How to make a track in Tabletop, part 2

Building off of the beat I made on the 'gridlok', I will continue with the track.  Now I will tap the keyboard icon in the top right corner to open the device menu and drag the 'M8RX' tone matrix to the tabletop (as in the photo above).

The M8RX is a sequencer and sound module.  You can choose a sound patch, type of scale and key, and program tones on a grid.  The vertical axis represents pitch and the horizontal represents time.  Pushing play and tapping buttons on the grid is a good way to start.  

I picked the sound patch 'Rusty Bell'...

And the C pentatonic scale. 

I listened to the beat I made with 'Gridlok' and tapped the buttons on the M8RX grid to light them up and sound the tones.  I overdubbed a new instrumental part over the drum beat.  Then I zoomed out, tapped the mixer, and turned the 'Gridlok' track all the way down, isolating the M8RX.  I zoomed out again and tapped the session button.  I selected share on soundcloud and named the audio file and attached a picture.  

Here is the audio of the tone matrix pattern:  

https://soundcloud.com/zen_oasis/tabletop_ex1_tonematrix

Free Beatmaking Software

The daw's, or digital audio workstations, that I talked about in the last post may be fine for some people, especially those who play instruments and sing. or are working with live musicians.  Some people want to make the tracks on their own and some kinds of music require background instrumentals for vocalists and beats.  This week I will be posting about some beatmaking software and making some example tracks.  I will start by covering Tabletop for iOS, a free beatmaker, sequencer, recording environment.

Wikipedia article on d.a.w.s for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_workstation

Get some recording software

If you just want to go ahead and get started, search for a free d.a.w. for your os.

D.A.W. stands for digital audio workstation, a kind of program that acts as a virtual music studio, able to record instruments and voices, blend them together, add creative effects, and much more.  A couple of good d.a.w. programs for different operating systems:

freeware

Audacity for Mac and Windows

Audiostar for iOS

Songwriter's Pad Recording Studio for iOS

Free unlimited trial

Reaper for Mac and Windows

I know a lot of people that started with Audacity and some of them still use it all the time. Reaper has a ton of features and is a very widely used, even in the professional world.  If you own a Mac made in the last ten years you probably have Garage Band already installed (most iPad owners do, too).  I will cover these audio production applications and many more in future posts.

A good place to start

If you already have a computer, tablet, or smartphone, 440software is a great place to look for free music production applications and plug-ins.  You can search by type of device and operating system (computer or phone, winows or mac os), type of software (recording, musical instrument, effects), and whether the software costs money or is free.