As a musician, inspiration can hit you on the train, during dinner, or even while you’re driving somewhere. 
Many musicians that I’ve worked with carry some sort of recorder around with them. I know sound designers who always have a device ready for taking samples, and guitarists that hum melodies to themselves when they feel they’ve come up with something original that they want to remember.
Given that we live in a very digitized world, it’s easy to hum and capture a melody, and then email it to yourself or import it later for inspection. SONAR X3’s ARA integration is a great tool for taking melodies and easily converting them to MIDI. Here’s a melody that I recorded off the top of my head by simply humming it to myself:
Once converted into .wav format I added it to SONAR X3. By right-clicking in the track view, I loaded a MIDI Track and dropped the audio file directly onto it. ARA automatically kicked-in and converted it to MIDI instantly. After adjusting the melody to the right meter and pitch inside of the PRV, I set this to a Soft Synth within SONAR. The melody was a bit longer than I liked so I trimmed up the sequence and adjusted it for a 3/4 meter.
Next, I pulled up Z3TA+2 and found a great lead tone. Once that was done I threw down some automation – modulating one of the filter’s resonance. This produced a killer lead tone that I can now use to expand on. Regardless of style, SONAR X3’s quick Audio to MIDI conversion is a great feature thanks to the deep integration of ARA technology by Celemony and Cakewalk.
Get Melodyne Essential with SONAR X3 Studio or Producer.
More on the The Cakewalk Blog:
Developer’s Notes: SONAR X3 ARA Integration
SONAR X3 Quicktip: Make Your Vocals Thicker
SONAR X3 Quicktip: Easy Audio to MIDI Conversion
SONAR X3 Quicktip: Drum Replacement with ARA Integration and Addictive Drums
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