Compose — Writing Melodies on the Staff

1. What Compose Is

Compose is a musical scratch pad. It's the first tab in the bottom nav, and it's where melodies go from your head to the page. Unlike the Notes screen — which stores and organises your melodic ideas — Compose is the place to sketch. You open it, an idea comes, you write it down, you send it somewhere useful, and you move on. There's no project management, no folders, no clutter. Just a staff, a keyboard, and your next idea.

Think of it as a text editor for music. The Notes screen is your filing cabinet; Compose is the notebook you scribble in before anything is permanent.

2. The Staff

The staff is five horizontal lines. Notes sit on lines or in spaces between lines. The higher the note sits on the staff, the higher its pitch. It's a map of frequency — vertical position is pitch, horizontal position is time.

Other clefs available: Tap the clef indicator to switch. Bass clef (𝄢) puts lower-range notes on the staff — ideal for basslines, low brass, and left-hand piano parts. Alto clef centres on middle C and is the native clef for viola. Tenor clef sits between alto and bass — used for upper bass range (cello, trombone, bassoon).

Tap to place

Tap the staff where you want a note. The pitch is determined by the vertical position — tap a line, you get the note for that line; tap a space, you get the note for that space. The note appears with the currently selected duration (quarter note by default). The cursor advances automatically, so you can tap in a whole melody without touching the keyboard at all.

Drag to change pitch

Touch and hold a note, then drag up or down. The note slides smoothly to a new pitch — you're not limited to discrete steps during the drag, but the note snaps to the nearest staff position when you release. As you drag, the instrument plays each pitch so you can hear the note before committing to it. This preview is invaluable when you're trying to find the right note by ear — you can audition pitches in real time.

Long-press to edit

Long-press a note to open the note editor popup. From here you can:

• Change pitch with semitone (↑↓) or octave (↑↓ oct) buttons
• Change the note's duration — switch from quarter to eighth or dotted half
• Add articulation: staccato (short and detached), accent (louder attack), tenuto (held full length)
• Delete the note entirely

3. The Notation Keyboard

The notation keyboard is the input surface — a set of rows below the staff that work like a specialised keyboard for writing music. Each row serves a different purpose, but they all feed into one stream: the melody on the staff.

Pitch row (C through B)

These are the seven white-key pitches of the diatonic scale. Tap a pitch key to place a note of that pitch at the cursor position on the staff. The cursor advances automatically so you can tap out a melody in sequence: tap C, tap D, tap E — three notes, each one beat apart (at the current duration).

You can also hold a pitch key to draw a longer note. The app measures how long you hold and translates it to the nearest standard duration: a short press gives an eighth note, a moderate press gives a quarter, a longer press gives a half, and the longest gives a whole note. This is great for recording natural phrasing — you can literally "sing" the rhythm with your finger.

Duration row

Sets the note length for the next note you place. The durations from left to right are:

• Whole note — 4 beats in 4/4 time. A hollow oval with no stem. Use it for long sustained notes.
• Half note — 2 beats. Hollow oval with a stem. The workhorse of slower melodies.
• Quarter note — 1 beat. The default. Solid oval with a stem. Most melodies are built on these.
• Eighth note — ½ beat. Solid oval with a stem and a flag (or beam when grouped). Use for faster passages.
• Sixteenth note — ¼ beat. Solid oval with two flags. For rapid runs and ornamentation.

The selected duration is highlighted. Tap a duration, then tap a pitch key — the note that appears on the staff uses that duration. Dotted options are available by tapping the duration again: a dotted quarter lasts 1.5 beats, a dotted half lasts 3 beats in 4/4. Great for syncopation and waltz-like patterns.

Octave shift

The ± buttons below the pitch row move the pitch range up or down by one octave. The current octave is shown next to the buttons (e.g., C4, C5). This lets you span the full range of an instrument — write a bassline in the lower octave, then jump up two octaves for a high melody, all without leaving the notation keyboard.

Cursor navigation

Left and right arrow buttons move the cursor through the melody one note at a time. The current position is highlighted on the staff — a thin vertical line marks where the next note will appear. This is how you go back and insert a note you missed, or advance past a rest without placing anything.

4. Modifiers — The Detail Row

The third row of the notation keyboard is where things get expressive. These modifiers affect how notes behave and interact.

Accidentals (♭ ♮ ♯)

These are sticky — tap ♯ and every note you place afterward will be sharp until you tap ♮ (natural) or ♭ to change back. Use this when writing in a key with many sharps (like G major, which has one sharp — F♯) or when you want a chromatic run. The accidental appears to the left of the note on the staff. A natural sign (♮) cancels any previous accidental.

Slur (start / end)

A slur connects two or more notes with a curved line, telling the instrument to play them smoothly without separation (legato). In Compose, tap "slur start" before placing the first note of the phrase, then place your notes, then tap "slur end" at the last note. A curved line appears above or below the notes. Slurs can span many notes — common in wind instrument music where a whole phrase is played in one breath.

Tie (start / end)

A tie joins two adjacent notes of the same pitch into a single longer note. The second note doesn't re-trigger — it just extends the first note's duration. This is essential for notes that cross bar lines. For example, in 4/4 time, a note that lasts 5 beats can't be written as a single note (the maximum is a whole note = 4 beats). Instead, you write a whole note tied to a quarter note in the next bar. The tie arc connects them, and the instrument sustains through both.

Chord toggle

When chord mode is on, the next note you place stacks on top of the current note instead of advancing the cursor. Build chords one note at a time:

1. Tap "chord" to enable chord mode
2. Place C on the staff (root note appears)
3. Place E (note stacks above C — you see a third interval)
4. Place G (note stacks above E — now you have a full C major triad)
5. Tap "chord" again to exit chord mode

The cursor stays on the same beat, and all three notes sound simultaneously at that position. Chord mode works with any duration — place a quarter-note chord or a whole-note chord. Once you exit chord mode, the cursor advances normally and the next note goes after the chord.

Multi-rest

Need silence in your melody? Use the multi-rest tool to insert several bars of silence at once. Tap the rest button, pick the number of bars (1–32), and a rest symbol appears on the staff spanning the selected duration. This keeps your notation clean — instead of dozens of individual rests, you get one compact symbol with a number above it (e.g., 4 bars of rest). Essential for scoring full arrangements where an instrument drops out for a section.

5. Instruments

The instrument chip at the top of the Compose screen shows what sound plays your melody. Tap it to open the instrument picker — a list of all available voices.

Available instruments include: Piano, Strings, Bass, multiple Synth voices (leads, pads, basses), Guitar (acoustic and electric), Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion, and more. Each instrument uses real recorded samples at multiple dynamic levels — this isn't a synth beep, it's a professionally sampled instrument that responds to how hard the note is marked (velocity). A note played at full velocity sounds brighter and louder; a gentle note sounds softer and warmer.

Create your own voice: The "Create" option in the picker opens Essynth — ESSNCE's built-in synthesiser. Design a synth sound from scratch using oscillators, filters, envelopes, and LFOs. Save it with a name, and it appears in your instrument list alongside the factory sounds. Your custom synth becomes a playable instrument on the staff, just like Piano or Strings.

Load a preset: Browse factory presets organised by category (bass, lead, pad, keys, FX). Loading a different instrument replaces the current one for this voice — your notes stay on the staff, they just sound different now. A melody written for piano might sound completely new when played through a synth lead.

6. Multi-Part Staff

A single staff can hold one instrument playing one melody. But your arrangement probably needs more than that. With multi-part staff, you can have multiple instruments playing different melodies stacked vertically, each with its own staff, clef, instrument, volume, and transpose setting.

Adding a part

When you switch instruments, Compose asks: "Replace current instrument?" or "Add as new part?" Choose "Add as new part" to keep your existing melody and open a second staff below it. Now you have Part 1 (your original melody) and Part 2 (empty, ready for a new melody). Each part has its own set of controls.

Per-part controls

Each part can be configured independently:

• Volume — Adjust the level of each part separately (0–150%). Bring the bass part up, push the harmony part back.
• Instrument — Different instruments per part: Piano on Part 1, Strings on Part 2.
• Clef — Treble for the melody part, Bass for the bassline part.
• Octave transposition — Shift an entire part up or down by octaves without rewriting any notes.

A classic setup: Piano in treble clef for the melody (Part 1), Bass in bass clef for the bassline (Part 2). Two parts, two instruments, one staff view. When you play back, both sound together.

7. Transport and Playback

The transport controls sit at the bottom of the Compose screen, below the notation keyboard. They control how your melody sounds when played back.

Play (▶)

Plays your melody from the beginning. The playhead moves along the staff in orange, tracking the current position. Notes trigger the instrument engine as they pass — you hear real sampled instrument sounds, not simple beeps. The playhead speed is governed by the project BPM.

Stop (⏹)

Halts playback and returns the playhead to the start. Tap Play again to hear the whole melody from the top.

Metronome (MET)

Toggle the metronome click during playback. The click plays on every beat at the current BPM and time signature — essential for checking whether your note durations line up with the pulse. Long-press MET to open the transport sheet, where you can change:

• BPM — The global project tempo. Change it here or on the Drum screen — all screens share the same BPM.
• Time signature — Tap the current time signature chip to pick from 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/8, 5/4, 7/8. The grid and measure lines update on the staff automatically.
• Quantize — Snap notes to the nearest grid division (1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32). Useful for tightening up loosely tapped performances.

8. MIDI Import and Export

MIDI is the universal language of music software. Compose speaks it fluently.

Import MIDI

Tap the overflow menu (⋯) in the top-right corner and choose Load MIDI. Pick a .mid file from your device storage. ESSNCE reads the note data, tempo map, and time signature from the file and places everything on the staff as if you'd written it by hand. This is the fastest way to bring in ideas from other apps — compose a chord progression in a MIDI sequencer, export as .mid, and load it into Compose to add a melody on top.

Export MIDI

Save your Compose melody as a standard MIDI file (Type 1, which preserves multiple tracks/parts). The exported .mid file opens in any DAW — Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, GarageBand, Cubase, Reaper. Tempo, note lengths, velocities, time signature, and key signature are all preserved. If you have multiple parts, they export as separate MIDI tracks.

Export Audio

Render your melody as an audio file through the selected instrument(s). Choose the format that fits your workflow:

• WAV 16-bit — Standard CD-quality audio, widely compatible.
• WAV 24-bit — Higher dynamic range for professional production.
• FLAC — Lossless compression, smaller files than WAV.
• MP3 320k — High-bitrate lossy, great for sharing.
• MP3 128k — Smaller file size, adequate for previews and quick shares.

9. Export Destinations — Send

The real power of Compose is that it's not an endpoint — it's a starting point. Your melody can go anywhere in the ESSNCE ecosystem. Tap the Send button to see your options.

10. Suggestions to Try

The best way to learn Compose is to use it. Here are five exercises that build different skills:

1. Hum a short melody (4–8 notes) and record it on the Notes screen. Let Notes transcribe it to notation, then open it in Compose. Now add a harmony part below it using the multi-part staff — start with simple thirds or sixths below each melody note. Listen to both parts together.
2. Load a MIDI file of a song you like. Delete everything except the vocal melody line. Change the instrument from the original to a synth lead. Export it to a sampler pad and chop the melody into 2-bar slices — trigger each slice from a different pad to remix your own version.
3. Write a bassline using the bass clef and the Bass instrument. Start with a simple root-note pattern (C, F, G, A on quarter notes). Change the time signature to 6/8 for a triplet feel. Send the bassline to a Drum track and build a beat around it — the bassline becomes a melodic pattern in the drum sequencer.
4. Create a chord progression: toggle chord mode, write C–E–G (C major), advance the cursor, write F–A–C (F major), advance, write G–B–D (G major), advance, then back to C–E–G. Play it back — you've written a I–IV–V–I progression. Now change the instrument from Piano to Strings and hear how the same progression feels completely different.
5. Write a simple melody in C major (all white keys). Select every note and transpose the whole melody up 5 semitones. It's now in F major — the intervals are identical, but the key and feel are completely different. This is called transposition, and it's one of the most useful tools for finding the right key for a vocalist or instrument.