6.4.5. Top-Down
There are two ways you can start composing and song-writing on the KeyStep Pro. The first
is the top-down approach. It's similar to a writer who sketches a storyline for a book. He/
She will start by writing a series of scenes that make up the story.
The writer will then start 'fleshing out' the Scenes with characters, places and plots until
every detail of the story has unfolded.
Composing/writing songs on the KeyStep Pro can be similar. You start by designing Scenes:
Scene 1:
• track/voice 1: drum, 2 Chains, 3 Patterns
• track/voice 2: sequencer, 4 Chains, 5 Patterns
• track/voice 3: arpeggio on hold
Scene 2:
• track/voice 2: sequencer, 4 Chains, 5 Patterns
• track/voice 3: sequencer, 6 Chains, 8 Patterns
• track/voice 4: arpeggio on hold
Scene 3:
• track/voice 1: drum, 2 Chains, 4 Patterns
• track/voice 2: sequencer, 2 Chains, 7 Patterns
• track/voice 3: sequencer, 4 Chains, 9 Patterns
• track/voice 4: arpeggio on hold
This is also the moment when you make the other top-level decisions about tempo, scale
and drum mode:
Scene 1:
• Tempo: 140 BPM; scale: minor; drum mode: mono
Scene 2:
• Tempo: 80 BPM; scale: dorian.
Scene 3:
• Tempo: 160 BPM; swing: 60%; scale: harmonic minor; drum mode: poly
To prepare even further, you could set up these configurations at the start of your
composing session and save them in Scenes.
After completing this basic structure, you'll start to create the Patterns that will be the details
of the composition. By the look of it, this is already becoming an
opus magnum
, a large-
scale work!
Arturia - User Manual Keystep Pro - What is a Project? 103
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