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Written by Ramsey Brown.
A lot of passionate musicians get MIDI instruments for themselves but aren't aware of how to effectively play them with confidence. Learning how to play your MIDI doesn’t have to be as tedious as you may think. In fact, you can kiss the boring YouTube tutorials and basic teaching apps goodbye. Thanks to Melodics, the way musicians learn and practice their MIDI instruments has been completely revolutionized.
Melodics has been backed by over 250,000 musicians as the most effective method of developing their MIDI instrument skills. The desktop app is said to make practice fun and relevant, with a wide variety of lessons and features.
But is there a catch? Most aspiring producers want to know exactly what they are getting in a program before spending their hard earned money on another dud app. Which is why we are here to tell you everything you need to know about the Melodics app in this review.
So is Melodics worth the money, or is just another one of the many scams on the internet? If that’s what you are looking to find out, then you’ve come to the right place.
At Omari MC, we seek to provide you with the best and most effective music promotion services on the web — but it doesn’t stop there. We also genuinely care about the well being of upcoming artists and want to provide them with the proper knowledge, information, and support in order for them to succeed in the music industry.
In this review we are going to discuss the Melodics desktop app thoroughly. We’ll discuss its features, prices, plans, pros/cons, and everything else in between. This way, you will have the information you need to decide whether or not purchasing a subscription is the right choice for you.
Let’s dive in!
Melodics is a desktop music application that teaches users to play MIDI Keyboards, Pads/Finger Drums, and Electronic Drums in a much more fun and effective way. The program knows that practice is the only way to get better at a skill, yet sticking to a practice routine is the hardest part of it all.
Therefore, Melodics makes practicing your MIDI instrument FUN by learning with instant feedback and playing great sounding music from modern genres. The app seeks to build up playing confidence through it’s lessons, goals, and progress mapping — showing users where they are improving and what they need to keep working on.
Over the years, Melodics has become one of the premier desktop applications for MIDI instrument practice.
Melodics subscribers always sing high praises of the application. There are over 250,000 subscribers who are learning and becoming better at playing music with their MIDI instruments, and we believe that you can benefit from this app as well!
Melodics believes that learning is something that is done by you, not something that is done to you — that learning by doing is more effective than simply being told.
Melodics seeks to get users in their state of flow when using and practicing with their app. If a task is too challenging, the result is anxiety. While if it is not challenging enough, then the result is boredom.
Therefore, Melodics uses the principles of a learning method called Deliberate Practice. It’s the process of slowly breaking things down, zooming-in on certain parts with focus, and deliberately building repeatable practice habits as a result.
Melodics is a very high-quality learning platform that comes with a lot of unique features and specs. To give you a perspective of what it has to offer, let's take a look at some of the significant features that Melodics is known for.
First of all, the Melodics app can be downloaded on PC for free. It is compatible with Windows, MAC, and Linux as well. So if you want to learn the basics of your MIDI instrument, there is no need to pay to download it on your desktop.
The free version supports 20 different lessons for Drums, Keys, and Pads each. However, you are only allotted 5 minutes of practice time per day. This is a great head start for beginners, but if you are wanting to dive into your instrument fully, it’s recommended you upgrade to a paid plan.
There are thousands of lessons in Melodics, covering all skill levels, tastes, and genres (good ones – no nursery rhymes here). Each lesson is broken into steps, taking you through slowly to introduce concepts & techniques as you need them.
Lessons come in different grades of difficulty. For Melodics Keys, which is for keyboard players, the lessons are graded from level 1 through 16. They start with simple chords and move up to complex arrangements.
Each user gets access to 60 lessons out of a total of around 500. The first 60 lessons are free while the others must be accessed with a $9.99 monthly subscription.
The courses and lessons are all music pieces and tracks that have been carefully designed and produced by professionals who know what beginners and advanced-level MIDI instrument players would benefit from the most. You'll have access to all these new and old courses if you're subscribed.
Melodics uses educational methods based on decades of solid research — a systematic approach that helps you find your mistakes, and fix them before they become ingrained. This Performance Feedback feature will help you understand which notes you're hitting right, where you're missing out, where you're hitting early or late, and finally tell you all that you need to work on or what you did great.
The scoring in Melodics is said to be pretty harsh, but it focuses on reviewing and repeating until you get better. When it identifies what exactly you need to work on, it then loops the lesson into smaller chunks, allowing you to work on just the parts you’re having problems with. Then getting reps in until you can’t get it wrong.
The app doesn’t just provide you with regular boring teachers that walk you through the lessons as if you were back in high school. You will be learning from the best of the best — accessing exclusive content and courses taught and designed by huge international artists.
The lesson instructors are a mix of famous and grammy winning producers, recording artists, DJs, engineers, drummers, educators, label owners, music influencers and more. The teachers include famous and professional artists such as DJ Jazzy Jeff, Emmavie, Spinscott, DJ Spinna, John Tejada, Jeremy Ellis, Soul Clap, and many more.
This feature is one that you will certainly not find anywhere else.
The practice mode in Melodics is one of many features that makes the app so great. Melodics Practice Mode is a feature that allows you to practice songs your way. You can slow down songs, and you can loop bits and bars to get thoroughly familiar with playing them so that you can learn better.
Meaning, you'll be able to learn to play MIDI instruments at your own pace. No more being rushed through a lesson you didn't quite understand or sitting through a course that you already have down pat.
There's also a reward system used in Melodics that helps make the practice and learning so much fun. From earning sample packs to merchandise and so much more, you'll be rewarded with incentives as you progress and become better at playing music.
It is proven that when rewards and progress are involved, humans tend to perform better. Which is exactly why Melodics works on this theory to help its users achieve a higher level of skill and performance.
Melodics is compatible with MIDI pad controllers, MIDI keyboards, electronic drums, and keyboards. On the app’s official website, you’ll be able to see a list of pre-approved and pre-mapped MIDI controllers. Just about every major manufacturer is on that list.
But, you can still use a controller that doesn’t have official support. You can manually map the controller that you’re most comfortable with in a few minutes. Check out Melodics full list of supported controllers here.
Melodics requires an internet connection to download content in the background. So if you know you are going to be on the road without internet for a bit and still want to practice, all you have to do is simply download your lessons with WIFI before hitting the road.
You won't be able to access practice goals, new lessons, audio previews, and some images without internet connection. Other than that, everything else you need will be available!
One good thing about Melodics is that it allows you to choose different packages depending upon your needs and budget. Let's take a look at the plans and pricing Melodics offers:
FREE TRIAL
As we already mentioned, Melodics is free to download on your desktop. You can even learn a considerable amount using the free trial without ever paying a dime.
The free trial comes with a total of 60 lessons in 3 courses. Each course corresponds to one of the three supported MIDI instruments, and you can simply connect them and practice using these lessons to get started on your journey with Melodics.
Unfortunately, you can only practice 5 minutes a day using the free trial. Therefore if you want to take your practice more seriously and dedicate more time into the app, an additional upgraded plan may be more appropriate for you.
MONTHLY PLAN
The monthly plan is for when you realize that Melodics is definitely the right MIDI learning app for you. Unfortunately, the price for the monthly plan is a bit high at $29.99 per month.
This is a good bit more than what most people would want to pay. However, you can play and practice unlimited amounts of time using it. There are 30+ courses, hundreds of different lessons, and many other features and tools such as the ones mentioned above that are exclusive to the monthly plan.
Considering all of these great additional features and benefits, $30 a month isn’t quite as terrible as it may sound.
ANNUAL PLAN
The annual plan is the most popular and the best bang for your buck for a single yearly payment of $149.88. This would make the monthly cost of the subscription around $12.49, which is very affordable and more than half off the monthly plan price.
In addition, you'll be getting all the benefits of the monthly plan at a significantly discounted price. Plus, purchasing the annual plan will likely keep you more dedicated to the app and consistent with your practice. If you’ve already spent the money on it, you might as well take full advantage of it!
So, you're thinking of downloading Melodics and buying a subscription? Well, before you do that, make sure you take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages that come with this particular application. Then, let's check them out.
PROS:
Easy to Learn - All the lessons start with a slow pace and then slowly build up, allowing you to easily follow and learn all the notes and play them effectively, which is quite essential.
New Weekly Lessons - Every week, you'll be getting access to new lessons and courses designed to make your playing more effective and enhance your level, which is impressive that they keep updating the content and practice songs all the time.
Makes Practice Fun - The most challenging part of learning something is the fact that you can't keep it up. That's what Melodics helps you to do. It makes practice fun and rewarding, which allows you to be engaged at all times and continue wanting to learn.
CONS:
Expensive - The monthly subscription for Melodics might be a little too much for musicians who don't have a lot of money to spend on learning. So, that's a bit of a bummer.
MIDI Instrument Required - Another prerequisite to using Melodics is that you will need a MIDI instrument to use the lessons and practice with them. Melodics requires at least one of their three supported types of MIDI instruments: MIDI Keyboards, MIDI Controllers, and Electronic Drum Kits.
If you're looking to learn how to play MIDI instruments well and you don't want to spend a lot of money on desktop applications, here are some alternatives to Melodics that you might like to use.
1. Simply Piano
Simply Piano is a paid mobile application that allows you to connect your Piano or keyboard with it and learn to play different instruments and notes of your favorite songs very quickly. It is more like a game that creates a challenging atmosphere allowing you to learn quickly.
2. Yousician
Yousician is a desktop and mobile application that is your complete music teaching guide. You'll be able to learn different instruments using this application. It comes with step-by-step tutorials and lessons that you can follow and become better at playing instruments.
Piano Academy is a freemium application that has one primary goal — making you a piano hero. You can learn to play different instruments on the Piano and get familiar with notes and songs and how to play them. So for a free application, Piano academy is definitely something you should play around with and get a feel of.
Melodics is a really cool, innovative, and fun application that teaches the art of playing MIDI instruments. Through interactive lessons, courses, feedback, rewards, tutorials from famous artists, plus more — it advances you from a beginner player to a skilled one, in a much shorter time frame than it would if you were learning on your own.
Although some may consider it to be a bit expensive, with all of the features and benefits included with the app, we feel certain that you will find it is worth the investment.
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2 replies to "Melodics Review 2023: Legit Or Waste Of Time?"
I’m a paid subscriber of Melodics but I do not think I will renew my subscription. While I generally like the app overall, the scoring algorithm needs serious work. On some lessons, it penalizes you so much for even the slightest error that even when you play most of the lesson perfectly, you may still not pass the lesson. Because the scoring algorithm is essential to how the app works, it ruins an otherwise good program.
Upon what do you base the assertion that Melodics is Linux compatible? I have been wrestling with getting it to work on Ubuntu Studio for some time now, and I have seen many reports of people having problems and only a couple people who claim to have it working. Even then, it is under Wine, of course.