heaps of questions!

HarmonyNoob123 · 02-25-2010, 05:16 PM

hey folks

first of all excuse my english, i'm not a native speaker

i would be very happy if you could help me and answer the following questions.

thank you very much!

Chords
Does electronic music (especially electro) have chords? And which instrument usually plays the chords in electronic music? I quess it's a chord-playing synthesizer? If yes, how has the chord-playing synthesizer to sound like (the same as the lead-synth)?
And is it possible do make musik without chords (techno)?

Counterpoint and adding of other instruments to the melody
How can i figure out what the bass is playing according to the lead instrument's melody? -> Is it just about counterpoint and nothing else?
And if I want to add additional instruments (especially e guitar or strings) is it only about counterpoint-theory as well?

i hope you understand my weird questions

otherwise feel free to ask for explanation.

thank you very much!

mr dave · 02-25-2010, 05:50 PM

it really depends on the style, for example the last Boards of Canada disc has a bunch of guitar chords layered in with the synths.

on the chord front what you're talking about is a polyphonic synth. most modern synths support polyphony (the playing of multiple notes / sounds).

the flip side of that is an arpeggiator feature within the synth. where you play a chord but the machine plays the individual notes held down in rapid succession.

it's less about making different machines sound the same (chord synth vs. lead synth) and more about using the different features of a good synth.

not sure if it would really be possible to determine what the bass is playing from the lead melody. it would really depend on the methods the composer used, if they used counterpoint theory then it should work, but if they just improvised and found something that sounded cool then you'll have to learn it by ear.

also, welcome to the site and feel free to ask more questions there are lots of knowledgeable people here

HarmonyNoob123 · 02-26-2010, 03:43 AM

thank you very much mr dave! that was very useful

@other posters: feel free to post as well!

mr dave · 02-26-2010, 01:42 PM

no worries

you might want to try poking around the 'talk instruments' or 'stereo & production equipment' subforums too. there are only maybe a dozen of us on the site who really like talking about gear. i'm actually way more of a guitar guy than synths.

02-25-2010, 05:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
HarmonyNoob123 Groupie Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 2	heaps of questions! hey folks first of all excuse my english, i'm not a native speaker i would be very happy if you could help me and answer the following questions. thank you very much! Chords Does electronic music (especially electro) have chords? And which instrument usually plays the chords in electronic music? I quess it's a chord-playing synthesizer? If yes, how has the chord-playing synthesizer to sound like (the same as the lead-synth)? And is it possible do make musik without chords (techno)? Counterpoint and adding of other instruments to the melody How can i figure out what the bass is playing according to the lead instrument's melody? -> Is it just about counterpoint and nothing else? And if I want to add additional instruments (especially e guitar or strings) is it only about counterpoint-theory as well? i hope you understand my weird questions otherwise feel free to ask for explanation. thank you very much!

02-26-2010, 03:43 AM	#3 (permalink)
HarmonyNoob123 Groupie Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 2	thank you very much mr dave! that was very useful @other posters: feel free to post as well!