And on the grid, virtuosity is arguably even more important than it might be on an instrument. The artists backing Melodics have really invented their own techniques – even the question of what to play on the grid isn’t entirely obvious, since it can theoretically trigger anything from samples to melodies to drums. Grid controllers don’t really look like other instruments. And all of those conventional instruments have their own pedagogy, developed over centuries and taught worldwide by wildly competent human beings. The drum and keyboard inputs came closer, but the guitar was more a parody of the actual instrument. The problem with the arcade game format was that it was disconnected from the musical experience. I have to apologize a bit for the Guitar Hero metaphor – maybe, really, this is what Guitar Hero should have been. Introducing Melodics from Melodics on Vimeo.

One note – any reason that all the artists so far are men? Artists range from The Gaslamp Killer to Jeremy Ellis to DJ Jazzy Jeff (suggesting turntablism may figure into this in the future). So you might start learning simple, reusable patterns. Some lessons cover basics – the paradiddles of the finger-drumming set, if you will. Download a desktop app (Mac available now, Windows promised soon), and you can learn routines and get rated on your accuracy as your practice. Melodics’ solution is to combine detailed, musically-specific lessons with real-time on-screen feedback – after all, your pad controller is most likely already connected to a computer. But pad drummers have been more or less on their own. Traditional instrumentalists have long had plenty of ways of developing their skills, whether it be on a piano, a drum kit, or a contrabassoon. In a love child of Guitar Hero and a drum lesson, Melodics is here to save your pad-drumming chops.

But maybe your fingers just haven’t been as nimble, haven’t been as quick. You’ve watched in awe as artists dazzle on hardware like Ableton Push, Maschine, and the MPC.

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