Melodics^™ support

What are the minimum specs for Melodics^™?

Melodics^™ runs on Mac OS X 10.10 or later.

Melodics^™ runs on Windows 7, 8, or 10 (64bit only).

Minimum Processor: i3: 1.07GHz 64 bit or equivalent
Minimum screen resolution is 1280 x 720
Memory: 512 MB

1GB of free hard drive space.

Note: You do not need a pad controller or keyboard, but it is much better with one.

Do I need to download a separate app for keys, drum and pads? What do I get if I subscribe?

You can try out all three instruments for free within the one app, and play the first 20 lessons. Easily change instrument in the “switch instrument” window, accessible by clicking “switch instrument” at the top left of the main Melodics navigation bar.

For access to over 400 lessons + exclusive artist content that’s updated weekly you can subscribe to either one instrument, or all three. Learn more about subscription and our pricing here.

Can I play Melodics^™ offline?

Yes you can play Melodics offline 😃  Here’s what you won’t get:

• Practice goals
• New lessons
• Some images might not load
• Audio previews

Other than that – you can play it all!

Can I make my own lessons?

No, you can only play lessons available in Melodics.

How do I sign up?

To sign-up, download Melodics and follow the instructions in-app.

Why does Melodics stop all other audio apps from making sound?

We do this to get lower latency and better performance. If you want to, you can switch it off by unchecking the “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” box in your Speakers Properties settings.

I plugged in my headphones, now I can’t hear anything in Melodics?

This is because on many Windows computers, the headphones are a different audio interface. When you switch audio interface, audio stops.

To fix this, just open the settings screen in Melodics, and reselect your audio output device.

How do I turn off the Metronome?

You can turn off the metronome by clicking on the metronome settings in the top left hand corner of the lesson play screen (see screenshot below) and select “Off”.

You will still hear the metronome during the “count-in” intro before the lesson begins, but you won‘t hear this during the lesson itself.

What payment methods do you accept for subscription?

You can pay via credit card, or via PayPal.

I’m trying to pay by credit card, but it won’t work, what gives?

First thing to check is make sure that your bank allows transactions with foreign merchants. We're based in New Zealand.

It’s also worth waiting for 5 minutes before trying again. Some banks will block repeat transactions that occur within a very short time frame, as part of what they do to stop credit card fraud.

If all else fails, get in touch with us here.

What happens if I unsubscribe?

You will still have full access to everything until the end of your payment period.

I don’t have a device – do I need one?

Well…no, but it is much better experience with one with one 😃

• Melodics Pads: you can use your computer keyboard as a 4×4 controller. You can also download our free Melodics iOS Pad Controller app if you don’t have hardware but have an iOS device.
• Melodics Keys: you can use your computer keyboard, but it doesn’t cover a full range of keys and you won’t be able to complete many lessons, but it’s enough to give you an idea of how awesome Melodics is.
• Melodics Drums: you do need a MIDI drumkit.

Is my device supported?

View a list of all supported devices here.

I've got a controller that's not on your supported controllers list, how do I make it work?

You've probably seen the list of supported controllers here. If your device is not on this list, read this to find out how to get it working.

My device isn’t recognised by Melodics, what do I do?

Go to the “Settings” screen in the main navigation, click the Map your controller button, then follow the instructions on screen.

My device stopped working, what gives?

First things first, go to the “Settings” screen, and make sure it’s selected under “Connected Hardware”.

If that doesn’t work shut down Melodics^™, unplug your device, plug it back in, and restart Melodics^™.

If you’re still not having any luck, get in touch with us, and we'll help you out.

I remapped my controller but something weird happened, how do I go back to the default?

Easy. Go to the “Settings” screen, and on the right under the list of connected devices there’s an option to “Revert all mappings”, just click that.

Why isn’t any audio coming out of my controller (it has an audio interface built in)?

You can change the audio output in the “Settings” screen, available from the main navigation. If you don’t see your controller, make sure it’s set up to be available to the operating system. You’ll need to check with the manufacturer on how to do this.

My audio is lagging and the latency slider doesn’t help.

Firstly it’s good to check the audio output device is set to default audio. This is done in the left side of the settings page in the Melodics app.

Still having issues?
 If your headphones are USB based, try using headphones with an audio jack, preferable in the jack at the back of the computer. (Or whichever jack is available for laptop users).

Can I slow lessons down so that I can concentrate on figuring out the pattern?

Why yes, yes you can. For this, you need practice mode. When you go into the Play screen, you’ll see the option for practice mode at the top of the screen.

You can slow the lesson right down, and it will loop forever. You can also pause the lesson during playback for a deeper look at at difficult sections.

How can I change the metronome volume, or turn the guide track off so I can just hear what I’m playing?

You can do this within lessons on the right hand side (for keys), or the left hand side (for pads & drums). Adjust the metronome, your notes, guide notes and the backing track levels direct from the play view.

You can also pick your metronome, with the familiar sounds of Ableton Live, Logic, Maschine, and many more. Click the metronome icon in the top left corner of the playback screen to choose.

My Melodics menus look weird and overlap on Windows… Help!?


This is an outcome of Windows scaling (on Windows 8 or 10). To remedy this, either disable scaling (Windows 8), or turn scaling to 100% (Windows 10). These options can be found in the display settings page.

Note: For these settings to take effect, you’ll need to log out of Windows and log back in.

I can’t get my keyboard to work with Melodics?

Firstly, check you’ve closed your DAW, check your USB cable and also the USB port you’re connecting to.

If you’re still having trouble, please follow our keyboard connection troubleshooting guide here.

Can I try Keys lessons with just my computer keyboard?

Yes, and the layout is like this:

How do I see which fingers to use on which keys?

When you open a lesson you’ll enter the finger placement screen, which shows you both the notes you’ll need to play on the keyboard and the fingers on each hand you should be playing these with.

Play around here until you get a feel for the different notes or chords, then give the lesson a go!

My keys don’t match with what’s showing on-screen?

Your keyboard might be set to an octave higher or lower than what’s required to play this lesson. Just use the controls on your keyboard (check your user manual for how to do this) to change up or down an octave.

The keyboard on my computer is playing the either really high or really low notes? What’s going on!

You might be in the wrong octave! Woops! Just hit “z” to go down, or “x” to go up an octave and get back to where you should be.

Can’t play the right notes with your ROLI Seaboard Block?


The Roli Seaboard Block only has 24 keys, which means that for some lessons, you’ll need to shift octave to reach the right range on your keys.

Not to worry, in the top corners of your controller there are directional arrows which allow you to shift the octave up or down. Just shift down an octave and make sure you can hit all the notes in the preview screen before playing the lesson.

What’s the difference between playing lessons and exercises?

Exercises are a zen-like contrast to the error focussed and feedback driven lesson experience. One that instead rewards patience, concentration and repetition. The idea is to keep practicing the exercise until you feel confident and ready for the next lesson in the course.

Can I play exercises outside of courses?

Currently you can find exercises as part of Melodics Keys courses only.

Will Melodics teach me to read music?

Our Melodics Exercises relate to the wider world of written music. You may notice that the design of these hints at the bass and treble clef of piano sheet music. This is designed to sub-consciously develop your spatial recognition of key interval structures and make it easier for you to transfer your learning between different contexts.

Do I need a pad controller?

You do not need a pad controller, but it is much better with one. If you have an iOS device (iPhone or iPad) check out our free controller app, which works just like a hardware controller to control Melodics^™!

Why don’t the pad numbers match my hardware?

Most hardware manufactures follow the pad numbering that was established in 1988 with the release of the MPC60. Pad 1 is in the bottom left corner.

Most, but not all.

To be consistent across our lessons, regardless of what your hardware says, in Melodics^™ Pad 1 is always in the bottom left corner.

Why do some of the finger positions say C1, C2 etc?

For the cue point drumming style lessons, C stands for cue point. For most lessons, you want to set the cue points on the beats within a bar, so C1 goes on the first beat, C2 goes on the second, etc.

There will be some lessons where the cue points go in other places, so check out the descriptions in each lesson.

Generally with cue point drumming lessons, you can use any finger.

How do I see which finger I should use on each pad?

In the pre-play screen, you’ll see that every pad is either blue or yellow – blue pads are played with your left hand, yellow with your right. If there is a number on the pad, that number corresponds with the number above the “hands” illustrations to show you what finger to use.

It feels more comfortable to use a different finger than the one you suggest…

All good! Do what feels right to you, the finger placements we indicate are only a suggestion.

The pads on my controller stopped lighting up, how do I get that back?

This is probably because you remapped your controller. User mappings don’t have pad lighting. To go back to the default mapping – and get the lighting back – you need to remove the user mapping.

To do that, go to the “Settings” screen, and on the right under the list of connected devices there’s an option to “Revert all mappings”, just click that.

Only the top rows of pads on my ROLI Lightpad Block seem to function. The rest are not recognized by melodics. What gives?

Change your Block to single channel mode in Blocks Dashboard before mapping within Melodics.

How do I connnect my kit?

If Melodics doesn’t detect your kit by default, you may need to map it manually. See this support article for details.

My hi-hat / kick / snare / tom isn’t triggering properly or triggering the wrong thing?

This could be because your drums are sending a different MIDI note to what we’re expecting.

Melodics is expecting to get these MIDI notes.

Open the menu and press “Shift-D”. For each drum you hit, you’ll see the MIDI note Melodics is receiving. If this doesn’t align with standard MIDI for drums (the wikipedia link above), you’ll need to try reset your drum kit to send standard MIDI.

If you’re still having issues, you can get in touch with us and we’ll be able to help diagnose what’s going wrong 😃

Can I try Drums lessons with just my computer keyboard?

Yes, and the layout is like this:

I’ve connected and mapped my Roland TD-11 kit, but I can’t trigger any drums in lessons?

Melodics expects to receive standard MIDI notes for drums. Open your TD-11 preference panel, and make sure to enable “Std MIDI Setup Lock”.

My Roland TD-9 closed hi-hat isn’t triggering correctly.

Check your TD-9 MIDI settings, and ensure “HH Compatibility” is set to “External”.