What is XpressPads “Magic Tone Network”?
XpressPads Magic Tone Network is a FREE video tutorial series for those who would like to compose music on pads. It provides an innovative method to get sophisticated music composed on 8×8 pad controllers such as Novation’s Launchpad, without having to learn the depths of music theory. A person might wonder what is so special about that XpressPads Magic Tone Network technique and why it is so easy to learn. Here are the answers:
- The Magic Tone Network technique is INSTANTLY PLAYABLE WITHOUT ANY PRIOR MUSIC-THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE.
- The Magic Tone Network approach to music is 100 percent LOGICAL.
- It is primarily about the RELATIONS in music, not so much about absolute note values. The Magic Tone Network pad layout and all composition- and playing-methods derived from that layout are based on what have stood for centuries as TWO OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN WESTERN MUSIC: the Circle Of Fifths and Leonhard Euler’s “Tonnetz” (English: “tone-network”). Both concepts have been prevalent in theory and in practice since at least the 1600s. Today, 8×8 pad controllers let you perfectly and easily apply these magical (or just logical???) music formulas in new ways. Unlike any other instrument known today, 8×8 pad controllers are ideally suited to apply these two musical concepts and turn the theory into real music – YOUR REAL MUSIC.
- Each CHORD TYPE FINGERING needs to be learned JUST ONCE, including major, minor, 7, maj7, 6, 9, sus2, sus4, dim, aug, and then works the same way for every root note of any given chord. Changing chords can be compared to shifting around barre chords on the guitar fretboard, where you just change the position of your hand, not the fingering for the chord.
- Each SCALE, MELODY, AND INTERVAL PATTERN needs to be learned JUST ONCE and then works the same way in each and every key. This also resembles using identical scale and melody fingerings on different frets on the guitar in order to shift the key.
- The position of each of the twelve basic semitones that appear in contemporary music needs to be learned JUST ONCE and then repeat block-wise on the pad section in a visually logical way.
- Changing key is a matter of shifting a fingering pattern to a different location on the pad controller, not like learning a completely new fingering set required when learning piano.
- Cross-key melody-runs are no more a challenge. In fact, they are easy!
- You’ll learn how to intuitively build harmonies, chord progressions, and melodies and you will VISUALLY UNDERSTAND which combinations MAKE SENSE and SOUND GOOD.
- This video tutorial series’ approach is “step-by-step”, from “very simple” to “quite complex”. This approach will make sure that you will enjoy the Magic Tone Network technique and achieve your goals as a modern music composer that loves to play on pads.
XpressPads Magic Tone Network will help you understand musical and tonal relationships in music overall and make it applicable to your own compositions and music productions. You’ll be able to compose mood-based harmonies and melodies that fit well together rather than always falling back into traditional harmonies and melody concepts.
XpressPads Magic Tone Network is a method of composing, not necessarily a method of playing your favorite songs from the sheet. While playing music from the sheet with XpressPads Magic Tone Network is technically possible, it is not the goal of this video tutorial series. No note reading skills are required to learn Magic Tone Network, nor do the Magic Tone Network video tutorials teach notation. NOTATION IS NOT NEEDED TO COMPOSE MUSIC. That’s a common misunderstanding when it comes to composing. All you need to understand in order to become a composer is the inter-relation of the basic musical elements, which are MELODY, HARMONY, and RHYTHM. With XpressPads Magic Tone Network you can compose your own melodies and chord progressions for harmony on your pad controller(s). With XpressPads Finger Drumming you can play rhythms on your pad controller(s).