FR : Chord Track Bass Notes and More Chord Types

[mtelesha]

Features wanted that work when I transpose a song

1) Ability to add a bass note to a chord i.e. C/E to form a compound/slash chord. I think over 50% of my songs use them. They are very common in song writing.

2) Have more chords available in the Numbering System. Most painfully missing to me is suspend chords, C2 and C4. I think suspended chords are actually more important than the C7. I also find I miss having the ability to add a 4th note to the Triad similar to bass note. Having C6, C9, C11 and augments and diminished chords would be great. Thank I can't make a C7 dominate minor makes me sad. Sometimes songs have just one chord for the whole verse and as a keyboard player I am rotating C, C2, C4, C5, C6, C7 throughout the verse. To have that locked into the song would make a big difference for me.

3) Customize Chords - Let me build the chords I want and name them what I want. That would fix 1 and 2 and would be the ownership to me. Heck if I could just drop a chord from Scaler VST into the midi track, select the notes and then right click and 'save chord as' would be amazingly handy and efficient.

4) Razor tool for Chord Track (Just a paper cut annoyance). I prefer to organize my songs by verse, chord, bridge. Sometimes the progression is the same for the different song parts. I like to use the marker track for each part and I would want my chord track to be the same as the marker. Currently I make a new copy of the previous part.


5) BIG DREAM: Chord Detection and the chords are an overlay on top of the audio waveform. Then I have the ability to copy the chords to the Chord Track. Studio One 4 Pro can do this and it makes doing remixes much easier. The chords are never dead on but it speeds up the setup process by 30 to 60 minutes for me.

[FigBug]

3) Customize Chords - Let me build the chords I want and name them what I want. That would fix 1 and 2 and would be the ownership to me. Heck if I could just drop a chord from Scaler VST into the midi track, select the notes and then right click and 'save chord as' would be amazingly handy and efficient.

You can do this now. Select the notes, and "create chord" appears in the property panel. If you share what you create with me I can add them to the app.

[mtelesha]

> You can do this now. Select the notes, and "create chord" appears in the property panel. If you share what you create with me I can add them to the app.

Sure if you don't plan on ever transposing. I work with different singers and their vocal range is different, as should be expected. I can't use something that can't be transposed. I work 100% with MIDI for specifically this reason.

[jabe]

Does that mean the extra options for chords not named with the I, ii, iii, IV , V system don't apply to ones named like that?

[FigBug]

If you set a chord to I/ii/iii/IV/V it will follow the key and automatically set the chord to major/minor as needed.

If you want to use one of the other chord types (built in or custom) you must set the root note, and the type of chord you want. Then it won't update the root note as the key changes.

Is what people really want to the ability to set a chord to (roman numeral) + (chord type)? Then the root note will change when the key changes but the chord type will stay fixed. (Chords may then be wrong if you switch from major to minor)

[Stuttaton]

If you set a chord to I/ii/iii/IV/V it will follow the key and automatically set the chord to major/minor as needed.

If you want to use one of the other chord types (built in or custom) you must set the root note, and the type of chord you want. Then it won't update the root note as the key changes.

Is what people really want to the ability to set a chord to (roman numeral) + (chord type)? Then the root note will change when the key changes but the chord type will stay fixed. (Chords may then be wrong if you switch from major to minor)

I think the current system is a good compromise.
If you need to transpose the track, you can unselect auto update and transpose the entire midi clip manually, to the desired key.

[mtelesha]

Well I need to check on this. I want Chord track to just be a virtual capo with custom chords. Why would it matter if it is minor or major if all you are doing is transposing? I have the song in B and the singer needs the song lowered and I transpose to A. All it is is 2 semitones lower and the progression will be fine just like using a capo on a guitar.

[Stuttaton]

An alternative would be to add a transpose parameter to the track or clip parameters. I think sequencer programs I used in the past had this. Then you could just dial in the needed transposition.

[Peter Widdicombe]

I find I frequently use the "Midi modifier" to do this - particularly for piano, where a 5-octave keyboard defaults in most .vst to cover the "tinkly" notes at the top of the range rather than the lower octave I like. But an octave override in track parameters for MIDI does seem logical ?

[spoontechnique]

Right now there's two systems in play, the Roman numeral system and chords defined by root. You have to use both in many cases. In my opinion, either one should have everything, or both should have everything. Going back and forth is jarring. And things like bass notes should definitely be included. Someone mentioned Scaler, and I think Scaler is a good system to imitate for improving the chord track.

Also, support for more scales or for custom scales would be neat.

[chico.co.uk]

I'd prefer to stick with roman numerals, with the menu extending out right from i, ii, iii chords with all the choices of sus4, maj9 and so on. If you were in the key of G, and it ended up displaying "i sus4" that'd be great (rather than G sus4)

As an added treat, if you could toggle the view between it showing roman numerals, and the actual tone, so it displayed "i sus4", but you could toggle it to show "G sus4", that'd be perfick

[FigBug]

I'd prefer to stick with roman numerals, with the menu extending out right from i, ii, iii chords with all the choices of sus4, maj9 and so on.

I will most likely do this, I can't guarantee a time frame, sometime after W10 most likely.

[Stuttaton]

But sometimes you use chords that can't be expressed with roman numerals. Chords based on non-scale roots, for instance.

[FigBug]

True, for those you'll still need to manually specify the root note and they won't automatically transpose. Is it a common enough workflow that'd you'd need automatic transposing for non scale chords?

[Stuttaton]

True, for those you'll still need to manually specify the root note and they won't automatically transpose. Is it a common enough workflow that'd you'd need automatic transposing for non scale chords?

I rarely transpose, after I have chosen a key. If I have to transpose a finished song, I would probably just transpose the midi data with the transposition function in the midi editor. Or even dial in transposition on the synth.