Note Examples Library — Basslines, Chords & Melodies by Genre
73 original MIDI examples drawn as piano rolls — sub lines, skanks, wobble rhythms, grime riffs, 2-step bass, dub-techno voicings, TD-3 acid, m9 progressions, 808 glides, reese lines, log drums, psy KBBB — with key, BPM, which rack to load and why each one works.
Sound design pages tell you how to build the instrument; this page gives you something to play on it. Every example below is an original pattern written for this site (not a transcription), drawn as a piano roll in Live's naming (C3 = middle C = MIDI 60). Each comes with key, tempo, the rack or sound page to load, the reason it works (rhythm, intervals, tension, voice leading) and one variation to push it somewhere new. Treat them as starting cells: enter one, loop it, then mangle it with Live 12's MIDI Transformations until it is yours. Octave sanity check before you start: in Live's naming E0 = 41.2 Hz, F0 = 43.7 Hz, G0 = 49 Hz, A0 = 55 Hz, C1 = 65.4 Hz, F1 = 87.3 Hz, so a "sub line" lives in octave 0 and a mid bass in octaves 1–2 (full table on Note to Hz).
How to read & enter these
Grid. One cell = one 1/16 note, 16 cells per bar, bar numbers on top. Steps that are fractions (2.67, 5.33…) are triplets: switch the clip grid to triplet with Cmd+4 (Ctrl+4 on Windows) before drawing them.
Flags. Outlined = accent (velocity 110–127). Faded = ghost (velocity 25–50). A tail on the right = slide/legato: let the note overlap the next one and run the synth in mono with Glide (Operator Glide, Drift Glide + Legato, Analog Glide/Legato) — on an 808 that is the pitch bend, on a TD-3 via External Instrument the overlapping notes become a slide. Blue/green = second/third voice (chord layer, call-and-response, bass under chords).
Entering a pattern in a Live 12 clip
- Double-click an empty clip slot (or Cmd+Shift+M in Arrangement) to create a MIDI clip; set Loop Length in the Clip view to the bars shown (2, 4 or 8).
- Turn on Scale mode in the clip (Live 12): pick the root and scale listed in each example’s Key line. The piano roll highlights in-scale rows and Fold (F) can fold to the scale only, so you can draw a phrygian line without ever hitting a wrong row. Scale-aware devices (Arpeggiator, Chord, Pitch, Random, the MIDI Tools) follow the clip scale automatically.
- Press B for Draw mode, draw at 1/16 grid (Cmd+1/Cmd+2 narrow/widen the grid). Drag the right edge for length. Alt-drag vertically in the velocity lane to set accents and ghosts.
- For the bass examples, use Fold to collapse the editor to the 4–6 rows actually used; it is much faster to tweak rhythm that way.
- Transpose any example with the clip’s Transpose control or select all + Shift+↑/↓ (octave). Keep the scale mode on and Live keeps the notes in key.
MIDI Tools to vary every example
| Tool (Clip view → Transform) | Use on these examples |
|---|---|
| Ornament | Adds flams and grace notes before selected notes — instant grime/riddim stutter, or a grace note sliding into an 808 hit. |
| Strum | Offsets chord notes in time low→high or high→low with a tension curve. Use on every chord example (dub techno, deep house, shoegaze) to stop block chords sounding programmed. |
| Time Warp | Speeds up / slows down timing across the selection with breakpoints — turns a straight acid line into a dragging, rushing one, or makes trap hat-style accelerations on melodic notes. |
| Recombine | Shuffles or rotates pitches, lengths or velocities among the selected notes while keeping the rhythm (or vice versa). Rotate pitches on a TD-3 pattern to get 15 more patterns that still feel related. |
| Connect / Glissando | Fill gaps with passing notes (Connect) or chromatic/scale runs (Glissando) — good for walking bass and drill slides. |
| Velocity Shaper / Quantize | Draw an accent contour across a bar; partial-quantize human-played versions toward these grids. |
More on generators and transformations: MIDI tools and the MIDI generator rack. Scales and tuning: tuning, scales & MPE.
Deep dubstep
Halftime at 140 BPM (snare on step 8 of each bar). The sub carries the melody, so phrasing, silence and the phrygian ♭2 do all the work. Load a pure sine sub with a mid layer only where noted. Genre page: deep dubstep.
F phrygian sub line with ♭2 rub
The first bar states the root, steps out of the way of the snare (steps 7–9 are empty except a ghost), then leans on Gb0 — one semitone above the root — which at 46 Hz is felt as a slow beating against the kick tail and room. Resolving that ♭2 down to F is the whole phrygian drama in two notes. The C1 slide at the end is a perfect fifth above the root, the most stable jump you can make in the sub register before it falls home.
Variation: Replace the Gb0 with Ab0 for a sadder, less threatening minor-3rd version, or put an Ornament grace note (C1) before the bar-2 downbeat.
E phrygian "pressure" sub, long notes
Long sustained subs at 41 Hz are about pressure, not melody: each bar has a single event (♭2 F0, minor 3rd G0, ♭7 D0, fifth B0) so the ear tracks the change in body weight rather than a tune. The D0 at 36.7 Hz dips below most club systems’ comfort zone on purpose — it reads as the floor dropping before the E returns. The closing octave slide re-energises the loop without adding notes.
Variation: Double the length to 8 bars and replace bar 7 with the F0–E0 ♭2 move from the previous example; automate the sub’s Saturator drive so only bar 8 gets harmonics.
Offbeat skank chords (Fm → G♭)
Dub skanks sit on the off-beat of the slow (70 BPM) feel — steps 4 and 12 — so they answer the kick and snare instead of competing. Moving the whole triad up a semitone (Fm → G♭) is parallel planing straight out of dub reggae; in F phrygian that G♭ major chord is the ♭II, the darkest possible neighbour. Keep them short (1/8) and let a dub delay throw the tail.
Variation: Voice the triads an octave higher, drop the third (power-chord skank: F2+C3), and feed only the bar-2 stab into a send with 3/16 delay at 70% feedback.
Siren melody with semitone slides
Sirens work because every move is a semitone glide (C→D♭, F→G♭), the most unstable interval there is, always returning to where it started. The first phrase sits on the fifth so it floats above the sub; the second on the root an octave up so it lands with authority. Two bars of silence in between let the delay become the response.
Variation: Run it through Auto Shift with vibrato at 5–6 Hz, or invert it (C4 bending down to B♭3) for a call that sounds like it is falling instead of rising.
Sub + mid call and response
Separating the sub and the mid layer in time instead of frequency is the cleanest way to keep a deep dubstep mix weighty: the sub owns the downbeats, the mid answers in the gaps two octaves up. Because they never overlap, you can saturate the mid hard without it clouding the 40–60 Hz fundamentals. The D♭3 slide in the second answer reuses the ♭6/♭2 colour from the siren example.
Variation: Swap the roles in bars 3–4 (mid on the downbeat, sub answering) to make an 8-bar phrase with a clear turnaround.
Dubstep & riddim
Still halftime 140, but here rhythm is the melody: the notes trigger LFO resets, Roar/Wavetable modulation and envelope retriggers. Keep the sub layer on the same notes, low-passed and clean. Genre page: dubstep.
Riddim one-note stutter
Riddim deliberately removes pitch so the gaps and re-triggers become the riff: every note-on restarts the wobble LFO (Wavetable LFO with Retrigger, or Auto Filter LFO via MIDI trigger), so shorter notes = sharper stutters. The pairs of 1/16 notes (12–13, 26–27) are the classic “double-tap” that makes riddim bounce. Leaving the snare slots empty is non-negotiable; the drop hits harder when the bass ducks out by itself.
Variation: Use Recombine to rotate note lengths (not pitches) every 4 bars; the rhythm stays recognisable but the stutter placement moves.
Wobble rhythm map (LFO rates by colour)
Classic dubstep wobble is a rhythm of LFO rates more than of notes: holding a long note at 1/4 then switching to 1/8 or 1/16 triplet creates the “talking” effect. Here the colour tells you which rate is active, so the clip doubles as a modulation score. Pitch moves stay on strong pentatonic intervals (♭7, 5th, ♭3) so the timbral movement is never confused by harmonic tension.
Variation: Put three rate settings on Macro Variations of the Wobble Bass Rack and switch variations with clip envelopes instead of separate chains.
Triplet sub (1/8T against halftime)
Twelve 1/8-triplets per two bars rub against the straight 1/16 hats, giving that rolling, lopsided weight riddim and deep 140 love. Omitting the triplet that would collide with the snare (step 8 and 24) makes the sub swing around the backbeat instead of through it. Using triplets in the sub rather than the mid keeps the groove felt rather than heard.
Variation: Draw it on the 1/8T grid (Cmd+4), then apply Time Warp with a slight slow-down into bar 2 for a dragging, drunk feel.
Moving-pitch wobble line
Older “bro” and melodic dubstep let the wobble carry a tune: long notes for slow LFO rates, short accented notes for fills. The ♭6 (D♭2) is the emotional peak because it resolves down a semitone to C2 — the same gravity as the deep-dubstep siren, but in the mid register where saturation makes it audible on phones.
Variation: Transpose bars 3–4 down a minor third (to D minor colour) for a build section, or double every note an octave up in a second chain with a formant wavetable.
Grime
138–142 BPM, 8-bar phrases for MCs. Square-wave riffs, sharp attacks, chromatic and harmonic-minor colour, everything quantised hard. Load Operator with square waves or Analog with a pulse. Genre page: grime.
8-bar square-wave riff (harmonic minor)
Every bar uses the 3+3+2 dotted-eighth placement (steps 0, 3, 6) then three straight eighths, the push-pull that grime MCs ride. Bars 1–2 state, 3–4 answer higher (A♭–G), 5–6 repeat, 7–8 climb to C4 and fall to the B natural, which pulls hard back to C on the loop: that major-7th leading tone is what makes harmonic minor sound eerie rather than sad. Eight bars matches a verse sub-section, so the riff points the MC to the bar count.
Variation: Run Recombine on bars 5–6 only (rotate pitches by one) so the repeat is related but not identical; or double the riff with a detuned square a fifth up for the eski-string sound.
Eskibeat icy riff (octaves + ♭2)
Eskibeat is cold because it is sparse: notes are 1/16 long, there is no sustain, and the line jumps octaves instead of moving by step, so there is no warmth from legato. The G natural against F# (♭2) is a semitone clash that, at this register and with a bright pulse wave, reads as ice rather than menace. Bar 4 descends to the root via A3 and G3 — a minimal cadence.
Variation: Change the pulse width per note with velocity → Osc shape in Analog/Drift so accented notes sound thinner and sharper.
Grime sub with bends
Grime subs are short and punchy where dubstep subs sustain: notes stop before the next hit, and the slides are fast (60–90 ms) so they feel like a bend, not a portamento. Sliding up a minor third (C→E♭) is the default grime “wub”; the G0→C1 fourth leads the second bar in like a pickup.
Variation: Add a Pitch envelope (+12 st, 30 ms decay) to every note in Operator for a gunshot-style attack on each hit.
Eski stab chords with major V
Same 3-3-2 rhythm as the riff, but in chords. A♭ major is the ♭VI — it shares two notes with C minor so it sounds like a shadow, not a new place. The final G major chord borrows B natural from harmonic minor, turning the loop into a dominant-to-tonic cadence that keeps repeating without ever feeling resolved.
Variation: Strum the stabs by 5–10 ms (Strum tool) and stack an octave-up copy at −12 dB through Redux for 8-bit bite.
UK garage
130–134 BPM with heavy 16th swing (58–64%). The bass syncopates around a 2-step kick (step 0 and step 10), the chords are organ or Rhodes m7/m9 stabs. Apply swing via the Groove Pool, not by moving notes. Genre page: UK garage.
2-step bass with octave pops
The bass lands with the kick on step 0, pops the octave as a swung ghost (step 3) and then anticipates the second kick: that skip is what makes 2-step feel like it is stepping over beat 3. Moving through B♭–C and F–D keeps the line inside the G-minor triad plus passing tones, so it supports the vocal chops rather than fighting them.
Variation: Apply the Groove Pool “Swing 16-62” and set the ghost octaves’ velocity to 40 so they only open the filter slightly.
Organ m7 stabs with voice leading
Gm7 to Cm7 (i to iv) is the most common UKG move, and voicing it with two common tones (G, B♭) means only two fingers move down a step — the organ sounds like it breathes rather than jumps. The stab rhythm avoids the downbeat entirely so it sits between kick and bass.
Variation: Add a ninth on top (A3 in Gm9, D3→D4 in Cm9) and push the Electric/organ through Chorus-Ensemble at 25% for the late-90s club sound.
m9 progression with rootless voicings
Rootless voicings (leave the root to the bass) are how garage and house keyboardists get jazzy chords without mud: the upper structure B♭–D–F–A stays almost fixed and the bass changes the meaning. Over G it is Gm9, over E♭ it becomes E♭maj9, over C (with E♭) Cm9, over F an F add9 that leads back to G. Smallest possible moves = smooth, expensive-sounding harmony.
Variation: Keep the chords and replace the bass with the 2-step bass above, transposed per bar; or run Recombine on velocities only for a more human comp.
Speed-garage octave bass
Octave alternation doubles the rhythmic density without adding harmonic information, which is why speed garage and bassline house use it: the low note gives weight, the high note gives the filter something to chew on. The root motion climbs to D (the fifth) and falls back, a simple arch the ear follows even through heavy distortion.
Variation: Put a 4-pole low-pass on the high octaves only (Instrument Rack with key zones above C2) and automate it open over 8 bars.
Deep techno
124–130 BPM, four-on-the-floor. Harmony is minimal; groove comes from placement, ghost velocities and long filter/delay movement. Many of these are one note on purpose. Genre page: deep techno.
Hypnotic one-note bass with ghosts
With only one pitch, velocity is the melody: map velocity to filter cutoff (Analog/Drift Vel → Filter, 20–40%) so the ghosts are dull thumps and the accents open up. The eighths sit exactly between the kicks, so you can sidechain lightly or not at all. Bar 2 drops the step-10 accent and adds a 16th pickup at the end, a micro-change that keeps 8-minute loops alive.
Variation: Use the Velocity Shaper to draw a slow arch across 4 bars, or Recombine velocities (not pitches) every 16 bars.
Rolling 16th bass (KBBB, techno)
Filling the three 16ths after each kick makes the low end continuous while leaving the kick its own slot — the same trick as psytrance, but slower and with ghost-quiet first/last 16ths so it rolls instead of gallops. The tiny turnaround (A0–C1–D2) on the very last beat is enough to signal the loop restart.
Variation: Shorten the decay to 60 ms and raise the accent velocity to 127 with velocity→decay so accented notes ring longer.
Minor-7 dub stab, open voicing
Close m7 voicings (D–F–A–C) put a minor third at the bottom where it turns muddy through filters and delays. Spreading it as root, fifth, ♭7, ♭3 keeps the low end open (an empty fifth) and puts the colour notes in the 130–180 Hz octave where the low-pass filter sweep is most audible. Ghost stabs at low velocity simulate delay repeats so the actual Echo can stay subtle.
Variation: Move the top F3 to E3 every 4th bar (Dm9 colour, no third on top) to create tension without changing the bass.
Stab with voicing variation (m7 → m9 → m11)
Changing only the inner voices — adding E (9th) in bar 2, swapping A for G (11th) in bar 4 — gives harmonic motion with zero root movement, perfect for hypnotic techno where a bass change would break the trance. The bar-4 voicing D–G–C–F is stacked fourths (quartal), more open and ambiguous, so it works as a tension bar before the loop.
Variation: Put each voicing on a Macro Variation of a Chord device instead of writing it out, then switch variations live from Push.
Polymetric 3/16 sequence
A 3-step cell against a 16-step bar shifts by one 16th each bar (16 mod 3 = 1), so the accent crawls across the grid and the ear keeps re-hearing the same two notes as a new pattern. The bar anchor (blue) gives a fixed reference so the displacement is audible. Set the clip loop to 3 steps for the pluck and 1 bar for the anchor in separate clips to get infinite rotation.
Variation: Try a 5-step or 7-step loop instead (the cell takes 5 or 7 bars to realign), or modulate the filter with an LFO synced to 3/16.
5/16 against 3/16 two-voice polymeter
Two odd-length cycles against the 4/4 kick create a third, emergent rhythm where they coincide (every 15 steps). Because both voices are just a fifth/minor-third apart (D–A–C) there is no harmonic clash, only rhythmic interference — the hallmark of hypnotic, Basic-Channel-descended techno. Velocity alternation in the blue voice makes its 3-cycle sound like 6.
Variation: Program it with Euclidean Sequencer or two Arpeggiator chains at 1/16 with clip loops of 5 and 3 steps, then route both through the same Echo for smeared overlaps.
Dub techno
118–124 BPM. One or two chords per track, endlessly filtered and delayed. The voicing is the sound — these six are the palette, then patterns that use them. Load the Dub Chord Rack (Analog/Drift → Auto Filter → Echo/Chorus). Genre page: dub techno.
Six dub-techno voicings on C
1 close Cm7 is the default and the muddiest. 2 open Cm7 (C–G–B♭–E♭) is the workhorse: empty fifth at the bottom, colour on top. 3 Cm9 with D3 and E♭3 a semitone apart gives the shimmering beating that chorus and delay amplify — the classic “chord that never ends”. 4 Csus2 has no third, so it is neither major nor minor: ideal when the bass moves underneath. 5 quartal Cm11 (C–F–B♭–E♭, all fourths) is ambiguous and modern. 6 Cm9 in fifths (C–G–D–B♭–E♭) spans over two octaves for huge pads at low filter settings.
Variation: Put all six on Macro Variations of one rack and step through them on Push while the Echo feedback holds the tail — the change happens inside the delay wash.
Classic offbeat stab (open Cm7)
The MIDI is deliberately bare: one strong off-beat stab per half bar, a quieter one, a ghost. In dub techno the delay and the filter are the composition, so the stab must be short enough that its repeats are heard as separate events. Placing the second bar’s mid stab on step 25 (a 16th earlier than bar 1’s step 10) shifts the delay pattern, giving 2-bar variation for free.
Variation: Automate Auto Filter cutoff 300 Hz → 2.5 kHz over 32 bars and the stab velocity in parallel; brighter and louder together reads as “approaching”.
Two-chord movement Cm9 → Fm9
i → iv is the most common dub-techno change because the upper voicing barely moves: E♭ and G are common tones, and the other two voices step down a whole tone. The ear hears the bass drop a fifth (C→F) and the chord darken, but the filtered texture stays continuous. Two bars per chord is the minimum; 8 or 16 is more typical.
Variation: Lengthen to 16 bars and change only on bar 13, so the movement becomes an event rather than a progression.
Quartal m11 drift with ghost echoes
Stacks of perfect fourths have no clear root, so moving them diatonically (C–F–B♭–E♭ → D–G–C–F → G–C–F–B♭) feels like the harmony is drifting rather than progressing — exactly the weightless quality of dub techno. The ghost repeats spaced 3 steps apart are written-in dotted-eighth echoes, so a real delay on top creates a dense polyrhythmic tail.
Variation: Use the Shape or Stacks generator in Live 12 to generate quartal stacks, then hand-edit; or replace one stack per 4 bars with the Cm9 cluster voicing.
Acid (TD-3 / 303)
125–135 BPM. Three 16-step patterns, each shown twice with a variation in the second bar. Outlined = accent, tail = slide. On a TD-3 via External Instrument, high velocity triggers accent and overlapping notes slide; in Live use the Acid Rack (mono, Glide, velocity→filter env amount). Genre page: acid 303.
Pattern 1: classic A minor bounce
Acid works when the root keeps returning (here 8 of 16 steps are A1) so that the slides, accents and octave jumps read as excursions from home. Accents on steps 6 and 11 — not on the beat — make the filter envelope bark against the kick instead of with it. Slides go into the high notes (A2, E2), so the pitch sweep and the filter rise happen together.
Variation: Keep the pitches, run Recombine on accents only; or let a Random MIDI effect (scale-aware, 10% chance, ±12) nudge single notes up an octave.
Pattern 2: phrygian roller
The ♭2 neighbour (F→E) slid at 303 speed sounds like the filter is snarling. Almost no rests means a continuous rolling texture that pairs with sparse techno drums. The bar-2 ending inverts the slide direction (F2 down to E2, then F1 into the loop) so the loop seam is itself a slide — the line never sounds like it restarts.
Variation: Transpose the clip down a semitone every 16 bars while keeping scale mode off — phrygian-on-phrygian shifts are classic acid tension builders.
Pattern 3: octave jumper + transpose
Octave jumps with a slide on the upper note give the yo-yo “squelch” that makes this pattern feel faster than it is. Transposing the whole pattern up a perfect fourth for bar 2 is how acid tracks get chord changes without a second pattern; because the motif is built from root, ♭3, 4, 5 and ♭7, the transposed version (F, A♭, B♭, C, E♭) stays inside C minor.
Variation: Try the transposition sequence 0, +5, 0, −2 over 4 bars, or swap the transposition for a 3-bar loop against a 4-bar drum loop.
Deep house
118–124 BPM with 54–60% swing. m9 chords, rootless voicings and a bass that walks between them. Use Electric (Rhodes) or a soft Analog pad, and a round sub or upright-style bass. Genre page: deep house.
m9 progression with shared upper voicing
The trick is that the upper voicing barely moves: G–B–C–E → F–A–C–E → (same) → G–B–D–E. Over D, F–A–C–E is Dm9; over F, the same four notes become Fmaj7. The bass therefore creates the harmonic movement and the chords stay a warm, continuous bed. E sits on top through all four chords as a pedal, the “deep” in deep house.
Variation: Strum the chords (Strum tool, 20–30 ms, low→high) and use Expressive Chords (12.2) or a Chord device with velocity spread for a played feel.
Walking bass with chromatic approach
Each bar outlines its chord (A–E–G, D–A–C–F) then leaves the diatonic scale for one note a semitone below the next root: C♯→D and G♯→A. Chromatic approach tones create a tiny pull that makes the chord change feel inevitable, which is why jazz bassists use them. Ghost-velocity notes on the swung 16ths keep it from sounding like a sequencer.
Variation: Use Connect (Live 12) between the bar roots to generate alternative passing notes, then keep only the chromatic ones.
Syncopated m9 stab
Placing every stab on a 16th that is not a kick (3, 6, 11, 14) creates the syncopated, “answering” comp of classic deep house organ and Rhodes stabs. Swing pushes steps 3, 11 and 14 later, so the groove setting changes how lazy the chords feel. Rootless voicings keep them out of the bass’s way.
Variation: Bounce to audio, slice to a Simpler in Slice mode and re-trigger the stabs from pads — the M1-organ way.
Dub house bass with 5ths
Root-and-fifth basslines are rock-solid harmonically, so they work under any of the m9 voicings above. The ghost on the swung 16th (step 3, 19) adds bounce without pitch, and the C2→D2 slide pushes into bar 2 like a bass player’s hammer-on.
Variation: Sidechain the bass lightly (2–3 dB) from the kick and add a ghost kick-length dip via Envelope Follower on the chords for full house pump.
8-bar dorian progression with bass
B♭9 (the IV chord with a major third, D natural) is what makes this dorian rather than plain minor — it brightens the second phrase without leaving the key, the classic Chicago/Detroit deep-house lift. Voice leading: A♭–C–E♭–G → A♭–C–D–F → G–B♭–D–F → G–B♭–C–E♭ → back, each step a second at most. The bass plays a dotted pattern with a ghost so the chords can stay rhythmic but soft.
Variation: Replace bars 7–8 with Cm7 → G7 (borrowed B natural) for a stronger loop turnaround.
Trap & drill
Trap 130–150 BPM (felt halftime), drill 140–146. The 808 is both kick and bass, so its glides are melodic. Melodies lean on harmonic minor and diminished colour. Load an 808 with Glide (Operator Glide or Drum Sampler with pitch envelope) and set the instrument to mono. Genre page: trap · drill.
808 glides (trap)
Trap 808s glide up by minor thirds and fifths because those intervals sound like a confident bend rather than a wrong note. The long root notes on the downbeats act as the kick sustain; the glides happen in the second half of each bar, after the snare, so the low end moves while the drums rest. The final G1 slide pops up a fifth for a turnaround.
Variation: Add Ornament grace notes a 1/32 before each downbeat 808 for a stuttered start, or Saturator (Analog Clip, +8 dB) so the glides are audible on phones.
Drill sliding 808 pattern
Drill 808s live on the off-grid placements 0–3–5 (dotted-eighth then 1/8), with every second hit sliding — octave leaps (D1→D2) for energy, semitone slides (A0→B♭0, F1→E1) for menace. The C♯ at the end of bars 2 and 4 is harmonic minor’s leading tone; sliding from it into D on the loop gives drill its sinister, cinematic pull. Roots move to B♭ and A in bars 3–4: ♭VI to V, the most dramatic cadence in minor.
Variation: Apply Time Warp to drag the slide notes slightly late, or swap the octave slide in bar 2 for a fifth (D1→A1).
Dark piano melody (harmonic minor)
The melody descends by step from G to the B natural, then resolves up to C: the B (major 7th) is the single note that makes harmonic minor sound “dark classical”. The A♭–G semitone at the start and the A♭–G movement in the left hand (bar 3–4) reuse the same ♭6–5 gravity at two levels. Left hand moves i – ♭VI – V, so the last bar sits on G under a melody that circles B: an unresolved dominant that drives the loop.
Variation: Double the right hand an octave up with a bell (Operator, ratio 3.5) at −12 dB, or let Arpeggiator break the left-hand octaves into 1/8 triplets.
Bell/pluck melody in F harmonic minor
Opening on a broken F-minor triad then dropping to E natural (the leading tone, a semitone below the root) gives an instant “horror music box” feel. D♭→C is the ♭6→5 sigh that appears in every harmonic-minor trap melody, and the second bar walks down the scale to E again so the loop resolves twice.
Variation: Recombine pitches with “rotate” to get three more related melodies, or play it at 1/8 triplets (Time Warp or redraw on the triplet grid) for a Memphis feel.
Drill string counter-melody (two voices)
Parallel thirds in harmonic minor give the cinematic string sound drill borrows from film scores. The upper line hangs on A (the fifth) with a B♭ neighbour — the same ♭6–5 sigh as the piano example — then descends to the leading tone C♯ and resolves to D. Long note values contrast with the busy 808 and hats.
Variation: Layer under the sliding 808 (same key, same 4 bars), or replace the lower voice with a pizzicato version at 1/8 notes.
Drum & bass / liquid
170–176 BPM. Reese lines are long and slow-moving (the movement is in the detune/filter); liquid harmony uses maj7/maj9 and add9 chords inside a minor key. Genre page: drum & bass.
Reese bass line (long notes)
A reese is two or more detuned saws; the phasing between them is the movement, so the line must leave long notes for that movement to be heard. Four bars, five pitch areas: F – (E♭ slide) – F – A♭ – D♭ (the ♭6, darkest) – C – F. The slides add a pitch “lurch” that lets the reese talk at structural points only.
Variation: Automate the detune amount per note (velocity → detune in Wavetable’s matrix), so accented notes phase faster.
Rolling reese with movement
For rollers the reese gets rhythmic: the 3-3 placements form a dotted-eighth push, and the ghost octave on step 6 is a tiny filter blip between them. The second bar climbs to C2 and walks down B♭–A♭–G, sliding back into F at the loop: a descending tetrachord that gives the line forward motion while the drums roll.
Variation: Use the line twice: clean sine sub (same MIDI, low-passed at 90 Hz) and distorted reese above 150 Hz in an Instrument Rack — see the Reese Rack.
Liquid chords: Fm9 – D♭maj9 – E♭(add9) – Cm7
Liquid DnB sounds euphoric-yet-sad because it sits in a minor key but leans on the major chords inside it (D♭maj9 = ♭VI, E♭add9 = ♭VII). Their major 7ths and 9ths add brightness without leaving the key. The voicing keeps E♭3 sustained through all four chords as a common tone, a hidden pedal that glues the progression together at 174 BPM where chord changes fly past.
Variation: Add Abmaj7 (A♭–C–E♭–G) as a fifth chord in an 8-bar version, or strum each chord 15 ms with Strum and add Chorus-Ensemble.
Liquid sub following the roots
The sub plays the root of each liquid chord on the two kick positions and uses one passing note per bar to slide to the next root. The line hops between octave 0 and 1 to keep every fundamental in the 40–80 Hz window (F0 = 43.7 Hz, D♭1 = 69.3 Hz, E♭1 = 77.8 Hz, C1 = 65.4 Hz) rather than following the chord roots up and down blindly.
Variation: Sidechain from the kick only (not the snare) by 3–5 dB with a fast release, so the sub stays continuous under the breaks.
Trip-hop
80–95 BPM, swung or drunk. Minor keys with harmonic-minor dominants, cinematic strings, Rhodes and a fat, slow bass. Quantise loosely (Quantize tool at 50–70%). Genre page: trip-hop & downtempo.
Dark minor bass
A slow bass that lingers on the root, steps B♭–A–G as a sigh, then drops to E♭ (♭VI) — the darkest bass move in minor — before D (V) and a chromatic F–F♯ climb back to G. The ghost 16ths at steps 7 and 23 are the “drunk” pickup that make it sit behind the beat. Layer a sine an octave below for weight.
Variation: Play it in by hand and use Quantize at 50% strength; or set Groove Pool “MPC 16 Swing-66” with 20% random for the 90s sampler feel.
String line in two voices
Two voices moving mostly in parallel thirds with one suspension (E♭ over C, then resolving to D over B♭) give the brooding, cinematic string sound. The upper voice descends a full fifth over four bars, which the ear hears as gradual sinking. Ending the lower voice on F♯ creates a major-third interval with A — a dominant colour that demands G.
Variation: Layer the same MIDI with a mellotron-style sampled string through Vinyl Distortion and Redux at 22 kHz for the sampled-record sound.
Rhodes chords: Gm9 – E♭maj9 – Cm9 – D7♭9
Gm9 → E♭maj9 keeps B♭–D–F in place (only A→G moves), Cm9 drops F to E♭, then D7♭9 bends every voice by a semitone or tone (B♭→A, D→C, G→F♯). The D7♭9’s upper notes A–C–E♭–F♯ form a diminished-7th chord, the most unstable sound in tonal music, and it resolves to Gm9 by half steps — maximum tension released with minimum movement.
Variation: Swap D7♭9 for D7♯9 (F natural on top of F♯ — legal in jazz) for a grittier blues colour, or let Strum spread each chord 40 ms.
Chromatic lament bass + pedal
The chromatic descending bass (“lament bass”) is centuries old and still the fastest way to sound tragic: each step down a semitone reharmonises the D pedal above it — D over G is a fifth, over F♯ a major third, over F a major sixth, over E a minor seventh, over E♭ a major seventh. One held note, five moods.
Variation: Add a third voice on Hybrid Reverb’s Shimmer algorithm doubling the pedal an octave up, and let the bass resolve to D1 in bar 5.
Ambient
Tempo nominal (60–80 BPM grid) — notes are long and overlap. Voice-leading and staggered entries are the composition. Load the Pad Rack, a drone patch or Granulator III fed by a pad. Genre page: ambient.
Drone + slow cluster chords
An open fifth (D–A) is the most neutral drone: no third, so the clusters above define major or minor colour. Clusters with seconds (D–E, F–G, C–D) create slow beating in a reverb that sounds like movement without any rhythm. Staggered entries (bottom note first) let each cluster bloom in instead of starting as a block.
Variation: Feed the clusters into Granulator III (Grain Size 200–400 ms, Spray 30%) and keep only the dry drone; or detune the drone a few cents via Live 12 tuning for slow phasing.
Voice-leading pad progression
Good ambient harmony is mostly common tones: C4 sustains through all four chords and D4 through the last three, so the progression feels like light changing rather than chords changing. Only one or two voices move per change, each by a step. The last chord shares all four upper notes with the previous one — only the bass moves, from C to A — a pure reharmonisation that sets up the step back up to Dm9.
Variation: Strum each chord over a full beat (Strum, 300+ ms) and apply Velocity Shaper so the top note is quietest — the chord grows upward.
Cluster bloom over a pedal
Additive entries build a cluster of almost the whole scale (D E F G A C B♭), but because each note arrives alone the ear hears a slowly thickening colour rather than dissonance. The B♭ (♭6, the saddest note in aeolian) enters last and soft, so the climax is a darkening rather than a peak.
Variation: Reverse the clip (Reverse in MIDI Tools) so the cluster thins out note by note — use it as the outro.
Post-punk & darkwave
120–160 BPM, straight 8ths, minor keys. Bass is a melodic lead played high on the neck; synths are cold, short, chorused arps. Genre page: post-punk & darkwave.
Melodic high bass
Playing the bass an octave up (E2–E3, 82–165 Hz) moves it into the range where melody is audible, so a guitar-less arrangement still has a hook — the core post-punk trick. Bars 1–2 arpeggiate the tonic then sink, bar 3 lifts to C (♭VI) and bar 4 walks down the scale to E. Constant 8ths give the motorik drive; the melody is in the contour.
Variation: Add a sub-octave synth bass on E1 playing only whole notes; or chorus the bass (Chorus-Ensemble, Ensemble mode) for the 80s sheen.
Driving 8th-note root bass
Unvarying 8th notes are pure drive: with no rhythmic variation, attention goes to the pitch change and to the drummer. i – ♭VI – ♭VII (E–C–D) is the darkwave/goth cadence — it never touches the dominant, so it climbs back to E without resolution, endlessly.
Variation: Put the high-bass melody above it in the same clip and let Note Length shorten everything to 70% for a punchier pick sound.
Cold synth arp (16ths)
The 5th returns every other note, acting as a drone inside the arp; only the root/3rd/octave positions move. That makes the pattern hypnotic and lets the Am→F change (only one note really changes: E stays, A→F underneath) sound like a shadow passing. Short decay and no velocity variation = cold, machine-like.
Variation: Use Arpeggiator (Up-Down, 1/16, Gate 50%) on held chords instead and modulate its Distance with an LFO for evolving patterns.
Darkwave arp through Dm – B♭ – Gm – A
Keeping the exact arp shape while the chords change makes the harmony the only variable, which is why darkwave arps sound relentless. i – ♭VI – iv – V is the most dramatic minor progression; the C♯ in the final A major chord is the only note outside natural minor and it pulls straight back to D.
Variation: Run the arp through Echo with 1/8D at 40% and a second synth playing the same MIDI an octave down with Note Length at 25%.
Shoegaze & dream pop
80–120 BPM. Open voicings with major 7ths, added 9ths and drone strings; the chords should ring into each other through reverb and fuzz. Genre page: shoegaze & dream pop.
Open maj7/add9 progression
Open voicings spread over two octaves leave space for fuzz and reverb to fill; the major 7ths (C♯ over D, F♯ over G) and added 9ths create gentle seconds that shimmer when distorted. Gmaj7♯11 (C♯ against G) is the lydian colour that makes dream pop float. Asus2 refuses to commit to major or minor before looping to D.
Variation: Strum each chord with Strum at 60 ms low→high, then put it through Roar (Fold) → Hybrid Reverb (Shimmer, 8 s) for the wall of sound.
Five open voicings (guitar-style)
Emaj7 open (E–B–D♯–G♯): the 7th sits a major third below the 3rd, soft and bright. Eadd9 (E–B–F♯–G♯): the 9th and 3rd a whole tone apart, the classic chime. Emaj9 stacks D♯–F♯–G♯ — a three-note cluster that turns to pure shimmer with chorus. Cmaj7 open (C–G–B–E) is the guitar “drop” shape with the 7th in the middle. Aadd9 (A–E–B–C♯–E) is the open-string guitar voicing — 2nd rub between B and C♯ plus a doubled 5th.
Variation: Transpose any shape with scale mode off — these are colour templates, not key-bound.
High pedal + melody over changing chords
A sustained high A (the 5th of D) becomes a different chord tone over every bass: 5th of D, 9th of G, minor 7th of Bm, root of A. The pedal is the “guitar feedback” note of shoegaze; the slow melody under it (F♯–E–D–E) sounds even more fragile by contrast.
Variation: Play the pedal with a bowed physical model (Tension or Meld Reed engine) and slowly detune it with a clip envelope for wow.
EBM
118–130 BPM, 16th-note sequenced bass, rigid and mechanical. Short gate, punchy filter envelope, root plus octave. Load Analog or Drift in mono with a hard saw. Genre page: industrial / noise / EBM.
16th sequenced bass (root–root–octave–root)
Root–root–octave–root per beat is the EBM engine: the octave on the third 16th gives a galloping accent that a filter envelope exaggerates. Six beats of E then a move to G and down a semitone to F (the phrygian ♭2) makes the loop seam a dark half-step resolution back to E.
Variation: Accent only the octaves (velocity → filter env) for the inverse groove, or run the bass through Roar (Hard, Serial) with drive automated per 4 bars.
Gapped EBM sequence with ♭2
Removing single 16ths from a constant stream creates syncopation without any swing — the gaps are the rhythm. The F (♭2) appears as a quick neighbour note, a mechanical shudder rather than a melody. The last half bar climbs E–F–G–E2 and then falls to D1–F1, a little chromatic squeeze into the loop.
Variation: Duplicate the clip, transpose +7 and play it on a second synth with a shorter decay — instant industrial counterpoint.
4-bar transposed EBM sequence
Like acid, EBM gets its harmony by transposing one sequence. The cell uses only root, fifth, fourth and octave — intervals that exist on E, C and D inside E phrygian — so the transposition never produces a wrong note and the bass implies i – ♭VI – ♭VII without any chords. Accents on steps 0 and 8 lock to the kick; the 5th–4th–octave figure at the end of each bar is the turnaround.
Variation: Use the clip’s Transpose with a clip envelope instead of writing out bars 3–4, so the sequence stays editable as one bar.
Afro house & amapiano
Amapiano 110–115 BPM, afro house 120–124. The amapiano log drum is a pitched percussive bass (short sine/triangle with pitch-drop and resonance) whose pattern is the hook. Use Drum Sampler or Operator with a fast pitch envelope. Genre page: afro house & amapiano.
Log drum pattern with pitches
Amapiano log drums are syncopated around a sparse kick and shaker, landing on 16ths 3, 6, 11 and 14 — the off-grid spots that make the groove lope. The pitches outline the F-minor pentatonic shape (F, A♭, B♭, C, E♭) so the log drum can double as the bassline. Ghost hits at low velocity simulate the muted “tok” of a real player.
Variation: Map velocity to pitch-envelope amount in Operator so accented hits drop further — the signature “wobble” of the log drum.
Log drum with slides, 4 bars
Repeating one rhythm while the root moves F → D♭ → E♭ → F turns the log drum into a chord-carrying bassline. Slides (overlap + Glide) at the end of each bar connect the roots, which is what makes modern amapiano log drums sound vocal. The final bar climbs to E♭2 for a fill.
Variation: Copy to a second track an octave up, filter it to a woody 400–900 Hz band and pan it slightly — a call-and-response log drum.
Afro house chords + marimba counter
Am7 → Dm7 keeps A and C as common tones, so the change is just E–G sinking to D–F. The 3-3-4-… stab placement is the tresillo-derived rhythm that makes afro house feel circular. The marimba plays only where chords are silent, building a composite melody that the ear stitches together.
Variation: Apply Ornament (flams) to the marimba and send it to Echo with ping-pong 1/8D for the percussive cascades.
Psytrance
140–148 BPM. The rolling KBBB bass: the kick on each beat, three 16ths of bass after it. Fundamental around 40–50 Hz (F♯0 = 46.2 Hz), very short notes (60–90 ms) so each hit is a pluck. Sidechain is not needed: the kick slot is simply empty. Genre page: psytrance.
KBBB rolling bass
Psy bass fills exactly the space the kick leaves, so kick and bass interlock into one continuous low-frequency engine with no sidechain needed. Accenting the third 16th (before the next kick) pushes the groove forward. The G (♭2) in the end fill is the phrygian signature — psy and acid share it.
Variation: Shift the accent to the first 16th for a heavier, darker roll, or use velocity → filter env amount and Velocity Shaper for per-bar contour.
8-bar rolling bass with root movement
Psy holds one root for long stretches and changes only at phrase boundaries. Moving to A (♭3) then G (♭2) before F♯ is a descending phrygian line spread across bars, which the dancefloor hears as tension building toward the 8-bar reset. Fills on the last beat of bar 4 and bar 8 mark the 4- and 8-bar grid for the DJ.
Variation: Automate filter cutoff over the 8 bars and use the G0 bar as the “break” bar with a slightly longer decay.
Gallop (KxBB) variant with ghosts
Dropping the first 16th after the kick (KxBB) gives more space for a long kick tail and a galloping, less relentless feel — common in progressive psy and darker forest styles. The octave on the last 16th adds a click that cuts through without extra level; ghost hits every other beat keep it from feeling like a different genre.
Variation: Alternate KBBB and KxBB bars (A/B clip follow actions) for a groove that breathes.
Hyperpop & synthwave
Hyperpop 150–180 BPM, major keys, pitched-up and maximal. Synthwave 80–118 BPM, minor/aeolian, 80s arps and octave basses. Load the Lead Rack (supersaw) and a Drift/Analog arp patch. Genre page: hyperpop · synthwave.
Hyperpop lead hook
Hyperpop hooks are bright, short and leap a lot: a descending triad (B–G♯–E) followed by an upward slide to the 6th (C♯5) is pure pop sweetness. The octave leap to E5 and the D♯ (major 7th) underneath give a sugar-rush peak; all in E major pentatonic plus D♯ for the leading tone.
Variation: Run it through Auto Shift (strong correction, formant +4) and Pitch Hack for the chipmunk/glitch layer, or Note Echo at 1/32 for stutters.
Hyperpop supersaw chords
B3 sits on top of every chord as a pedal — over E it is the 5th, over C♯m the 7th, over A the 9th, over B the root — so the top line never moves and the chords feel like one euphoric block. The 3+3+2 hits pump against a four-on-the-floor sidechain for the hyper-compressed EDM bounce.
Variation: Use Stacks (Live 12) to generate inversions and keep the B pedal manually, or pitch the whole clip up an octave for the final chorus.
Synthwave arp (Am – F – C – G)
i – ♭VI – ♭III – ♭VII is the synthwave progression: minor tonic, then three major chords that keep lifting without ever reaching a dominant. A plain up-arp at 16ths with a dotted-eighth delay generates the trademark cascading counter-rhythm automatically.
Variation: Swap to Arpeggiator on held chords (Up, 1/16, Steps 2, Distance +12) for a two-octave version.
Synthwave octave bass
The octave-8ths bass is pure 80s: the low octave carries weight, the upper one the brightness of the saw, and steady 8ths give a driving pulse under slower drums. Accents on beats 1 and 3 suggest a half-time feel even at 104 BPM.
Variation: Use Note Length at 60% for a staccato version in the verse and 100% for the chorus; sidechain lightly to the kick.
Synthwave lead hook
Each bar’s first note is a tone of that bar’s chord (E over Am, A over F, G over C, B over G), so the melody always sounds harmonised, and the stepwise passing notes in between give it a singable shape. The B3 at bar 4 is the third of G — the brightest moment — then the line climbs back to E for the loop.
Variation: Double it a fifth up with lower level for a 1980s “parallel lead”, or apply Glissando to bar 4 for a guitar-like bend.
Theory cheat sheet
Every example above declares its scale. This table lists the scales and modes used on this page, their step patterns and intervals, and what to listen for. Semitone steps read left to right from the root (1 = half step, 2 = whole step, 3 = augmented second).
| Scale / mode | Steps | Intervals | Signature note | Used here for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phrygian | 1-2-2-2-1-2-2 | 1 ♭2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | ♭2 — a semitone above the root; menace, tension | Deep dubstep sub lines & sirens, eskibeat, acid pattern 2, EBM, psytrance |
| Aeolian (natural minor) | 2-1-2-2-1-2-2 | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 | ♭6 — sad, heavy; ♭VI chord | Liquid DnB, reese lines, deep house m9s, trap 808s, synthwave, ambient, post-punk |
| Dorian | 2-1-2-2-2-1-2 | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7 | Natural 6 — minor but hopeful; IV is major | Deep house lift (B♭9 in F dorian), dub techno quartal planing, polymetric techno |
| Harmonic minor | 2-1-2-2-1-3-1 | 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 7 | Major 7th (leading tone) + the ♭6→7 augmented 2nd; major V chord | Trap/drill melodies & 808s, grime riffs, darkwave arp, trip-hop V7♭9 |
| Minor pentatonic | 3-2-2-3-2 | 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7 | No semitones — nothing can clash | Riddim / wobble rhythms, amapiano log drum shapes |
| Ionian (major) | 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Major 3rd + major 7th | Hyperpop hooks & supersaw chords, shoegaze |
| Lydian | 2-2-2-1-2-2-1 | 1 2 3 ♯4 5 6 7 | ♯4 (♯11) — floating, dreamy | Gmaj7♯11 in the shoegaze progression (IV of D major) |
Chord formulas used
| Chord | Formula | On C | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|---|
| m7 | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 | C E♭ G B♭ | Dub techno, UKG organ, deep techno stabs |
| m9 | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 9 | C E♭ G B♭ D | Deep house, dub techno, liquid, trip-hop Rhodes |
| m11 | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 (9) 11 | C E♭ G B♭ D F | Quartal dub chords (voiced C–F–B♭–E♭) |
| sus2 | 1 2 5 | C D G | Dub techno, shoegaze (no third = ambiguous) |
| maj7 / maj9 | 1 3 5 7 (9) | C E G B (D) | Liquid DnB (♭VI maj9), deep house, shoegaze |
| add9 | 1 3 5 9 | C E G D | Liquid DnB, hyperpop, shoegaze |
| 7♭9 | 1 3 5 ♭7 ♭9 | C E G B♭ D♭ | Trip-hop V chord (D7♭9 in G minor) |
| Quartal stack | 1 4 ♭7 ♭3 (stacked 4ths) | C F B♭ E♭ | Dub techno drift, deep techno tension bar |
Related
- Note to Hz — exact frequencies for every note used here.
- Genre tempo map — BPM and swing per genre.
- MIDI tools and tuning, scales & MPE.
- Chords & stabs, sub bass, acid 303, 808.