Lead Melody Generator
The hook is what people remember. Pick a progression and a style, roll until a melody sticks, then take the MIDI to your supersaw.
Melody
Sounds to load your MIDI into
Supersaw Essentials: 25 free trance presets for Vital, the free synth. Leads, plucks, pads and gated stabs, voiced for every tool on this site.
How the melodies are written
Most trance hooks follow a simple shape: a call over the first chord, an answer over the second, the call again over the third, and a phrase that resolves home over the last. Repetition is what makes a hook stick, so the generator builds one motif and reuses it, letting the chords change what it means each time.
Notes on the strong beats land on a tone of the chord underneath, so the melody always fits the harmony. The notes between them step through the scale, which gives the line its movement. Over a raised V chord (the big lift into the drop, such as E major in A minor) the melody uses the raised seventh, as the chord does.
Range sets how far the melody can climb: narrow for a riff, wide for an anthem. Repetition sets how often the third phrase repeats the call exactly. Uplifting trance usually wants it high.
Making it sound like a record
Load the lead MIDI onto a supersaw with 7 to 9 voices and around 25% detune (the Supersaw Calculator has settings for Serum, Sylenth1, Spire and Vital, and the Vital and Surge XT preset generators make one for free). Add a dotted-1/8 delay from the Delay Calculator, a long reverb, and sidechain it to the kick. For the drop, layer a pluck playing the same notes an octave up.
Questions
Can I use my own chords?
Yes. Build a progression in the Chord Lab and it appears here as "My Chord Lab progression". Have a melody and need chords instead? Try Melody to Chords.
What's the difference between the styles?
Anthem uses long held notes for big singalong leads. Uplifting hook is the busy, syncopated 8th-note style. 3-3-2 riff uses the dotted rhythm that drives so much trance. Pluck riff is a 16th-note line for plucks and arps. Breakdown is slow and sparse, for a piano or pad over the breakdown.
Can I use these melodies in released music?
Yes. The MIDI you export is yours to use however you like. As with any melody, check it doesn't accidentally match a well-known track.