Do any synths have "intelligent" oscillator pitch controls?

[zerocrossing]

I find it easier just to play chords myself, rather than program them. I'm more intelligent than the intelligent pitch controls Plus my fingers on keys are more effective as an input device!

And if you want a chord with one key press, there are various midi tools that store chords as played. They are fast and easy to put say a 4 chord progression on 4 keys.

No, I get that, but what I'm talking about would have a totally different feel. Almost like paraphony as opposed to polyphony, as all the oscillators would be going though the same VCF and VCA and also be able to have different waveforms, levels, etc.

Ahh... you specifically want paraphony.

I would still play the chords with a synth and then put a single filter after the synth to make a paraphonic type sound.

I suspect there is just not enough interest in that to warrant developers building a system of paraphonic chord functionality into their synths. And then of course it is limited to that synth.

Not specifically paraphony. You know how every synth comes with a preset called "5th Lead," that's got the second oscillator tuned a fifth above the first? Imagine you tell the synth that you're playing in Am, and it auto adjusts that second oscillator to play different intervals based on your note input.

[zerocrossing]

Falcon.

Oooo, well there's a reason to finally crack that manual! Thanks.

(Every synth should have this)

[parawave]

I thought about implementing this feature, but the thing is, there are just too many chord variations to be used swiftly. And in an actual music production you want to switch between them and also use chord inversions or things like omit 5th and 7th. Most synthesizer only have 2-3 oscillators, so you can forget about 6th, 7th and 9th chords, which are commonly needed.

That's the reason why RAPID has the "Key Filter" functionality in each layer, not each oscillator.
In the end, the user is not really interested in playing just one chord. He wants to distribute multiple sounds or waveforms to different notes. Let me give an example. So given four different sounds:

1.Layer = Sine
2.Layer = Tri
3.Layer = Saw
4.Layer = Square

No matter what 4 note chord variation is played, you want each waveform mapped to only ONE key input.

1.Layer = filter lowest note
2.Layer = .. 2nd note
3.Layer = .. 3rd note
4.Layer = .. 4th note

If you now input, C7 = C E G A#
It distributes the notes to different layers, C = sine, E = tri, G = saw, A# = square

Or for, Cm6 = C D# G A
It's, C = sine, D# = tri, G = saw, A = square

Without changing parameters or specifying the chord. Just input your chord. This way, with 8 layers, it's easy to build 13th chords. I think this is a good compromise.

I often find myself filtering the lowest note, so the bass part of a patch only reacts to the root note of a chord.

[recursive one]

So basically Rapid allows playing chords where each chord step is played by different osicllator (sitting in different layers) and where the chord structure (minor, major, sustained, etc) corresponds to the chord currently played from keyboard of rpogrammed in midi, right? And then you can use a common filter, common insert, common effects by routing all oscillator layers to an additional layer.

If so, that's perfect.

[parawave]

So basically Rapid allows playing chords where each chord step is played by different osicllator (sitting in different layers) and where the chord structure (minor, major, sustained, etc) corresponds to the chord currently played from keyboard of rpogrammed in midi, right? And then you can use a common filter, common insert, common effects by routing all oscillator layers to an additional layer.

If so, that's perfect.

Yes. Take a look at the patch "Pads/Valkyrie Strings" or "Various/Fat-tastic (4 Note)". They use this feature.

[recursive one]

Great, that's some very smart design . Will look into the presets.

[Urs]

Last night, I was thinking about how much I hate using an oscillator to do House chords, or fifth intervals. Hate it. Then it hit me, why the hell don't all modern synths just have an intelligent harmony mode, where you tell the oscillators, "I'm going to play in Cm" and then all the oscs after the first one will adjust their interval accordingly. Does this exist? If not, why?! Guitar players and vocalists have been using this tech in harmonizers forever, surely it would be trivial to do it on an oscillator level.

I hear you. We're working on a concept that gives you all the flexibility per oscillator - if you so wish - without becoming tedious. Might pop up before Z3, not sure. Probably Z3 material.

(... is because I've become such a slut for Eurocrack, I can't imagine a patch without a uScale or two in it, with sequences and melodies modulating through all sorts of territories, but always in the scale *I* want)

[Andywanders]

http://www.codefn42.com/chordz/index.html

Chordz is a VST plugin that allows you to trigger full chords by playing single notes. Each trigger note is associated with a separate chord. Each chord may consist of any number of notes. Play complicated chord progressions with one finger, with a MIDI keyboard or a drum-pad, or trigger chords from single notes added in your DAW's piano roll.

[fluffy_little_something]

Is that intended for people who suck at playing keyboards?
All that's missing is a button that spits out a complete #1 tune

[Urs]

Is that intended for people who suck at playing keyboards?
All that's missing is a button that spits out a complete #1 tune

I think it might also be about making modular music and algorithmic composition more bearable. I recently did a patch where the melody (if one can call it that) was played by an LFO with a sample & hold and a mixer, and instead of a keyboard I simply turned the gain knob in the mixer to "guide" the melody. That would have totally sucked without a quantizer.

[fluffy_little_something]

Hm, I only use S&H for alien or bird chatter sounds, in other words not very often

[zerocrossing]

Falcon.

How so? I'm in it now and I have the analog stack loaded up and I just see the regular settings.

[zerocrossing]

I thought about implementing this feature, but the thing is, there are just too many chord variations to be used swiftly. And in an actual music production you want to switch between them and also use chord inversions or things like omit 5th and 7th. Most synthesizer only have 2-3 oscillators, so you can forget about 6th, 7th and 9th chords, which are commonly needed.

That's the reason why RAPID has the "Key Filter" functionality in each layer, not each oscillator.
In the end, the user is not really interested in playing just one chord. He wants to distribute multiple sounds or waveforms to different notes. Let me give an example. So given four different sounds:

1.Layer = Sine
2.Layer = Tri
3.Layer = Saw
4.Layer = Square

No matter what 4 note chord variation is played, you want each waveform mapped to only ONE key input.

1.Layer = filter lowest note
2.Layer = .. 2nd note
3.Layer = .. 3rd note
4.Layer = .. 4th note

If you now input, C7 = C E G A#
It distributes the notes to different layers, C = sine, E = tri, G = saw, A# = square

Or for, Cm6 = C D# G A
It's, C = sine, D# = tri, G = saw, A = square

Without changing parameters or specifying the chord. Just input your chord. This way, with 8 layers, it's easy to build 13th chords. I think this is a good compromise.

I often find myself filtering the lowest note, so the bass part of a patch only reacts to the root note of a chord.

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. What I'm saying is that instead of having two or three oscillators statically set to intervals, you have the second, third, fourth, etc, pick their own intervals based on a predefined scale. I may not understand the full complexity of implementing that, but it's a very common and standard thing on a lot of "intelligent" harmony processors, except with my idea, you don't have to process anything as you're able to generate the oscillators at what ever frequency you want.

[zerocrossing]

Last night, I was thinking about how much I hate using an oscillator to do House chords, or fifth intervals. Hate it. Then it hit me, why the hell don't all modern synths just have an intelligent harmony mode, where you tell the oscillators, "I'm going to play in Cm" and then all the oscs after the first one will adjust their interval accordingly. Does this exist? If not, why?! Guitar players and vocalists have been using this tech in harmonizers forever, surely it would be trivial to do it on an oscillator level.

I hear you. We're working on a concept that gives you all the flexibility per oscillator - if you so wish - without becoming tedious. Might pop up before Z3, not sure. Probably Z3 material.

(... is because I've become such a slut for Eurocrack, I can't imagine a patch without a uScale or two in it, with sequences and melodies modulating through all sorts of territories, but always in the scale *I* want)

Yeah, I think you get exactly what I'm talking about, and if you're trying to get me more excited about Zebra 3, don't bother. I'm already maxed.

[recursive one]

Rapid has layers, each of them can store up to three oscillators. You may stack several layers each having one oscillator and set up the voicing so that when you hit a chord, the 1st layer will play the lower note of the chord, 2nd layer will play the note which is next to lower, etc.

So you essentially get what you are after except that your chords are not bound to certain predefined key, you may play whatever chords you feel like playing on your keyboard and each of these chords will have different steps played by different oscillators.