hi,

you can ''clone'' instruments... meaning making the exact copy but with a new number > you can make changes on the second one without affecting the first one...

best tip i can give you is try to find sav's of other peoples songs. see how they build up sounds.
try: http://lsdsng.com/

watch tutorials.

stuff like that.
You've got 4 channels: deal with it

Ok I am reading the manual thanks But just to save some time because there is a lot of reading, I have a few more questions I wondered if anyone on here could help me with:

I am struggling with only 4 channels for the piece I'm trying to replicate has many layers. I figured I would use the noise channel and make some percussion sounds in that, thinking that this would free up the 2 columns in the wave channel for me to use them for more melodies but I was wrong- unless you have a kit instrument selected, you only have 1 column in the wave channel. Is there any way around this, like, can you download kit instruments that have note sounds instead of drum sounds? Also, if I change the instrument in the noise channel to be a kit instrument, sometimes it gives me 2 columns, sometimes it only gives me 1, I am a bit confused.

In fact I am struggling to tell the difference between the pu channels and the wave channel full stop, what are they MEANT to be for, respectively i.e what is the best use for them? I tried making a nice sounding instrument in the wave channel but it seems weird and unpredictable unlike the pulse channel, and how come you can set pulse channel instruments to wave kit or noise, and wave channel instruments to pulse kit or noise etc... In what scenario would you want to be using a pulse instrument in a noise channel or a kit instrument in the pulse channel etc or are you just not supposed to at all? Sorry I found it a bit hard to explain my query here, i guess someone with a lot of experience might know the specific situations where this function would be useful.

My biggest tip is to print off the manual. And read it.

Helps so much, and having a reference for all the effect commands alone is a bonus. The in-ROM help bits are handy, but nothing beats having some paper to refer to

thanks so much! I get it now, i will look into the e command thing too. I want to learn more about commands and tables.

That means you're only using one instrument for both channels. Put the cursor over the number in the instrument column and tap a twice, that will create a new instrument. I would recommend reading the manual too so you get a good understanding of how instruments work in lsdj.

Edit: you can also use e commands to change the envelope of an instrument independent of the envelope specified on the instrument screen. Hope I helped you at all.

Hi there, I'm sorry if this is an annoying question- I HAVE made an effort to google and read a lot of tutorials to try and find the answer before posting but I didn't find it.

I am new to LSDJ and what I want is to have different effects/ instruments happening within my music, but when I edit things in the Instrument screen, the changes get applied to EVERY phrase of EVERY chain in the PU channel, AND everything inside of the OTHER PU channel at that.

Is this right? It seems odd to me that I can't vary it. What I want to achieve is a plucky base line with short decay, say, an envelope value of A1, and then over the top I want a melody with long lasting notes, say, A7.

Also, what if I want to have both PU melodies with the same instrument, but then half way through the piece, I want them both to change, say, I want them both to get louder, or change their duty cycles- can't I specify separate instrument properties to different phrases or chains?

Am I missing something huge here? I'm sure I've heard all these little complexities in music created by others on LSDJ. I have completed all the basic tutorials now and if anyone can suggest any more in depth tutorials on LSDJ I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks guys! X