A Techno Music Programming Masterclass With The Black Dog

Playing synths

Play a note by selecting a synth with use_synth and using the play command with the note name.

Note names are C, Cs, D, Ds, E, F, Fs, G, Gs, A, As, B where “s” means “sharp”. Notes range from A0 (very low) to G9 (very high).

Several play commands will play the notes together to make a chord.

To play a sequence of notes, add sleep commands to create a pause between them. Here we pause for 1 beat after each note.

You can vary the sleep times and note durations to get the tune you want.

Expert tips from The Black Dog

Like instruments in a traditional band, choose a selection of synths that have different sound qualities and occupy different pitch ranges. For example, contrast a bass synth with a sharper, higher sound.