Italo-disco remix king/queen. Even if this sounds like a tune, the fun part is messing with it. We want to take it apart and see what is inside, then put it back together as something that is the same – but different. That is how a remix is born. Remember I told you to keep the melody in your head? Sing it as you play yours. Does it sound right? Then great! If it does not, change it. Remember to save your work often. Ready to take it apart? Next issue, we will start deconstructing and rebuilding and adding to make something of our own.
Agree or disagree? Let us know on: misc@fullcirclemagazine.org Did you jump ahead and do your own thing? Why not send it to us for a mention? We would love to hear from you or hear your tunes. I am using LMMS version 1.13, but anything above version 0.99 will do. When you are done, it should look something like this: