maxWerk - Copyright 2000-2007 Amanda Pehlke
Published by RedMoon Music - www.RedMoon-Music.com
lets you deal separately and independently with loop-making, Automute, Melody, and Improv functions.
Notice that you can enable playback of all stored data types at once with the single key command or the Main Screen button-press that engages Performance mode. This shortcut effectively locks out any further changes, but it allows Noodle play. maxWerk's internal sequencer can be told to activate Performance mode and initiate a fully automated play-through of your Werk in order as it records a standard midifile. Alternatively, you can record a midifile manually beginning at any bar number, having activated only the functions you want.
1.10 Melody
Composition in the maxWerk environment can begin just as easily with a melody line as with a sequence of looping notes or a chord progression. If you use the traditional songwriters' approach, melody and transposition data that you develop first can provide a structure that inspires supporting Basic Loops. The best way to discover maxWerk's Melody Editor is by walking through some melody-making behavior. You will see by the status buttons on the Main Screen that opening the Melody window automatically enables Melody play. The Melody track draws from up to five four-bar Blocks. Each of these can originate from notes you enter directly into the main Editor, or you can build a Block from a seed Phrase.
You can hand-enter, auto-generate, or key in one of five two-bar seed Phrases in a window opened through the Melody Editor. Step resolution is set automatically to 16th-notes totaling twice your Werk's Meter count per bar. Melody notes have a two-octave range before transposing, and the range covered after transposing can be narrowed in the Melody Sound window. You can ask each Block to follow the Transposer or remain constant relative to the other tracks, and you can set each of the five Blocks to its own time base.
maxWerk continuously loops the last Block that you selected by a key command or a Phrase window button-press. While a two-octave note range is represented, entered note values do not necessarily