|
All good answers.
It's all about the harmonic structures, and which octave you want to start on. Don't start too high or too low - too high will hurt your ears, and the harmonics of notes that are too low will clash with those of other instruments that you use. The latter I know from trial and error 
As far as patterning your notes, there are a lot of possibilities, and the more steps your arpeggio has (most have 16) the more combinations are possible. Chords are one way of going about things. Or you could leave the chords to the pads and harmonise a little. To do that, as Frase said, music theory (especially about "chromatics") will help a LOT.
If you're a university student, see if you can get into a basic computer music course (if the nearest Uni has one or if you can afford to come to Victoria to take courses with Dr. Schloss). I took one a couple of years ago and it helped me with everything from harmonics and chromatics to how to work LFOs and use filters, and more complicated stuff, too.
And as PsyCode hinted at, it doesn't hurt to fiddle around a little
If you use VST sequencer instruments, start simple with something like Energy, then once you master that, work your way up to something like Motion or Snip. Of course, there are plenty of other VSTis to choose from, available at places like http://www.kvraudio.com
Happy sequencing! 
___________________
DC76
|