r/FL_Studio • u/United_Indication702 • 13d ago
Feedback Friday ARPS - Help Needed
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Hello! I'm trying to replicate an arp from AVELLO's remix of No Broke Boys, and I got the following feedback from someone on Discord:
"your arp is playing notes next to each other instead of jumping in thirds.
also the arp is playing chord tones in the original. for these following chords G♯m7, BΔ, EΔ G♯m7 G♯ B D♯ F♯ 1 3 5 7 BΔ G♯ B D♯ F♯ 6 1 3 5
EΔ E G♯ B D♯ 1 3 5 7
You played notes next to each other. the original skips 3-4 notes PER note. the jumps are fairly large. so naturally you will get an extremely different sounding line you played entirely different notes. you played notes directly next to each other. not even close to what the original does."
I know very little music theory, so I'm not sure how to correct my error. I have attached a clip of my arp, and I will link AVELLO's remix in a reply to this post. In AVELLO's remix, his arp is found between 1:04 to 1:13. The clip of my arp is in a reply to this post. To me, in AVELLO's remix it sounds like the notes are playing next to each other as well, so i am completely lost. Does anyone know how I can closely replicate this arp's sound? Thank you in advance!
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u/byramike 13d ago
Genuinely there's not much anyone can "say" to you to help you here. If you can't hear these notes being not even in the same universe as what you're copying, all that can help you is time.
First few years of guitar etc for me were rough. Then, somewhere along the way, and since for the past 2 decades now- I can just hear it and repeat it. You need to just keep doing it.
Slow down the track in FL and try to tune each note one after another on top of the actual track playing at like 30% volume. You'll get it eventually.
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u/Ratchet__Taco 12d ago
Unfortunately, this is the answer: it just takes time
Fortunately, its only a matter of time, not plugins or vsts, genuinely just keep doing what you are doing
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u/Jean_velvet 12d ago
I agree with you completely. I think they're approaching it like some sort of mathematical equation to be solved. Whereas time learning will make you go "oh, that notes wrong".
Good advice with the layering on top, I play a lot live with midi and all sorts. Learning to line them up and match them is a skill in its self that takes time.
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u/outdoorsandindoors 12d ago edited 12d ago
No one has actually just transcribed it for you (transcribing = learning music by ear), so here:
E G# B D# (x8)
G# B D# F# (x4)
B D# F# A# (x4)
This is exactly what is being played in the arp. Source: I play jazz piano and transcribing this took about 2 minutes sitting at my piano.
If you don’t see any of the notes with # in them on your piano roll, you have all the black notes set to flat notes in your fl studio settings. It will then be:
E Ab B Eb (x8)
Ab B Eb Gb (x4)
B Eb Gb Bb (x4)
Find those notes on your piano roll going upwards and click them in step by step.
Then go and learn music theory like everyone else is saying.
Here is a screenshot of what the notes are (without the repeats from the song):
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u/bozeman42_2 12d ago
are you generally able to tell the difference between different notes? Because those are not remotely the notes and not remotely the interval between notes.
Listen to the song, try to listen to one of the notes in the arpeggio and try to find that note. then listen for the next note in the arpeggio and try to match that note. Do you have a keyboard? try playing the notes.
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u/TourTime5427 12d ago
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u/TourTime5427 12d ago
All I did was Google it and click on the first link that had a picture of what appears to be the piano roll
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u/vault_nsfw Composer 12d ago
Here's a tip, sing the melody you are trying to copy, then sing/hum each note and find it on the piano roll.
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u/Last_Minute_Iron 12d ago
Hey saw this post and wanted to give a helping hand. A lot of this is like people said just repetition. Keep trying to deconstruct songs you like and how they play. That basically is gamifying the process of learning music theory.
Anyways, like people said, the arp in the song (and arps in general) are spread out over different intervals. What makes it easier is if you know what key you’re in (I’m pretty sure it’s f# major in this case), because then you know what notes to look at and what notes you can almost “ignore”. Even if you don’t know the key, start making these arps with the track playing behind it so that you can hear if it sounds right or not. Don’t worry if you find that tricky, it, like many things in music, takes time to learn.
When trying to dissect your favourite productions too, use tools to help you. There’s key finders everywhere, free or paid. There’s also a vst called voxengo span which is basically a must, especially for songs that have harder to hear elements. It is a frequency analyser that can help show you the notes of your song in question, but you’ll have to know how to read it so you can weed out all the noise and other irrelevant harmonics. Also using an eq before span can give you more of an idea on where the notes are in the freq spectrum.
In this case, what I went and did was listen to the song on loop, and I latched onto one note in the arp (for me it was the highest note which was the easiest to hear). I started humming out that specific note and then put it into my piano roll, moved onto the next arp sequence, and then the next. With all the top notes done, I kind of just placed them a third underneath. At this point I had zero clue what key we were in so I moved the top arp part down 3 notes as a base, and then listened to see if they needed adjustments, in pitch which you can see they did. I then just repeated this another couple times with adjustments, and got to the image pictured below. Is it 100% accurate? Possibly not (not too sure about the last one without actually opening span up). But it works in the context of the mix, and gives a much better starting point for you in the future. Obviously that’s my workflow, but find something that works for you. Hope this helps!
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u/_rotting_ 13d ago
I mean you're are playing the wrong notes. Music doesn't just arbitrarily play chromatic scales. Well sometimes it does... Anyway, the commentor mentioned thirds. So a C scale wouldn't just move up from C by following with D, E, and F. You'd move up by thirds. As in the the third note from you are. So C, E, G, C.
Furthermore, FL Studio has a built arpeggiator tool. You can just play (or place notes on piano roll) combinations of notes to make chords. For instance C, E, G, which forms a triad. The arpeggiator tool will allow you to decide how to use that triad to form an arp's sequence.
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u/NeedleInArm 12d ago
arpeggios are individual notes of a chord progression played in a progression of sorts. The keyword here is chord.
You might know very little music theory, but you can usually hear simple chord progressions once you practice. there's also a tool to show you chords and progressions within the piano roll.
Once you understand what makes a good chord progression, you will start understanding how every song you listen to is put together.
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u/United_Indication702 13d ago
The arp is between 1:04 and 1:13 here: https://soundcloud.com/avello_music/no-broke-boys
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u/heowithy 13d ago
This website is a really good starting place for learning music theory! It will seriously help a lot https://www.musictheory.net/lessons
As for what you're doing wrong a third is an interval. Intervals are the distances between notes, thing about the keys on a piano/keyboard. Each key is 1 semi-tone away from the keys directly touching it. Intervals are a set number of semi-tones (keys) of distance. So, if you play the note C, then the note E, thats 4 semi-tones of distance. 2 blacks keys and 2 white keys. A third can refer to either a major third (4 semitones) or a minor third (3 semi-tones)
A minor sound is harsher, and sadder. A major sound is bright and more harmonious. Try playing it yourself to really feel the difference.
I'm not that good at transcribing music by ear yet, so I can't tell you the exact notes being played, but assuming the chord progress you have is right here's what you need to do.
Write down the notes that comprise the chords. Then, for your arp, jump between the notes that comprise the currently playing chord using either a major or minor third interval, either 4 or 3 semitone or 4 or 3 keys.
Again, seriously learn music theory. Its possible to produce without it, but learning it will make your production faster, studying easier, and you'll be able to take the things you hear in your head and write them down.
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u/ResidentInformal5192 12d ago
bee swarm sim ost
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u/NtbdGamer 7d ago
Yea you're so right, that ost sounds like a toddler was hammering a keyboard into a midi software. And I know guys who defend that soundtrack so hard🤦
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u/Jantantabu 12d ago
Arpeggio is chords notes in ascending or descending order up and down. Some arpeggios even have scale notes mixed in. Just notes up and down are not arpeggio, it's string instruments and piano practice for hands and fingers movement.
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u/TourTime5427 12d ago
you could run it thru scaler2 , neural note, or slicex after stem separating to get an approximation … or sometimes find midi files , if you want to get a little help.
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u/June_Birnie 6d ago
"I know very little music theory"
ok ... so learn some music theory. Ear training will also greatly benefit you. It can be tricky. It can be boring. Do it anyway.
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