Melody Explorer — User Manual

Turn a QWERTY keyboard into a scale-safe MIDI performance controller. No piano skills, no wrong notes.

Melody Explorer interface

Contents

Quick Start

  1. Set Root, Oct, and Scale to match the song you're working on.
  2. Pick a chord from Base Triads on Scale — click it, or press Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+7.
  3. Play on your keyboard. The A key is always your root note, at the octave shown in OCT.

That's it — every key you press belongs to the current scale, so there are no wrong notes.

Interface Overview

Control What it does
Root / Oct / Scale Defines the key and scale the whole keyboard maps to.
Vel / Ch Note velocity and MIDI channel used when MPE is off.
MPE Assigns each held note its own MIDI channel, enabling per-note pitch bend / timbre / pressure. See MPE & Expression.
Poly When multiple notes are held, chooses which one receives Glide/Slide/Press: All, First, or Last.
MIDI Out Selects the output port. Requires a virtual MIDI port to reach a DAW — see MIDI Output Setup.
LAYOUT badge Shows the active key layout: SCALE, CHROMATIC, or PIANO.
Base Triads on Scale The seven diatonic chords of the current scale.
MODS Live chord alterations (sus, b5, extensions...). Current chord name is shown to the right.
Keyboard grid QWERTY keys mapped to chord tones. Column 1 = root, 2 = 3rd, 3 = 5th, then tensions.
Pitch wheel panel Draggable master pitch wheel (top-right of the keyboard view). LOCK prevents accidental dragging of the panel itself; the handle icon lets you reposition it when unlocked.

Playing Chords: Base Triads & MODS

Each of the 7 scale degrees (I–VII) is a ready-made triad — click one or use Ctrl+1..7. Layer MODS on top to reshape it live (e.g. force minor, sus2/sus4, flat/sharp 5th, 9th/11th/13th tensions). The resulting chord name updates in real time next to the MODS panel.

Alternate Keyboard Layouts

  • Hold Shift → Chromatic layout: every row steps up a flat +9 semitones from the row below, ignoring scale/degree/MODS entirely. Good for chromatic runs and fills.
  • Toggle Alt → Piano layout: the A/Q rows are white keys, 1/S rows are black keys (~2 octaves), GarageBand-style. Press Alt again to turn it off.
  • Shift always wins over Alt while held. Releasing Shift returns you to whatever Alt was set to.
  • Base Triads/MODS are grayed out outside Scale layout — they don't apply there.

Octave Control

Use the OCT field, or the 0 (up) / P (down) keys — same physical keys in every layout.

MPE & Expression (Glide / Slide / Press)

With MPE on, each note gets its own channel, unlocking: - Glide — drag the mouse up/down after pressing a note: per-note pitch bend (±2 semitones). - Slide — drag left/right: per-note CC74 (Timbre). - Press (currently disabled in the UI) — channel pressure.

Poly decides which held note(s) respond to Glide/Slide when several are down at once.

The master pitch wheel (top-right panel) always affects the overall pitch: with MPE off it drives the single shared channel directly; with MPE on, its value is blended into every note's own bend.

MIDI Output Setup

Melody Explorer sends MIDI to whatever port you select in MIDI Out — it does not include a synth. To hear or record it in a DAW, you need a virtual MIDI cable: - Windows: install loopMIDI, create a port, select it in both Melody Explorer and your DAW. - macOS: enable the built-in IAC Driver (Audio MIDI Setup → MIDI Studio). - Linux: use ALSA virtual ports or JACK.

Note: Currently, Melody Explorer officially supports Windows. Native macOS and Linux versions are under active development and are planned for a future release.

Shortcut Reference

Keys Action
Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+7 Select scale degree (I–VII)
Ctrl+Z MODS: minor
Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C MODS: sus2 / sus4
Ctrl+V / Ctrl+B MODS: b5 / aug (#5)
Ctrl+A / Ctrl+S MODS: b9 / #9
Ctrl+D / Ctrl+F MODS: b11 / #11
Ctrl+Q / Ctrl+W MODS: b13 / #13
Shift (hold) Chromatic layout
Alt (toggle) Piano layout
0 / P Octave up / down

Tips

  • Ctrl + mouse wheel zooms the window (the app implements this itself; native browser zoom isn't available in the desktop shell).
  • Right-click on the keyboard has no effect — pitch bending moved to the dedicated wheel panel.