Your first song

This walk goes from an empty project to an audio file you can play anywhere. Lemon Studio doesn’t come with a sample library, so have a few drum samples of your own ready. A kick, a snare and a hat are plenty.

1. Start a project

1. Choose FILE ▸ New. You get one empty Lemon Sampler instrument in the instrument rack, one pattern, and a tempo of 130 BPM. Drag the tempo in the toolbar up or down to change it.
2. Press Ctrl+S, give the project a name and a location, and click Save. Save again now and then as you go.

2. Make a beat

1. Drop a folder of samples from your file manager onto the Lemon Studio window. It appears in the browser. Click a sample to hear it.
2. Drag your kick onto the first row of the instrument rack (F6). That row now plays it and takes its name.
3. Drag the snare and the hat into the rack, below the rows. Each gets a row of its own.
4. Click steps to light them. Try the kick on steps 1, 5, 9 and 13, the snare on 5 and 13, and the hat on every other step.
5. Make sure the toolbar’s switch is on PAT, and press Space to play. Press it again to stop.

No samples yet? Add Lemon Trio as the next section shows, and click steps on its row instead. It won’t sound like a drum kit, but everything else here works the same.

3. Write a melody

1. Click + next to the pattern name in the toolbar, type a name such as Melody, and press Enter. The steps are empty again, because this is a new pattern.
2. Choose ADD ▸ More plugins… and pick Lemon Trio. It goes to the bottom of the rack and its window opens. Try a few shapes, then close the window.
3. With its row selected, press F7 to open the piano roll.
4. Click to place notes. Drag a note to move it, drag its right edge to make it longer, and right-click it to delete it.
5. Press Space to hear it.

The Computer MIDI keyboard is on by default, so the letter rows of your keyboard play notes. That’s handy for trying ideas. It also means the letter keys for tools need Shift. Ctrl+T turns it off.

4. Build the song

1. Press F5 to bring up the arranger. The list at its left holds your patterns.
2. Click your beat in the list, then click on a track in the grid to place a clip of it. Keep clicking further along to repeat it. Right-click a clip to delete it.
3. Click your melody in the list, and place it on the next track down, a few bars in.
4. Switch the toolbar to SONG and press Space. Click in the ruler to play from somewhere else.

5. Check the levels

1. Give each instrument its own mixer track. In the instrument rack, select the rows with the small switches at their left, and press Ctrl+L.
2. Press F9 to open the mixer. Your instruments are on the tracks named Bus 1, Bus 2 and so on, and they all feed Master.
3. Play the song and drag the faders until the balance sounds right.
4. Watch the Master meter. If it keeps hitting the top, pull down the loudest tracks until it stops.

To add an effect, click an empty slot on a track and choose one from the palette. See Instruments and effects.

6. Export

1. Press Ctrl+S to save.
2. Choose FILE ▸ Export audio… (Ctrl+R).
3. Set the Name and Folder.
4. Under Source, set Play to Song, Range to Whole and Tail to Ring out, so the last notes can fade.
5. Under Formats, pick WAV, FLAC, MP3 or OGG. You can pick several at once.
6. Click Export.

That’s a song. See Exporting audio for what else the form can do.

Where to go next

• Automation: make things move over the song.
• Recording: play notes in, or record audio.
• Your plugins: bring in the plugins you already have.
• Keyboard shortcuts: work faster.