Numerology 2.1b1

[jim]

Here it is! The ChordSeq will probably still see some changes, such as in the organization of the chord families, or the behavior of the arp modes, so don't be surprised if any projects you make with it now sound a bit different later on.

URL: http://www.five12.com/Numerology-2.1b1.dmg

Numerology 2.1b1 Release Notes:

Chord Sequencer

The CordSeq is a polyphonic sequencer where you can sequence chords by specifying them as degrees of a scale, as commonly taught in music theory classes. The ChordSeq gives you independent control over several aspects of each chord that you can "program" for each step, including the degree, family and type (i.e. major, minor, various 7th chords, etc), inversion, spacing and octave offset. In addition to the standard behavior of playing all notes in a chord simutaneously, you can arpeggiate chords, play them as 'strums', or as broken chords. Here is a quick summary of the new parameters:

- Chord Notes : this is a read-only display of the notes in the chord, sorted by pitch. They are displayed both as their semitone offset from the base pitch, and in common note names.

- Degree : the notes generated are in the given degree of the scale as determined by the Key of the sequence.

- Type & Family : this is a two-level browsing system for choosing a chord: Chords are grouped into families, of which there are currently four. The Dyad family includes all two-note intervals including unison (where only one note is played), and the octave. Triads include major, minor, augmented and diminished. The "Tri+1" family includes all variations of the triads where one note is repeated an octave over the chord. The "7ths" group includes all 10 7th chords composed of four notes.

- Inversion : this performs the common musical inversion process on the chord, in either positive (shifting up an octave) or down (shifting down an octave).

- Spacing : Although no single parameter could cover all spacing options, this one seems to do a good job of covering the most common ones. The lowest note is always left alone. As the spacing is increased, the top notes are shifted up an octave, one by one, until all notes but the bottom one are shifted to the higher octave. Then the process repeats. This one is probably best understood by just playing with it....

- Octave : per-step octave shifting for the notes in a chord. Very handy when doing inversions and spacing.

- Arp Modes : This parameter is in the bottom-left corner of the module and allows you to re-target the gate divide mechanism to create arpeggiations, strums and broken chords. There are three new modes:

Strum : Notes are played one after another. The "Strum" sequence value determines how quickly those notes are played, and the ordering (> 0 for down->up, < 0 for up->down). The speed of the strum is constant regardless of the length of the step or the tempo.

Arpeggiate : Notes are played one after another. The Arpeggiate sequence value determines how quickly those notes are played, and the ordering. The speed of the arpeggio is scaled to match the length of the step.

Broken Chord : Just like the Arpeggiate mode, but all notes are held and released together.

Other than these new parameters, the ChordSeq acts just like the MonoNote and the PolyNote, so you still get all the other goodies.

Known Issues:
- Inversions for the "Tri+1" chord family need to be revised, as those chords all span more than one octave, inversions with the current algorithm often result in doubled notes.

- The names for the 7th chords could probably be cleaned up a bit.

Future Expansions:

- I plan to bump it up to 6 notes per chord, so we can do guitar chords.

- I plan to add more chords to the default library (suggestions welcome!)

- There will be some way (undetermined yet), for you to specify custom chords.

More New Modules: Input/Output : MidiOut, AudioOut

- There is now a new module group, "Input / Output", with the first two of what will become several dedicated I/O modules. The first two modules are the MidiOut and the AudioOut, which allow you to feed MIDI or Audio signals to any destination from within a stack.

- There is one issue with the MidiOut module: the MIDI meter is not working yet

[yowza]

Jim,

This chord sequencer is awesome I can't wait to fully check it out.

There is one thing I immediately noticed when I played with it. When you select a mode like Dorian, I expected the chords to follow the mode but they didn't. What I mean by this is if C Dorian is what I have selected then the I chord is Cm, the II chord is Dm, the III chord is Eb major, the IV chord is F major, etc (C dorian is really the Bb major scale starting on C). I guess I expected the chords to follow the mode automatically by default with the option to change chord quality (Major, Minor, various 7th chords) across the top to allow for chords outside the mode. I can also see the eventual need for chords outside the standard 7 scale degrees like bII, bIII, bVI and bVII, etc to allow for modal interchange chords.

One other suggestion for future chord types are slash chords, that is a triad over a different bass note, for example C/F (C major triad over F bass note). Maybe your triad +1 will give me that but I haven't had time to look at it yet.

I have never seen anything like this whole chord sequencer before in any other music program except for maybe something like Band in a Box so you are definitely on to something very unique here.

My comments are not meant as criticism just my first observations.
Thanks for the great work!!

[sunsinger]

Jim,

Kudos on this. The chord sequencer is a very well thought out, and beautifully expressive tool. Yet another feature that makes Numerology a sequencer that stands in a class by itself.

Bravo!!!

[M.A.N.U.]

Whoaaa ! This is exactly what I need ! Now I don't have to purchase SB Consequence. Great and Thanks !

[shamburglar]

Jim... you're my hero.

[lut lei]

Originally Posted by jim

More New Modules: Input/Output : MidiOut, AudioOut

- There is now a new module group, "Input / Output", with the first two of what will become several dedicated I/O modules. The first two modules are the MidiOut and the AudioOut, which allow you to feed MIDI or Audio signals to any destination from within a stack.

WOW! Thanks. This beta is incredible. The chord seq is crazy! And thanks for adding the command-P (panic) shortcut.

[jim]

Originally Posted by yowza

There is one thing I immediately noticed when I played with it. When you select a mode like Dorian, I expected the chords to follow the mode but they didn't. What I mean by this is if C Dorian is what I have selected then the I chord is Cm, the II chord is Dm, the III chord is Eb major, the IV chord is F major, etc (C dorian is really the Bb major scale starting on C). I guess I expected the chords to follow the mode automatically by default with the option to change chord quality (Major, Minor, various 7th chords) across the top to allow for chords outside the mode. I can also see the eventual need for chords outside the standard 7 scale degrees like bII, bIII, bVI and bVII, etc to allow for modal interchange chords.

Yes, this is an issue I'm still working on. This happens even in major mode, for instance, where II, III and VI are minor, and IV is diminished. And once you start to throw in guitar chords, which vary wildly based on the key and the general location on the fretboard, then the headache really starts. My guess is that I will implement some heuristics that will auto-select the most appropriate chord type given a degree and a family. Of course, that would be an option that can be turned off.

As for chords outside of the 'normal' scale degrees, I'm not sure what to offer there, though you can always tweak the base key (via preset changes or param mod), and that would seem to be appropriate if you are performing a modulation.

Originally Posted by yowza

One other suggestion for future chord types are slash chords, that is a triad over a different bass note, for example C/F (C major triad over F bass note). Maybe your triad +1 will give me that but I haven't had time to look at it yet.

For now, I think the best option there would be to incorporate a separate MonoNote sequencer (this is a modular system, after all). Later on, the ability to enter custom scales will help to accommodate that. But, don't hesitate to bring it up again if you start to see something of a missed opportunity...

Originally Posted by yowza

I have never seen anything like this whole chord sequencer before in any other music program except for maybe something like Band in a Box so you are definitely on to something very unique here.

My comments are not meant as criticism just my first observations.
Thanks for the great work!!

No worries -- I'm all game for feedback of all sorts. I am by no means a master at chord theory, and expect and encourage feedback from anyone who has experience in this area. It is very much new territory -- an attempt to distill a complex subject into something that is easy to use and respects western musical tradition, while still allowing the flexibility and potential for creative abuse that Numerology is so good at.

Cheers,
Jim

[yowza]

One way you might be able to implement all chords including those out of the key is instead of having only the seven scale degrees, have all 12 chromatic degrees in the drop down list I, bII, II, bIII, III, IV, bV, V, bVI,VI, bVII, and VII. Then when you pick one of the modes or scales on the left it automatically by default picks the correct chord type for the rest of the scale degrees based on the root note and which scale/mode you select. In my earlier example of C dorian, the Eb Major chord is actually the bIII not III from the C root and by having all 12 degrees in the list it would accommodate this as well as let users change on the fly from the scale's default chord type. For example in C major this one time I might want to play a tritone substitution Db7 (bII7) instead of the V7 chord G7 which is a fairly common chord substitution in jazz.

The reason I suggest doing it this way is there are many times a song is in a particular key and it needs a chord from outside the key very briefly but not long enough to change key or create a new stack etc.
Since all chord/scale relationships are based on simple relationships, it seems like once you had the formulas in there and you pick a base note then the formulas are based from there.

I was playing around with the arpeggiate and strum options and this is way cool. One thing I did notice with the strum option is that after the actual strum, the notes in the chord cut off rather quickly and I couldn't figure out how to make them sustain after the initial strum. I'll keep playing around with that.

As far as your mention of guitar chords all over the neck and how complicated that might be to implement in N2, I'm mainly a guitarist and I use the same chords everyone elsedoes. I just have the limitations of the instrument ie no more than six notes at a time, the fairly small three and a half octave range and other mainly chord voicing limitations so if I were you I wouldn't necessarily worry about that too much but that's me. When you mentioned 5 and 6 note chords my first thought was 9th and 13th chords which would be great to have but that opens up the doorway to the overwhelming number of other types of chords out there.

I did realize after I typed that earlier post that I could get the slash cords very easily with a mono note playing the bass note along with the chord sequencer, I guess I was so zoned in on the chord sequencer itself I forgot I could add other modules. Doh!

Pardon my ramblings, I don't have any idea what all this would involve code wise so sorry if I'm asking a lot!

Thanks a lot for the great work!!!

[interpolate]

All I have to say is 'wow i love it, great work!'

[twoandtwo]

seems great so far!
i wanted to send out the root notes of the chords to another instrument. but the "pitch out" of the chordseq won´t send note values to other modules.
or i am doing it wrong... anyone got this to work?