Chordscape by Divergent Audio - Opinions?

[Sibelius19]

Sorry, here are the correct links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8EeHvWPX1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P91eP8jLLA

[Sibelius19]

My apologies, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "audio input."
Please forgive me for the misunderstanding.

[Kalamata Kid]

My apologies, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "audio input."
Please forgive me for the misunderstanding.

Somewhere I saw that the Chordscape had an audio input I assume like an audio fx plugin would have. I cannot now find now so perhaps my memory has failed me... again! Sorry!

I will now check out your videos.

[Kalamata Kid]

Erick,

Very detailed videos.
Will come in very handy.

Thanks for all your help.

[Lind0n]

Hi Kalamata Kid,
I'm not Lindon, but I think I can answer some of these questions.
Regarding audio-input, it is not a real-time effects processor for live audio. However, you can load your own samples into it, and I've made a couple videos showing how to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=Y8EeHvWPX1E
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=7P91eP8jLLA

That being said, it comes with 811 sounds, which can be loaded in any of the 4 "source" slots.

I'm not very familiar with Multi-touch capabilities, so I'll let Lindon handle that one.
I know it can accept multiple midi-control messages simultaneously (and these can be assigned to almost any parameter in the instrument).

The sale ends on the 31st of August.
Hope that helps!

--Erick McNerney

Sibelius19,

Thanks for the help.

What is the audio input for?

Tried the two links and got
"You must create a channel to upload videos. Create a channel"

OK first multi-touch.

Chordscape is a Kontakt 5.5+ instrument, you will need Kontakt 5.5 FULL (not the player) - if you have Kontakt libraries from other developers that you can use multi-touch with then Chordscape will be the same - but nothing in its development was made for -or to avoid - multi-touch. It's really down to Kontakt supporting it. As We dont have multi-touch devices we cant test this.

Audio Input
As Erick says its not an effects processor but an instrument so there is no Audio input. It's a Kontakt instrument, and as Erick says you can load your own sounds into it to be processed - see his videos.

End of Sale date
I think this is end of August - so only a few days to go everyone!


Finally this:

What is the audio input for?

Tried the two links and got
"You must create a channel to upload videos. Create a channel"

Er..... are you trying to upload a video showing the thing you are trying? Where on the Kontakt UI are you trying to use an Audio Input?

[tatanka]

Hi,

I really tried to use it the "intended" way but still find it very hard to handle with the "target" of making something like a "song".

So an idea for the 1.1 (or later) which should be easy to implement:

- if midi could not "come in" the way it usually does, why not at least let it come OUT ?

So if you could implement some midi drag and drop export (like infundibulum, cracklefield, at least his - SzCz - FREE script) we could use this for at least exporting the sequencer with right notes/scale to add a base, a pluck.....

I have tried to just render the output in waveform - that often works with kontakt instrument sequencers - but not in this case (thing you have not "opened" midi out or whatever is needed for this) but thats a special function from this daw so a simple midi drag and drop record/export of the sequenced stuff would really, really be appreciated

[Kalamata Kid]

deleted.
stupid comment

[Lind0n]

Hi,

I really tried to use it the "intended" way but still find it very hard to handle with the "target" of making something like a "song".

So an idea for the 1.1 (or later) which should be easy to implement:

- if midi could not "come in" the way it usually does, why not at least let it come OUT ?

So if you could implement some midi drag and drop export (like infundibulum, cracklefield, at least his - SzCz - FREE script) we could use this for at least exporting the sequencer with right notes/scale to add a base, a pluck.....

I have tried to just render the output in waveform - that often works with kontakt instrument sequencers - but not in this case (thing you have not "opened" midi out or whatever is needed for this) but thats a special function from this daw so a simple midi drag and drop record/export of the sequenced stuff would really, really be appreciated

Well a couple of points here....

You assume the sequencer is generating MIDI notes, its not - its generating re-tuning instructions. Chordscape is actually only generating a single MIDI note - so if you used the "Send to outside world" option in Kontakt(its in the MIDI section of your options panel I think) you would see one MIDI note being retriggered over and over again...- not really a useful MIDI export.

Chordscape generates sounds - drone sounds - you can select specific chords or notes (C, D, Eminor etc.) and use those in your "song" - you can then "move" these notes and chords wherever you like - using either:
- the sequencer
- the repitching keys
- the Pitch control

so you can change the key that Chordscape is playing to suit the key of the song you are in.

What is it that you are missing from the product here?

[tatanka]

Hi Lindon,

evrything is fine now with 1.1

I posted in the other thread and as review on kontakthub I am really, really happy with the 1.1 and its "playability"

The midi output thing was just an idea when it might be to complicated to improve the playability, but it was not, you did more then ever expected, so just forget about that midi thing

[lingyai]

Hi all,

I've listened to the audio demos and those have definitely got my interest, they are flat-out jaw dropping. But I'm wondering how playable it is ? Mainly,

1) Say I've got an existing chord sequence / song in a known key at a fixed bpm which I'd like to play Chordscape over. Is this easy to do?

2) Can I easily "set and forget" Chordscape to give me something in the key of X at Y bpm, so that I'd have basic idea of what to expect (key and tempo-wise) while I play along with another instrument?

2) If it never plays the same thing twice, does it play at least roughly the same thing twice? Otherwise, it would seem that live browsing is pointless because whatever you hear which makes you go "Eureka" will not be heard again when you stop, set the DAW to render the output, and start again? (My DAW doesn't permit live recording of synth output audio.)

Again, it sounds really fantastic, but I'm wondering about its usability / "tameability" in a composition. One could I suppose just have it render 10 different things to audio, find out what they are like after the fact, and then treat the kept take(s) as a static basis for later accompaniment. Which could be ok at times if you're in the mood for that, i.e. letting the instrument direct the song, waiting for happy accidents etc. though it seems (please correct me if I'm wrong) maybe a bit ephemeral for conventional "yo, instrument, do what I say" use.

I'm asking here because, well, ok, I know there is a lot of material out there on Chordscape; the thing is, just the video on the update is over 30 mnutes long, and starts assuming I already know about the instrument, and I am unsure whether even if I watched all of it and any other videos, my questions would be answered (a huge drawback of videos is that they can't be skimmed). My questions I hope are pretty straightforward; can any users advise?

[lingyai]

Hi all,

I've listened to the audio demos and those have definitely got my interest, they are flat-out jaw dropping. But I'm wondering how playable it is ? Mainly,

1) Say I've got an existing chord sequence / song in a known key at a fixed bpm which I'd like to play Chordscape over. Is this easy to do?

2) Can I easily "set and forget" Chordscape to give me something in the key of X at Y bpm, so that I'd have basic idea of what to expect (key and tempo-wise) while I play along with another instrument?

2) If it never plays the same thing twice, does it play at least roughly the same thing twice? Otherwise, it would seem that live browsing is pointless because whatever you hear which makes you go "Eureka" will not be heard again when you stop, set the DAW to render the output, and start again? (My DAW doesn't permit live recording of synth output audio.)

Again, it sounds really fantastic, but I'm wondering about its usability / "tameability" in a composition. One could I suppose just have it render 10 different things to audio, find out what they are like after the fact, and then treat the kept take(s) as a static basis for later accompaniment. Which could be ok at times if you're in the mood for that, i.e. letting the instrument direct the song, waiting for happy accidents etc. though it seems (please correct me if I'm wrong) maybe a bit ephemeral for conventional "yo, instrument, do what I say" use.

I'm asking here because, well, ok, I know there is a lot of material out there on Chordscape; the thing is, just the video on the update is over 30 mnutes long, and starts assuming I already know about the instrument, and I am unsure whether even if I watched all of it and any other videos, my questions would be answered (a huge drawback of videos is that they can't be skimmed). My questions I hope are pretty straightforward; can any users advise?

Anyone?

[Sibelius19]

lingyai,
Sorry you have not had any response on this as of yet.
I thought I was receiving notifications for this forum, so I apologize. I'm sure Glyn and Lindon are swamped and perhaps were in the same boat I am in --simply didn't see the new post. So please know that there has been no intention to ignore you.
I'll try to aswere your questions the best I can:

"1) Say I've got an existing chord sequence / song in a known key at a fixed bpm which I'd like to play Chordscape over. Is this easy to do?"

It is a soundscape generator, but it really isn't an instrument that you can automate to go over top of existing music without any sort of finesse or live playing. I think it's strength actually lies in using it as a foundation of creating new songs/tracks, or even musical vignettes of sorts (think "Boards of Canada"). Very awesome for creating short musical phrases on which to build upon, or even changing up existing tracks (loading them straight into chordscape).

"2) Can I easily "set and forget" Chordscape to give me something in the key of X at Y bpm, so that I'd have basic idea of what to expect (key and tempo-wise) while I play along with another instrument?"

Yes, though it depends on the sample used. Many of the sounds are drones and hold out continuously (no pauses or pitch changes). These are ideal for creating BPM synced sequences (in the dedicated sequencer page). When the sequencer is engaged, the sequence will keep playing continuously, and you can even reset the sequence if need be (to help sync it with your music). Some of the samples are performances in themselves and make it a little trickier to be perfect in their seeming "in-syncness." Though, in my opinion, they still work most of the time because you are able to fool the ear by playing pitch changes with your keyboard or sequencer, thus kind of giving the illusion of being in tempo. As I said earlier, it's a drone generator, and the instruments are not multisampled, so pitches changes will change the speed of the samples.
You can also easily import your own samples if you feel there are some other samples which could be used. The ideal sample is 1min or longer. I've processed full tracks with Chordscape to great effect. You can load the same track into 4 separate slots, then select it to loop different section (in the wrench of kontakt in the sample editor). It basically creates a new continues drone out of an existing track. Anyway, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here.

"3) If it never plays the same thing twice, does it play at least roughly the same thing twice? Otherwise, it would seem that live browsing is pointless because whatever you hear which makes you go "Eureka" will not be heard again when you stop, set the DAW to render the output, and start again? (My DAW doesn't permit live recording of synth output audio.)"

This is not quite true. While it does randomly play different sections of the WAV file, the sounds within that WAV are finite, and many of the sounds feature subtle changes over time. So for the most part, the changes will be very subtle and will not usually involve a lot of pitch changes (unless programmed with the sequencer, pitch knob, pitch modulation window, or played manually with your keys). So at default, there is a relative amount of consistency with any given sample. However, some of the atonal samples are not so consistent, and feature pitch changes --these would be ideal for when you want to experiment a little more. You will almost never run into the problem where your DAW renders something completely different than what you are hearing.

I hope that helps a bit. Most the changes in Chordscape 1.1 I tried to cover in the first few minutes of the new video. And I tried to cover the most important changes. I think the official walkthrough showing the first version was much better than mine, so I would refer you to that one to get a good foundation of what Chordscape does overall, and then the 30min one to see most of the new changes. I apologize if I missed something.

Take care,
Erick

First Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8vhAfsCaPw&t=7s

Update Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zYPn1nX5Lc&t=984s

Using your own samples
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8EeHvWPX1E&t=838s

[Ambient Mechanics]

Any chance of you updating that last YT video ("Using your own samples")? The link above no longer works.

[Sibelius19]

New video on using custom samples here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUnISh4tf3U&t=299s