Making an example
interface can appear daunting at first. But not to worry, we’ll help you make sense of its many buttons and different windows. The popular internet meme ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ will serve you well when working with LMMS.
The main menu bar at the top can be used to perform routine operations such as opening and saving a new project file, performing redo and undo operations, managing plugins and accessing online help. The second row comprises buttons to perform file operations such as Create new project, Open existing project, Save current project etc. Hover the mouse over the buttons and the helpful tooltip will explain the function of the button.
The buttons on the next row can be used to toggle the different elements of the main window. By default LMMS displays the Song Editor, Beat+Bassline Editor, FX-Mixer and the Controller Rack windows. You can use the buttons on the third row to show/hide these windows and others such as Piano Roll. For each track or tune you wish to create with LMMS, the two rows also have a number of master controls which can be used to describe the tempo, time signature, volume, pitch etc.
Finally, we have a sidebar on the left that holds six buttons. Clicking on any of these buttons will toggle an additional corresponding sidebar. Each of the buttons or tabs on the left sidebar hides a specific type of resource. The first button, for instance, will display the Instruments plugins. You can select the instrument you wish to use to create your sound track from here. Similarly, the other buttons toggle My projects, My samples, My presets etc. You will make use of these resources to create your custom tunes.
The main interface comprises four windows. The SongEditor is the main sequencer for your music and describes the structure of your production. The Beat+Bassline Editor window is used to configure the different repetitive sounds and beats. You can use the FX-Mixer to make edits to your song and its individual elements by adding various effects. Finally, there is the Controller Rack window, which can be used to make maths-dependent alterations to elements of your music. While the latter two windows can help you tweak your music, you only need to work with the Song and Beat+Bassline Editor to create tunes, as the others are reserved for those who have studied musical theory and can differentiate between the E note from the C note and the sharps from the flats.
Beats and bars
All the tracks on the Beat+Bassline Editor have 16 beats by default, represented by 16 grey boxes. Without delving deep into musical theory, the 16 beats are known as sixteenth notes. Two beats on a sixteenth note equals an eighth note and four beats equals a quarter note. As you progress with your music making endeavours, this understanding of notes will help you to better study the music and songs that you like, and you can then build your tunes accordingly.
The beats in a track are divided into four steps, shaded alternately light and dark grey to help you make sense. You can enable a step or beat by left-clicking on it. To change the volume of any step, hover your mouse over it and use the scroll wheel on the mouse to raise or lower the volume. At full volume the step appears bright blue and an intermediate brightness of blue at intermediate levels. You can define custom volume for each beat in a track.
Creating a beat
We’ll only be working with the Song Editor and the Beat+Bassline Editor for now, so let’s toggle the other windows. Click the relevant buttons on the second row at the top to hide these windows.
The Song Editor is used for non-repeating events, such as melody lines. Events created in the Song Editor can be copied and repeated to fill out a tune. The complete song is a compilation of all the elements in the Song Editor as well as the Beat+Bassline Editor. In LMMS speak, each element is called a track, so your final composition will be made up of several different tracks.
While all this theory isn’t important when it comes to starting the process of creating music, it’ll help when you start diving deeper into the workings of LMMS to create more complex and longer tracks. By default, the Song Editor already has four tracks: Triple Oscillator, Sample Track, Beat/ Bassline 0 and Automation Track.
To begin, click the Samples button on the left sidebar. You can select the different sounds you wish to incorporate into your musical score. Click on any sound to hear a sample. Once you’ve identified one that you wish to work with, doubleclick on it to add it to the Beat+Bassline Editor.
For our first beat, let’s add a couple of presets and samples each. Select Presets on the left sidebar, and click Kicker > Clap. If you like the sound, double-click it to add it to the Beat+Bassline Editor. We’ve similarly added hihat_ opened03 and rave_bass02. With the instruments in place, it’s time to play a tune.
If you aren’t already working with LMMS in full-screen mode, we advise that you do so now. This will make it easier for you to craft your soundtrack. In the Beat+Bassline Editor, identify the instruments/sounds you’ve added. You will find a number of boxes next to each of the tracks.
Click on a grey box to enable the sound for the beat you wish to play. You can similarly enable the sound by clicking the boxes for the various tracks. Once you’ve populated enough beats on the tracks, click the Play button at the topleft of the Beat+Bassline Editor to listen to the beat that you’ve composed. If you don’t like what you hear, make changes and keep at it. This is something that can’t be taught – you must let your creativity guide you. As an example, refer to the pattern shown in one of the many images here. Start with these patterns first, then branch out with your own compositions. While we’ve restricted ourselves to only four instruments for the first beat, you can of course add more if you would like to.
Another thing to note is that the default number of boxes might not be enough if you wish to compose a lengthy tune. You can increase the number of steps by clicking the Add Steps button on the top-right of the Beat+Bassline Editor. Remember, each box denotes a single beat, i.e. a single instance of repetition of any sound in a track. If you want a sound to repeat, you must click a number of boxes, depending on the pattern you wish to create.
It may happen that you want certain tracks to play through the song and certain sounds only for short spells. For such a scenario, you must have multiple Beat+Bassline instances in your Song Editor. Once you’ve created one spell of beat music, called sequence, click the Add beat/bassline button on the Song Editor. This adds a new Beat+Bassline track to the list of tracks. You can switch between the different Beat+Bassline editors by clicking the name on the Song Editor. You can also use the sequence drop-down bar at the top left of the Beat+Bassline Editor window to switch between different sequences.
By default, LMMS will name the tracks as Beat/Bassline 0, Beat/Bassline 1, and so on. In the Song Editor, double-click on the name to rename a track. For instance, if your second Beat/Bassline track is used to define the musical score for the middle sequence of your soundtrack, you can rename it as Bassline-middle. You can similarly have Bassline sequences for the start and the end of the track. This also makes it easier to identify and individually work on the parts of the track that require modification.
After you’ve created a Bassline tune, you still need to incorporate it into the structure of your soundtrack. To do this, you must follow a similar procedure and click the boxes next to the Beat+bassline track on the Song Editor window. The entirety of your Beat+Bassline pattern will play for each beat enabled in the Song Editor window.
Click the Play button on the Song Editor window to see how the different tracks sound when played in sequence. You may want to move the elements around a little to find the perfect balance between the different tracks.
Tweaking the beats
The default settings for the tempo and the sound levels for the different instruments, as well as the samples on the Beat+Bassline Editor, might not work for every type of
soundtrack. Thankfully, it’s quite easy to change these. But as with everything else in LMMS, it takes a lot of time and practice to figure out what works best as a single setting won’t work across all instruments.
The tempo defines the speed at which the tracks in your Song Editor will play. The default is 140, which might seem too frantic, especially if you’re looking to create a slow, soulful soundtrack. Double-click the Tempo box to open the dialogbox. You can now provide a value between ten and 999. You cannot set a custom tempo for the different sequences that make up the complete song. For instance, if you have three bassline sequences in your soundtrack, you cannot set custom tempo for each of these.
Apart from the tempo, you can also define a custom volume for each of the instruments and samples used in a bassline sequence. You will notice a VOL knob on the Beat+Bassline Editor for each track. Click on it and drag the mouse to define a custom volume value. If the default is too high, you can change the volume to 50 per cent or even lower until you find a setting that sits well with your ears and in the larger context of the sequence.
With the Beat+Bassline Editor, you can create beats with a one-sixteenth 16th precision only. If you want more control over the notes, such as varying the pitch, length and volume, you must use the Piano Roll. Double-clicking any track on your Beat+Bassline Editor will open it in the Piano Roll. If you’ve already created a track, populated Piano Roll will show.
While even a novice can successfully create a melody using just the Beat+Bassline Editor, use of the Piano Roll requires a thorough understanding of the strings EADGBE. Alternately, you must have excellent hearing.
Piano roll it Beethoven
While the Beat+Bassline Editor will help you put together a foot-stomping dance number, if it’s melodies you wish to create you might want to consider using the Piano Roll.
First, identify the instrument you wish to use and then drag it onto the Song Editor window. Next, double-click on a grey box for that track to open the instrument in the Piano Roll window. When working with this feature you must remember to give spaces between the notes, otherwise your composition will sound rushed and tight.
The buttons in the top bar of the Piano Roll window are used to enter the notes. Click the Draw mode button – you can now enter the notes by clicking in the checkered boxes in the main window. For each note entered you can control the volume using the bottom panel on the Piano Roll window. If the default length of the note is too short or long, move the mouse to the right-most edge of the note, and when the mouse pointer turns into a right-left arrow, click and drag to the left or right to decrease or increase the length of the note.
As always, click the Play button on the top left to test your notes and make additions and tweaks as needed. Again, refer to one of the patterns as shown in the images and replicate it first to understand how to work with the Piano Roll. If you want to delete a note from the roll, move the mouse on top of it and right-click. Bizarrely, the Ctrl+z key combination doesn’t perform the undo operation in every window of LMMS, and this is a frequent complaint about the app.
Having created a piano roll and a beat pattern, it’s time to see how the two gel together. In the Song Editor window, click the grey boxes for each track and then hit Play. Depending on how the two sound together, you may want to make some minor adjustments, or even start from scratch. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what you can do with LMMS. This robust music production suite is the subject matter of a thorough book, detailed documentation, and various video tutorials hosted on YouTube.
To give you an idea of the kind of music you can create with it, LMMS ships with a number of demo songs. To have a gander at these, click the My Projects button on the left sidebar. Now click CoolSongs > Zakarra > Roo84-Initialize. mmpz. Hit the Play button on the top to listen to the track.
While the songs are provided to showcase the versatility of LMMS and hopefully to inspire you, it’s just as likely to overwhelm those new to creating music. If you’re a newbie, head over to the Shorties section in the My Projects tab and double-click a project. These are shorter and easier to follow and adapt to help you understand LMMS.
You can find further user uploaded music at the LMMS Sharing Platform at https://lmms.io/lsp. Once you create an account you can share your creations with other users.