Creating Sounds for Electronic Music (Coursera)

Creating Sounds for Electronic Music (Coursera)

What you’ll achieve: In this project-centered course*, you will create sounds and use them in your own musical compositions. Whether you're an aspiring producer, composer, or hobbyist, this course will help you gain skills in music production and confidence using software synthesizers. Along with your classmates, you will create a massive database of designed sounds, or patches, to use in your compositions. As part of the course, you will work with a free version of FXpansion Strobe 2.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

What you’ll need to get started:
This course is designed for learners who are familiar with music production basics, and who have access to some basic music production equipment. Specifically, you should have experience with a digital audio workstation that supports VST, AAX, or AU plugins (Introduction to Music Production or Pro Tools Basics are recommended if you do not have this experience). You will also need a MIDI keyboard or controller (such as an oxygen 8), a digital audio workstation, such as Pro Tools, and FXpansion Strobe 2 (a free 90-day demo will be provided for Coursera learners in this course).
What You Will Learn

  • Create custom synthesizer patches
  • Incorporate your custom patches into your electronic music
  • Improve your music through editing.

Course 3 of 4 in the Electronic Music Production Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Welcome to Creating Sounds for Electronic Music!
Welcome to your Berklee course! Before you begin the course, we will cover all the details about the course and what you'll need to know to get the most out of your Berklee course.
Creating A Mock Up
This week, we'll start working in Strobe 2 and create a mock up of our song. We will focus on creating drum and bass patches to use in our songs. We'll also go over the form we will be using for our electronic etudes.

WEEK 2
Creating Draft 1
This week, we'll look at organ, lead, keys, and arpeggiator patches. We'll start researching and adding these patches to our etudes.

WEEK 3
Creating Draft 2
This week, we'll learn about pads, synths, unison, and chord patches. We'll research these patches and add them to our second draft. We'll also take a look at changing something drastic in our etudes.

WEEK 4
Creating Draft 3
This week, we'll create our third draft. We'll add special FX and texture to our etudes. We'll also expand on the 40-measure form and begin to develop our musical ideas further.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

History of Rock, Part One (Coursera) Coursera
University of Rochester

History of Rock, Part One (Coursera)

This course, part 1 of a 2-course sequence, examines the history of rock, primarily as it unfolded in the United States, from the days before rock (pre-1955) to the end of the 1960s. This course covers the music of Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and many more artists, with an emphasis both on cultural context and on the music itself. We will also explore how developments in the music business and in technology helped shape the ways in which styles developed.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Developing Your Musicianship (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Developing Your Musicianship (Coursera)

Learn the basic concepts and approaches needed to understand, create, and perform contemporary music. If you have a passion for music and are curious about how it works, or if you are a musician who learned to play by ear without formal study, this course will provide you with an engaging introduction to key concepts and approaches needed to understand, create, and perform contemporary music. Taught by Berklee College of Music professor George W. Russell, Jr., the course includes six lessons that delve into harmony and ear training—two areas of intensive focus for every entering Berklee student.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Produção final do músico moderno (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Produção final do músico moderno (Coursera)

A indústria musical está passando por enormes mudanças e, por causa disso, os músicos precisam cada vez mais de habilidades em várias e diferentes áreas para ter sucesso. O objetivo da Especialização do Músico Moderno é oferecer aos alunos noções básicas sobre teoria e produção musical e composição e disponibilizar as ferramentas necessárias para escrever e produzir canções originais.

Oct 5th 2026
4 Weeks
Korean Music, A Philosophical Exploration (Coursera) Coursera
Sungkyunkwan University - SKKU

Korean Music, A Philosophical Exploration (Coursera)

This course introduces Korean philosophy projected into the subject of Korean music, especially K-POP, which is drawing global attention today. We confirm that Korea's unique philosophy was the basis for maintaining originality while being universally accepted by many people, and seek the role of philosophy for the continuous development and spread of Korean music.

Oct 5th 2026
5-12 Weeks
In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting (Coursera) Coursera
The Museum of Modern Art

In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting (Coursera)

Want to know how some of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists made abstract paintings? This course offers an in-depth, hands-on look at the materials, techniques, and thinking of seven New York School artists, including Willem de Kooning, Yayoi Kusama, Agnes Martin, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Ad Reinhardt, and Mark Rothko. Through studio demonstrations and gallery walkthroughs, you’ll form a deeper understanding of what a studio practice means and how ideas develop from close looking, and you’ll gain a sensitivity to the physical qualities of paint.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop (Coursera) Coursera
California Institute of the Arts

Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop (Coursera)

Why just write poems when you can write better ones? This course is built on the notion that the most exciting writing begins after the first draft. It is specifically for folks who believe that writing poems just to express oneself is like using the Internet just for email. After all, poetry can change the way you and your readers think of the world and its inhabitants; it can break new ground for language; turn a blank sheet of paper into a teeming concert of voices and music.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
20世纪西方音乐 Western Music in the 20th Century (Coursera) Coursera
Peking University

20世纪西方音乐 Western Music in the 20th Century (Coursera)

课程所涉不仅涵盖古典音乐如新古典主义、表现主义、民族主义等流派,也对爵士乐、摇滚乐与流行音乐在20世纪的风格情状投以深切关注;在将包括中国音乐在内的世界各国民族民间音乐纳入20世纪大背景予以研究探索之同时,关于大型综合艺术品例如歌剧、音乐剧、电影音乐的考察与分析,也设为专题,绝无偏废。

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Guitar for Beginners (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Guitar for Beginners (Coursera)

Grasp the essentials needed to begin playing acoustic or electric guitar. You'll learn an easy approach to get you playing quickly, through a combination of exploring the instrument, performance technique, and basic music theory. For students who have long thought about picking up the acoustic or electric guitar, this course will provide an easy-access foundation that will get you playing.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Richard Schechner's Introduction to Performance Studies (Coursera) Coursera
New York University

Richard Schechner's Introduction to Performance Studies (Coursera)

Performance Studies: An Introduction explores the wide world of performance--from theatre, dance, and music to ritual, play, political campaigns, social media, and the performances of everyday life. Performance studies also ranges across cultures--Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas. And it spans historical periods from the art of the paleolithic caves to YouTube and the avantgarde. This course is devised by Richard Schechner, one of the pioneers of performance studies, in dialogue with more than a dozen expert scholars and artists.

Sep 28th 2026
13-24 Weeks