Is it just me or am I doing something wrong?

[Funkaroma]

I have a hard time making my music have that real electro feel to it. I am learning music theory slowely and I just have the C minor and D minor (harmonic & natural) in my head. Those are the only scales I use atm, because I want to be comfortable playing those scales before I look at the other scales as well. Still having a hard time playing chords live though.

My music lacks of a interesting harmony. Also when I make a melody if sounds most of the time really not like electro and I don’t know what I do wrong. Maybe I use too many note pitches in the melodies.

I feel very limited when it comes on writing chords in a scale. Like there are only 3 notes to start a minor chord on. I use invertions, but they often doesn’t go good with the rest, so I end up with very boring chord progression which actually suck. Most of the time use triads or 7ths. Is it common to use a mix of triads & 7ths? I can’t really blend them nice together when I do that.

Now I wonder if its just me which can’t come up with a good melody and harmony or that I do something wrong.

Vst’s and samples I use are;

Dexed
808 & 606 samples
TyrellN6

I also have a korg volca keys, but I’m selling it now, because I heard enough from it. Probably go for little uprade to a korg monologue.

[jancivil]

I get the impression you haven't looked at - played and learned, to begin with - extant music, and have some notion you're going to look at these cursory sort of music theory factoids on paper as it were, and somehow formulate music which works. Examine music people made and see what you find works for you and make your own assessments, which will evolve the more you grasp.

This is the pitfall many encounter with a computer and software as the first experience, as though out of nothing they'll find their own music.

I can't be certain, but from that you do not seem to have any experience with songs from any standpoint.
"there are only three notes to start a minor chord on" is a signal of all of that for me. You could make a minor chord on anything, but already you find your choices boring; so why would more minor chords by default amount to more interest, in itself? Discover the why of choices by examining some music, and one really needs the experience of making whole musical events happen live; information is not knowledge, absent experience.

Developing the skill set may take a while... and you definitely need to step back and see what has been done, and not superficially, first. Don't be hard on yourself, you don't really know anything so your expectation shouldn't be anything yet.

[Funkaroma]

I agree. Ive looked up on how to build a minor chord in a scale and it says: Play from the root, that whats I’m doing now or lower the third from a major chord, which is obvious, but it let you play something out of key. Is that common to do in writing music? Playing notes from specific chords out of key?

I’m not especting to play like Beethoven or anything, but I wonder if I didn’t make mistakes in my learning progress.

[Distorted Horizon]

Open a track you like in your daw, listen carefully the sounds it has, create a track for each sound you hear, copy/remake the sounds and melodies as good as you can.. When the track is fully copied and finished, you've learned to make an elektro track. If not, repeat the process with some other track.

[Distorted Horizon]

When you've discovered the value of my tip, have plenty of successful tracks and babes in both of your arms, you can send that volca to me as a thank you. I don't have babes. I'm sad and lonely and I try to lessen my patheticness with synths. They understand me

[jancivil]

'Key' is not a recipe in itself. Yeah, people pull things from outside a key pretty often in the history of the world. In more academic terms this may be known as 'borrowed' chords; from parallel major, from parallel minor is the general reference there.

C melodic minor ('classically' raised 6 and 7 in ascension, natural minor descending: 9 notes) gives: C minor; D diminished and D minor; Eb major; F minor and F major; G minor and major; Ab minor; A diminished; Bb major and B diminished. A lot of chords is no guarantee of interest either, though. More is not necessarily more. What is the idea? How do the harmonies lend support to or enhance the melody? Learn from songs, it's simply a must do.

The idea of inversions of chords is located really in voice-leading. G/F bass moving to C/Eb for instance. But the choices locate in a musical sentence; you aren't going to find this ex nihilo or in a vacuum.

[Funkaroma]

'Key' is not a recipe in itself. Yeah, people pull things from outside a key pretty often in the history of the world. In more academic terms this may be known as 'borrowed' chords; from parallel major, from parallel minor is the general reference there.

C melodic minor ('classically' raised 6 and 7 in ascension, natural minor descending: 9 notes) gives: C minor; D diminished and D minor; Eb major; F minor and F major; G minor and major; Ab minor; A diminished; Bb major and B diminished. A lot of chords is no guarantee of interest either, though. More is not necessarily more. What is the idea? How do the harmonies lend support to or enhance the melody? Learn from songs, it's simply a must do.

The idea of inversions of chords is located really in voice-leading. G/F bass moving to C/Eb for instance. But the choices locate in a musical sentence; you aren't going to find this ex nihilo or in a vacuum.

Thank you for explaining. Now its more clear for me.

[Funkaroma]

When you've discovered the value of my tip, have plenty of successful tracks and babes in both of your arms, you can send that volca to me as a thank you. I don't have babes. I'm sad and lonely and I try to lessen my patheticness with synths. They understand me

Thanks for the advice and its a good idea to remake tracks again. I did it a couple times already and sometimes I got stuck and sometimes it works (kinda). Tomorrow my monologue arives. Can’t wait for it Think I’ll keep the keys for now to see how they sound together!

[jancivil]

to elucidate 'voice-leading' I should probably explain: the harmony, bottom to top of F G B moves: F down to Eb; G remains; B up to C. If there's a D in the G7 chord probably leads best to C (without getting too deep into the weeds).