Online Sequencer Forums

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Reserved for version changelog! ??/??/?? refers to my current progress on the tutorial right now, displayed in approximate percentages. If I need someone's help on a certain section, I will put their name in brackets.

12/12/16 - Thread created.
                  Added Introduction, Understanding The Website, and To-Do List sections.

2/12/17 - Now featured in the top right corner when you initially open up a new sequence on Online Sequencer.
              Gradually adding clickable buttons to easily navigate the forum post.
              Updating a few sections.

6/15/17 - Added Quick start-up guide to Online Sequencer. 




??/??/?? - (Current Progress) - Why am I still working on the introduction. (95%)
85% done filling the information of how all the buttons work on the site, as well as instrument tier lists. (I'm writing quite a lot for things everyone already knows, or can find on their own.)

[Looking for people to fill in certain instrument descriptions. Include the role of the instrument in a sequence, any other notes, and opinions on the quality.]

               (Planned) - Explanation on chords (Majors/Minors, 70%), and additional chord extensions (6/7/9ths, 30%), as well as mentioning HookTheory to discover more chord progressions, and obtain a deeper understanding of them (0%).

I'll eventually add some sequences that will "test" the reader on what chords I'm using, over four difficulty levels. Easy (tests on 1, 3, b3, and 5), Normal (tests on 6, 7, M7, and 9), Hard, (tests on aug/+, dim, sus4, and any other chords with a b/# modifier from 6 through 9), and Lunatic (11 and 13, as well as any b/# modifiers that change the preceding numbers in these chords.)

[Looking for Blobert to help me explain more about progressions, since I only know progression in a "what sounds right" manner, and not a logical manner.]

[If you have any good resources/websites/etc. about chords that other readers can go to for extra practice or reference while sequencing, please send me a message over Chat or PM me so that I can feature it in the tutorial at a later date!]

Examples of what I mean.

List of chord formulas : http://www.smithfowler.org/music/Chord_Formulas.htm
Chord Search : https://www.8notes.com/piano_chord_chart...finder.asp
Ear Training : https://www.8notes.com/school/theory/cho...rainer.asp
More Ear Training : http://tonedear.com/

Advanced sequence editing
MIDI format editing tutorial:
1. Use OS to create a sequence with basic note lengths.
2. Press Crtl. + Shift + J (chrome browser) to pull up console editor, and click on console.
3. In the grid command, these are the more frequent note lengths:

• Normal Note: grid=1/1
  
• 4 note length: grid=1/4
  
• 5 note length: grid=1/5
  

-The larger the second factorial the longer the format sustain.
4. Use the lower grid tab on the editor to switch back to the original note. Example: click on 1/2 and then back to 1/4.
5. It is reccomended that you have your most frequently used note length / grid command copied. My most frequent is grid=1/4.
6. Save the sequence, and download the MIDI file (click the download option on the top bar).
7. Use http://www.solmire.com, my favorite soundfont on that is the first option, so I reccomend not changing that since it's the best you can get.
8. Set the quality all the way up, and add a reverb if you like.
9. Use Virtual DJ 8 to amplify the sound (or any other music editor that can edit the sound and record a new file).
10. Create an account with https://soundcloud.com, they give you a pretty good starter amount of time to use up, I haven't even used all mine up yet. Once that runs out however, use a editing software and upload it as a video to youtube, or even a slide show.

Keep in mind this does NOT change the OS soundfont sustain; your notes will not actually sound like they are being sustained.

I also recommend taking a look at DCSM's note length tutorial.

Guide to Chord Progressions
I find that making music is much easier when you use chord progressions. A chord progression is a set or pattern of chords, used in almost all music. You can find examples everywhere, on OS, in popular songs, and in classical music. One example of a chord progression I used is in https://onlinesequencer.net/366005 . This particular example uses one of the most common examples of a chord progression, the 1-4-5 progression. Chord progressions work on virtually every key. In a 1-4-5 progression, the 1 would be the chord on the first note in the scale (as an example, C major would have the C major chord as the 1). The 4 has the chord with the root note of the 4th note in the scale (F major) and the 5 is the fifth note on the scale (G major). You can put these chords in any order you want. There are two ways of working off of these chord progressions: the chords come first and you make a melody off of that, or the melody comes first and you find a progression that comes from that. There are hundreds of famous progressions, and this is also the reason that some songs (say, Adele's "Someone Like You" and OneRepublic's "Secrets") sound so similar when you first here them.

(I will add more I just don't have time.)

Looking forward to an in-depth tutorial on this! I think you could also mention that you can make notes louder by copy+pasting them on top of one another, or how you can lock some instruments so you don't accidentally delete them.

Also there has been a discord for OS all this time? I did not know about this o_O

(02-17-2017, 05:29 AM)Jay2k Wrote: [ -> ] or how you can lock some instruments so you don't accidentally delete them.

Oh my god I did not know about this. I was wondering what those locks were for.

But yes, we revived the Discord link. We're hoping it will gain some more activity now we have 7000 members on the site.

Lock (or hide) instruments is a valuable feature.

Hi. how can I add a note at the turn of a line? Thank you.

hello! how would i sustain notes and make chords longer? thank you

Watcha wanna do is just lay the notes out to the length you want, and then when you export as midi, the notes will be that length.