This idea is one of TommyC's. Because it was buried in the middle of a different wishlist post, though, I thought I'd give it a bit of air with a thread all of it's own.

It's a great idea. A *REALLY* great idea.

Tommy suggested that a pop-up menu of notes could be added to BIAB so that it would be possible to click on the individual notes that one wanted to use to make a chord. This could also incorporate the bass note as a slash chord. Maybe something like below.



Thanks Tommy,
Noel

P.S. Clarifying Matt's post below, this is a request for a CHORD MAKER

This is a great idea.

I missed the initial message so if TommyC already suggested this then I apologize for the redundancy but it would also be nice to be able to save the chords we make. That would solve most all of those “how do I get this chord” question.

A BIG +1

Is this request for a chord finder or a chord maker?

Chord finder: Are you looking for something that could do what MIDI Chord Detection in the Windows menu does, just without requiring a keyboard?

Chord maker: Or are you trying to create your own custom chord type? That one has problems because it could work in MIDI but would thoroughly stump the RealTracks.

Hi Matt, I had assumed that this was a chord maker. Working in midi only would be fine by me.

Hi Matt,

Thank you for pointing out the lack of clarity. The intention was for a chord maker I have modified the original post.

Regards,
Noel

OK, that's clear. Thanks. Would you mind if I flesh this out a bit more?

On a chord maker like this, would it have intelligence? In other words, would it know if you spelled a chord type that is already in BIAB?

For example, suppose I check the boxes for C, E and G. Then I presume it would ask me what I want to name this chord type, and I, not understanding music theory, call it "CMaj7b5". Not only is this name wrong for those notes, but both the requested chord and the new name are already supported. What happens?

And, as Mario said, this would be great to have for MIDI. No question there. But how would the program handle a custom chord if a RealTrack were applied? My guess is, it would drop out. I base this guess on experience in early beta testing of certain RealTrack piano parts that did not understand a XmMaj7 chord (quite common in Brazilian music, so it really stopped me cold). The piano just dropped out at that chord, even if it were a single chord for four measures. I would have expected something to play, perhaps from some conversion table. It didn't, so I reported it and PG Music fixed it. But in this new "make your own chord" utility, you would also have to supply the conversion, yes? For example, a "Cm7b13" should be played as a Cm7, say.

I'm not trying to downplay this idea, just understand it. If we think it through fully, perhaps PG Music will have an easier time implementing what we want.

Matt you brought up some very good points, especially about misnaming chords. IMO one thing that PGMusic should never allow someone to overwrite an existing chord name. That could really lead to chaos!

Maybe a separate folder, “My Chords” for example, with each chord in there having a special flag of some sort that would tell BiaB that this chord is in this folder. Something like xadd9*. When BiaB comes across xadd9* it would know that the chord is in “My Chords” and not a “standard” BiaB chord. Don’t know if it would work or not or if it is at all possible. A down side of this idea is if you are working with others they also would have to have the same “My Chords” folder.

I have no idea what to do about RTs.

Personally I think the answer to this is for PGMusic to expand their chord base and add some of the chords that users have been requesting for sometime now. Chords like xdim and xadd9 and to incorporate an exact chord radio button where when one inputs a C they would only get the notes C-E and G. If one inputs C7b5 they would only get C-E-Gb-Bb, etc. That may help, again don’t know.

This is a very good discussion. It makes one think.

I've been hoping for this for years. The alternative program to BIAB,'Jammer Pro' has had this function for as long as I can remember so its a do-able thing in midi but not for real tracks I would imagine.

I'm thinking that the reason we haven't had this capability in BIAB is that specific chord voicings and spacings are seen as integral to any given style and to override this it would likely be at the expense of 'authenticity'.. but 'so what'? The way they might do it is through a routine that strips out fully voiced patterns leaving only the top note which gets moved to a single specific macro note. This is similar to what exists already in many patterns only this particular macro note will then invoke an applet such as the one you describe.

Right now I've reconfigured a style to output just single root notes for any piano chord entered. Then I move the track to the melody channel and use the 'low harmony' voice moved up an octave or two in order to do the same thing on separate passes each with new chord sheets. That way you can build up your chords in the way you describe. The only problem is the labor intensive process involved.

Alan