Using Chord Creator

In this newsletter, we are going to take a look at using Chord Creator and ready-made Chord Progressions to give us a better understanding of Chords and basslines.

We have a lot of questions from entry level users on “How do I  Make a Beat”? This is not easily answered but this will be a demonstration of how to use Chord Creator to understand how you could make a bass line.

To access Chord Creator double on the track to create a region and then double click on the region to open the content editor and check on Chord Creator.

👉Refer to this 👈 if you have not used Chord Creator before.

Once opened go to the Progressions menu and listen to a few pre-made chord progressions and select the one that you like.

Here I selected Dm-G-F-C and the default Virtual instrument setting is Ambient Keys from Volt Mini which is a piano like sound.

Next let´s drag in a drum loop from the free library, so now we have chords and a drum groove going.

To add a bass line, I will simply select the root note (lowest or first note) of each chord in the  in this example.

The progression is Dm-G- F-C so I will add a bass note under each of these chords on a separate track with a separate instrument playing them.
On track 3 I open a region and add an instrument . I will add a Bass preset from Volt Mini in the Device Chain.

Please note we are not in the Chord Creator but Note editor when writing in a Bass line.

The I draw in a D note for the length of the Dm Chord on track 1.

I also select a Bass pre-set I like in Volt Mini. Make sure you have selected the correct track which will be highlighted.

Next is adding another region and note and continue doing so until the 4-bar pattern is complete.

Now listen back and hear how the chords sound with the bass line. This is a very simplistic way to make a bass line for you who  have never done so before. I hope it helps you understand how chords and basslines work.

You can try different note in the chord as your root  bass note or as “passing notes”.  These are just some very BASSIC  ideas to start.

Lots of new sample Packs in our shop from our friends at Producer Loops this week.

Check them out, once purchased they go to your MY PRODUCTS folder in the studio sound library and you can also download them from your profile page or the Shop.

Lots of informative articles on music making have been uploaded to our BLOG recently so have a look.