Projects & sound recipes
Small finishable things, with a listening checkpoint at every step.
Pick a small finishable thing: a complete loop to build or one sound to shape. Every guide starts with an audible result, explains what to listen for, and hands each stage to the real instrument or Studio. No theory exam and no blank canvas — just make it, hear why it works, then change it.
Choose a small finishable thing
Filter by what you have time for, or by the machine you want to learn.
15 guides
Your first four-bar loop
Three instruments, one key, and an audible result in two minutes.
Make a lo-fi beat
A soft kit, mellow chords and one worn-in melodic phrase.
Program an acid bassline
Sixteen steps become a line when slide, accent and filter motion disagree.
Build an ambient soundscape
Slow harmony, distant plucks and a melody that grows by itself.
Build a music box
Mallets, a light arpeggio and soft chords in a clockwork loop.
Arrange a gospel groove
Warm drawbars, an uneven shuffle and a bass that carries the changes.
Make an FM dreamscape
Glassy bells, a drawn-wave answer and a pad that holds the frame.
Build a techno pulse
A strict low-end frame with two patterns that evolve against it.
Write a chiptune hook
A drawn wave, a fast arpeggio and a beat with nowhere to hide.
Acid squelch
Make one oscillator talk with cutoff, resonance and envelope motion.
Glass bell
Use a clean FM ratio, a bright index and a decay that rings into silence.
Warm drifting pad
Slow edges, detuned layers and just enough movement to stay alive.
Plucked string from noise
A burst, a tuned delay and a feedback loop become something string-like.
Worn tape keys
Start clean, then add softness, wobble and a restrained room around it.
Turn a moment into a grain cloud
Freeze a sliver of sound, overlap it with itself, then spread the pieces.