it sounds like a good start to a zelda dungeon theme..... but 4 seconds to loop probably isn't enough.

what about expanding it out? repetition is a good thing in chiptunes and punk rock, don't get me wrong. but you need more than one musical phrase repeated ad infinitum to stay interesting.

try running that same loop again, but change up the notes at the end of the phrase to other notes within the same key, and make those be two parts of one musical phrase, like.... the verse. then come up with similar complimentary musical phrase for the chorus.... it doesn't need to be drastically different, but a little bit of variety goes a long way. the two phrase could be repeated twice, then write a short turn around for the end of the loop.

i like the feel of what you have though, it is definately very zelda dungeon-y

what are you composing with?

Why wouldn't you just include the extended version here as well?

well i don't know petaporon at all but....  the new version has three "musical phrases"

1 DUN! (That A chord) doo-dee-doodoo-dun-da

2 DUN! (That A chord) doo-da-dee-dum-deo-doo (the same as 1 but with a different ending note)

3 DUN! (That A chord) bum bum boooooo (i like that this 3rd phrase is staying in the bass, in contrast to the others)

IMO There should be fourth phrase as the "turn around"

As far as i can tell, and my pitch ear sucks, but it's in A harmonic minor? A chord in that scale that would be complimentary would be E7 (EDBE). That has the benefit (atleast in my punk rock training) to being based on the 5th interval from the root of the key, A. 5ths are always good. Always.

Try something like this for a fourth phrase as the turn around

4 DUN (E power chord EB with D B E kind of arpeggiated the way you did it in phrase 1, instead of that A ((minor i think?)) chord you used before) B B DD B A that last A is not in the E7 chord, but it leads from the B that is both the 2nd interval of your underlying A minor key, and the third interval of your E7 key, to the A that is the note that is defining your composition, since that is what key you are playing in. So it kind of goes backward in the A minor scale from the halfway point which is where the E is basically sitting, to the root of it, taking you back to the beginning of the song. That makes a loop.

I woud suggest you do that same thing two or four times.

A

phrase 1, phrase 2, phrase 3, phrase 4

B

phrase 1 same as before, phrase 2 slightly different accent notes, phrase 3 slightly different accent notes, phrase 4 same as before

C

phrase 1, phrase 2, phrase 3, phrase 4, identical to A

D

B but with some of the accents notes changed around, but not the last B or A that ends the turnaround

I can't garuntee that will sound good, because I am just going off of some music theory not actually playing and listening to music, which are two different things entirely. but it could be a starting point for you atleast, to flesh this out into a more useful loop.

have you tried beepbox and it's derivatives? i would recommend JummBox. it's a little more complicated than that petaporon piano roll thing, but it is still pretty easy to compose with. And it has the very useful benefit of keeping you in key when you choose a scale, it turns the correct notes in that key purple. i personally hate piano rolls, i much prefer composing with a step sequencer.

learning music theory is actually pretty easy. all you really need to know is

wtf is a scale/key?

wtf is an interval?

what notes from a scale sound good together? this is fundamentally how chords are made.

and you don't need to memorize anything else, because good ol uncle internet has you covered.

if you just throw some notes together and it sounds ok, put those notes in this to see what scale/key it is.

then look up that scale/key with this to see what "western music theory math" says are complimentary chords.

find a hook (which is basically what the first version of your loop here is, a hook. a hook is a musical phrase that is memorable and will be repeated, hopefully with some variations, throughout the composition.) and build your song around the hook. remember what the beatles taught you, verse chorus verse chorus. everything else is extra.

and don't forget to break any rule you see fit whenever you see fit. because music theory is math, and music is anarchy.