Patterns and song arrangement

A single loop gets repetitive. Tonegrid lets you keep up to eight patterns (A to H) in one project and arrange them into a song.

Patterns A to H

The pattern buttons sit above the melody grid. The highlighted letter is the pattern you see and edit; each pattern has its own melody and drum squares. All patterns share the grid sizes, key, scale, tempo and sound.

• New pattern adds an empty pattern and selects it.
• Duplicate copies the current pattern into a new one — the quickest way to make a variation.
• Delete pattern removes the current pattern (Tonegrid asks first, and parts of the song that used it are removed too).
• Keys 1 to 8 select patterns A to H.

The Edit menu has more tools for the current pattern:

• Copy pattern and Paste pattern copy squares between patterns (also between projects in the same tab).
• Shift notes one step earlier / later (keys [ and ]) rotate the whole pattern in time.
• Move melody one row up / down moves the melody up or down the scale.
• Scatter a new melody fills the melody with random notes when you need inspiration.
• Clear melody and Clear drums empty one grid.

Build a verse and a chorus

1. Open File → Templates… and choose Blank canvas.
2. Write a simple melody and beat in pattern A.
3. Press Duplicate. Pattern B is a copy; change the melody so it goes higher, and add a clap.

Arrange the song

The Song arrangement panel lists the parts of your song from top to bottom. Each part plays one pattern a number of times.

1. Select pattern A and press Add current pattern — part 1 plays A once.
2. Set its repeat field (after the ×) to 2.
3. Select pattern B, press Add current pattern, and set it to 2 as well.
4. Add A once more at the end.

Use the arrow buttons to move a part up or down and the × button to remove it. Below the list, Tonegrid tells you how many steps and seconds the whole song lasts.

One repeat lasts as many steps as the longer of the two grids, so with 12 melody steps and 16 drum steps a repeat is 16 steps long, and both grids restart at the beginning of every part.

Pattern or Song playback

The two buttons next to Play choose what plays:

• Pattern loops the pattern you are editing.
• Song plays the arrangement from the first part to the last and then starts over.

While the song plays, the pattern that is sounding gets a small dot on its button and its part is outlined in the list. The playhead appears in the grid whenever the pattern you are looking at is the one playing.

The Three-part song template is a ready-made example with intro, verse and chorus.

Next: Export WAV, MIDI and MP3, and share your music.