Piano Roll Guide: Chords, Pads, and Pluck Patterns

In Compose, switch the sequencer toggle to Keys to open the piano roll. Pitch runs up the left side, time runs left to right in the same bar length as your drums. Click a cell to place a note, click again to remove it. Longer samples and synth patches can extend across steps when the sound is longer than one grid cell.

• Instrument drawer: choose an instrument to activate
• Solo: hear only the active instrument while you write
• Synthesizer: design custom sounds, see the Synthesizer guide
• Clear / Undo: scoped to the current piano roll, same idea as drums

The sections below focus on chord shapes and pluck-style patterns you can draw on the grid, then layer with drums and export as MIDI or WAV. Interactive examples on this page use one fixed preset each (no instrument switching in the demo)

A triad is three notes stacked in thirds — the bread-and-butter chord in pop, house, and hip-hop. On the piano roll, place all three notes on the same starting step so they hit together (or on adjacent steps for a slight strum).

Major triad

Pick a root note (for example C). Add the note 4 semitones up (E) and 7 semitones up (G).

Minor triad

Same root, but the middle note is 3 semitones up (minor third), top note still 7 semitones from the root. The middle note sits one square lower than in a major triad.

You can add a fourth note above the root to make a seventh chord.

Dominant 7th

Major triad plus a note 10 semitones above the root. Sounds tense, resolves well when you move to another chord a fifth away

Major 7th

Major triad plus a note 11 semitones above the root. Softer than dominant 7, common in lo-fi

Minor 7th

Minor triad plus a note 10 semitones above the root (same seventh as dominant 7, but over a minor triad)

Upward arpeggio

Take a triad and place the three notes on consecutive steps (1-2-3 or 1-3-5) instead of the same column. At 120+ BPM this becomes a rolling arp.

Draw in the lower rows of the piano roll (below your chord shapes)

• On the kick: place bass notes on the same steps as your kick for a locked club feel
• Root-fifth: alternate root and fifth (7 semitones up) on steps 1 and 3 of each beat
• Walking movement: one note per beat on beats 1-4, moving up or down the scale by one or two semitones each hit

Leads sit on top of the mix and move more often than pads

• Contour: start on a chord tone (root, third, or fifth), step through neighboring scale notes, land on a strong tone on beat 3 or 4
• Repetition: a short 3-5 note hook on beat 1, repeat on beat 3 with one note changed
• Space: leave empty steps between phrases, not every sixteenth needs a note