Workflow: Create music by tapping on your desk!

This morning I suddenly realized that I am sitting on a treasure chest of software that can generate raw input for Synfire. I have downloaded the fantastic libraries generously uploaded by other users and while that's enough to keep anyone busy for the rest of his life, it is fun to do something from scratch.

Sometimes when we are bored or restless we tend to tap our fingers on a table or a desk. That may seem as a useless occupation but that's about to change. Now the seemingly senseless tapping can be converted into music and here is how :)

Some months ago I bought "Pulse Controller". It consists of an application and a piezo microphone. Pulse Controller generates MIDI and thus easily connects to Synfire. Attach the microphone by its suction cup or velcro strips to anything you like and just start tapping! The intensity of the noise picked up by the mic is transformed to velocity and notes are sent to the host. Notes are selected according to various scales and executed according to "walks" or by a random generator.

So I decided to try this. First I (randomly) selected the cord progression "Example in Eb major" and added some simple drums. I selected some matching settings in Pulse Controller and started recording. The first try wasn't very good so I tried again and this time it sounded surprisingly good. 

I selected all segments and copied them a few steps up to create a second "part" harmony thing (what ever it is called). I had to adjust some symbols to make it sound OK in my ears.

Then I created a base and recorded it, did some adjustments and finally I exported a MIDI file and imported it into Logic. 

What is totally amazing about this is that it allows me, with virtually no music skills, to create things that before I could only dream of. The MIDI generated by Pulse Controller may not be very useful as it is but in Synfire it can be transformed into something or anything.

Here is a quick mixdown of this first test. The two tracks generated by my tapping, the "melody" and the bass line, I could never ever, ever have played on the keyboard…

Update: I just realized that "Pulse Controller" is only available for Mac at the moment but according to the FAQs there will be a Win version eventually.

PS. This is not meant as an example of something good or interesting but only to show that it is at all possible for newbies like me to make some kind of music thanks to Synfire. And don't forget that I have only had Synfire for little more than a week :) To most users this may not seem like much but remember that you must learn to walk before you can run and I am still at the crawling stage :)