Synfire is so deep that even longtime users seem to grasp only a part of it. In fact, even I rediscover cool stuff I'd forgotten about over the years. There is a lot of unused potential waiting to be unearthed and shared! Value comes not only from new features but also from new insights into how to use existing features. We want to put more focus on that.
The main reason we are still short on entry-level tutorials is that different music genres require distinct approaches and workflows. We definitely need multiple "starter" tutorials and follow-up videos for each approach. It's hard to decide where to start. A video is likely to scare away people who are not interested in the genre it presents. We probably need to publish tutorials for all genres at once (I hope the "Arrange a Song" videos didn't already damage the brand).
It's less of a problem to make short videos that focus on a single aspect at a time. We will do that more often now.
Let me outline a few approaches and the genres they apply to.
Lead Melody Plus Chords
Songwriting is mainly based on this approach, although it is used in many other genres, too. It revolves around the Palette and arranging with phrases from libraries. When there's an already existing melody, you would start with the Harmonizer to find matching chords first.
Fun fact: Synfire was initially conceived for songwriting. Back when I was writing songs for a major publisher, I used an early precursor of Synfire to explore harmony, train my ear, find chords, render instrumental parts, and find inspiration for melodies. That's what Sparks is used for today. Later, it evolved to cover a much broader range of genres. Admittedly, its popular origins were somewhat neglected in favor of the excitement that the other genres added to the experience.
Rhythms & Grooves
This approach revolves around engineering a groove. You would do that with (generated) phrases, split them into parts, use the Snippets grid to find combinations that work best.
Don't conflate rhythm with drum patterns. Personally, I think it's very important to make a groove work with instruments alone (bass, keyboard, guitar, synths, etc) before you add any drums. Most bedroom producers start with a drum pattern and the result often feels stiff and clunky.
Many of our users have imported thousands of drum patterns to build their own libraries. Licensing issues so far prevented us from distributing such big collections with Synfire. We are looking for a way to change that.
Keyboard Parts
You draw chords, arpeggios, bass voices, and melodic runs and see what happens when they are rendered against changing harmony. If you are familiar with notation or piano rolls, that comes naturally (i.e. you know how certain rhythms look like on screen). You can also record fragments and copy and paste something together. Then you apply velocity, dynamics, humanization, rubato, tempo changes, and such.
Factories are absolutely great for finding rhythmic patterns and fresh piano themes to build upon.
Synfire has a lot of potential for piano music. It is very popular. We need to show more of that.
Themes, Melodies & Harmonies
This workflow predominates in orchestral music, brass ensembles, film music, musicals, theater, and more. We have many users operating in this field. A lead melody or theme is followed by other melodies orchestrated with multiple instruments. The harmony is often open-ended or spans a longer narrative arc. Film music wanders, takes unexpected turns, and rarely concludes with a cadence.
Thematic music doesn't repeat itself as much as popular music. You typically use a greater variety of phrases, rhythms and textures. Many of them are snapshot and tailored to their specific role and place.
There are two approaches.
With Harmony First, you shape a progression using one or more (customized) palettes or a Factory. Then you add melodic figures that populate it with voices. The advantange is you have a harmonic progression that makes sense.
With Melody First, you sketch or record one or two (static) melodies you have in your head, run that through the Harmonizer to create a Harmony parameter. Then you add more instruments with voices interpreted by Synfire. The advantage is you have created something directly from your imagination. The challenge is to make sense of the harmony that emerges from your melodies. That huge major ninth chord may sound impressive, but it leads to nowhere. You can stick to well-known standards (easy but potentially boring), or you can try something less predictable and struggle to tie up all the loose ends.
What's Your Approach?
These are some approaches that we want to cover in upcoming tutorials, regardless of the genre. Do you use a different approach? How? Let us know.