I'm just adding some chord recognitions to Biab Live Chord Input Playing, this will allow you to play live in a style by dropping your BB track into Reaper or using the Biab Plugin. I have all the BB chords I just need to add some slash chords so if you can suggest some common slash chords you use would be helpful.
Most important are the “nice” ones. They were already mentioned in the Jazz Piano Book Mark Levine. And are still the most used. And the most interesting ones.
Bb/C=C7sus4 Db/C=C7sus4b9 (phrygian, really) D/C=Lydian, #4, but contains no 7th, so it could be Cmaj9#11 or C7#11 B/C=Cdiminished or Cmaj7#9 (6th mode of harmonic minor) E/C=Cmaj7#5 (3rd mode of melodic minor) or C harmonic major
all other slash chords are either “ordinary” inversions or “incomplete” chords, meaning they lack thirds and/or sevenths.
Have fun
Biab, Kontakt, Sampletank and lots of nice libraries, from Fluffy audio to Abbey Road drums. Check out these great contemporary Jazz Styles: www.jazzstylezz.com
Don’t go looking for a lot of chords. Band in a Box, as I have documented several times already, can only really play the most basic chords. b9’s are ignored, b13’s also, Lydian is a chord yet to be discovered by Band in a Box and minorMajor7, extensively used by Ellington is “unbeknownst” to Band in a Box.
Sure, you can notate them, but check the transcription or midi file, you will notice that bass, piano and guitar and all other melodic instruments play a lot of wrong notes. That is, you notate a complex chord, but Biab “converts” it to a blander chord. This has nothing to do with “natural arrangement”, by the way. it’s just that Biab hasn’t updated the midi style maker since Biab 2012! The talk about biab being able to play all the chords is just marketing, and simply (and easy to prove) wrong information. A lot of people are fooled by this or are not literate about music, sadly, the serious amateur musician or student is duped.
Biab has a workaround for chord voicings, but that needs “macro notes”, which some styles use, others don’t.
...and minorMajor7, extensively used by Ellington is “unbeknownst” to Band in a Box. ...
I still dispute this. Yes, it appears some styles do not support it (and especially if Natural Arrangement is on). Also, in the early years of RealTracks, some instruments did not support it. But MIDI always has, to my knowledge. I use a minorMajor7 chord all the time in my Brazilian jazz with success.
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It's if you play the chord on the midi keyboard it has work out what chord it is and then match the chord name being played to the region/bars that has that chord name. So it's a bit difficult to get it to match every conceivable slash chord.
In and old music notation program that I used to use, when I used a midi keyboard to enter chords, if I played the chord in root position, with all notes as close as possible, and there was another note played an octave lower than the root position chord, the program would interpret that low note as a slash bass and the upper notes as the chord.
Thanks Noel that helps and has got me thinking... if I match from the top and as you say you are left with the slash. So at the moment I sort the inputted notes from low to high as some go over 2 octaves, get the lowest note as root "0", 4 up from 0, then 7 up for a Maj. I can match it from the highest note down but then it will recognize some standard chords as slash like a CMaj7 as Em/C. So I might be better just adding the common slash chords into another library that it will search if not found in the current root "0" chords, so it will search for a direct 0-127 note sequence match +12 at a time, so the reference for the slash chord if inputted notes == (7,17,21,24) then chord name = "F/G" else try with inputted notes +12 +24 + 32 etc.. and +- a semitone at a time to get G/A. I will have to think it over more and find the best solution, a good sleep on it.
this is just a few of them:
Code:
if notenums == "0,4,7" then chordtype = "Maj" end
if notenums == "0,3,7" then chordtype = "m" end
if notenums == "0,3,6" then chordtype = "dim" end
if notenums == "0,4,8" then chordtype = "aug" end
if notenums == "0,4,6" then chordtype = "-5" end
if notenums == "0,2,7" then chordtype = "sus2" end
if notenums == "0,5,7" then chordtype = "sus4" end
if notenums == "0,7" then chordtype = "5" end
if notenums == "0,3,8" then chordtype = "m#5" end
if notenums == "0,7,10" then chordtype = "5add7" end
if notenums == "0,2,4,7" then chordtype = "add2" end
if notenums == "0,4,5,7" then chordtype = "add4" end
if notenums == "0,3,5,7" then chordtype = "madd4" end
if notenums == "0,4,7,9" then chordtype = "6" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,9" then chordtype = "m6" end
if notenums == "0,4,5,7,9" then chordtype = "6add4" end
if notenums == "0,3,5,7,9" then chordtype = "m6add4" end
if notenums == "0,4,7,9,14" then chordtype = "6add9" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,9,14" then chordtype = "m6add9" end
if notenums == "0,2,7,9" then chordtype = "6sus2" end
if notenums == "0,5,7,9" then chordtype = "6sus4" end
if notenums == "0,4,7,9,17" then chordtype = "6add11" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,9,17" then chordtype = "m6add11" end
if notenums == "0,4,7,10" then chordtype = "7" end
if notenums == "0,2,4,7,10" then chordtype = "7add2" end
if notenums == "0,4,5,7,10" then chordtype = "7add4" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,10" then chordtype = "m7" end
if notenums == "0,3,5,7,10" then chordtype = "m7add4" end
if notenums == "0,4,7,11" then chordtype = "Maj7" end
if notenums == "0,3,6,9" then chordtype = "dim7" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,11" then chordtype = "mMaj7" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,11,17" then chordtype = "mMaj7add11" end
if notenums == "0,3,7,11,21" then chordtype = "mMaj7add13" end
if notenums == "0,2,7,10" then chordtype = "7sus2" end
if notenums == "0,5,7,10" then chordtype = "7sus4" end
if notenums == "0,5,6,10" then chordtype = "7susb5" end
if notenums == "0,5,6,10,13" then chordtype = "7susb5b9" end
if notenums == "0,5,6,10,13,20" then chordtype = "7susb5b9b13" end
if notenums == "0,5,6,10,14,20" then chordtype = "7susb5b13" end
if notenums == "0,5,6,10,15" then chordtype = "7susb5#9" end
if notenums == "0,5,6,10,15,20" then chordtype = "7susb5#9b13" end
if notenums == "0,5,7,10,13" then chordtype = "7susb9" end
if notenums == "0,5,7,10,13,20" then chordtype = "7susb9b13" end
if notenums == "0,5,7,10,13,18" then chordtype = "7susb9#11" end
if notenums == "0,5,7,10,13,18,20" then chordtype = "7susb9#11b13" end
Rightly or wrongly I tend to use slash chords where I want the bass to play a particular run or note. Eg a run from a C to a G might end up C , C/B , C/A , G. (In some styles that might happen but in others not). Or other ways I might want a Bass to go. I guess use the slash to control the bass.
Tony
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Rightly or wrongly I tend to use slash chords where I want the bass to play a particular run or note. Eg a run from a C to a G might end up C , C/B , C/A , G. (In some styles that might happen but in others not). Or other ways I might want a Bass to go. I guess use the slash to control the bass.
That's very impressive work and it's looking great. I'd offer to be a beta tester for you but I don't have a MIDI keyboard. There are a number of regulars on here who do, though.
If you could try this out, it still needs a bit of work but I just need some feedback. Right click Save Link/Target As ReaTrak_Region_Chord_Player.ReaperConfigZip I'll make a better guide if it's all working ok. After you have the Chord Player installed in Reaper from the guide below, run ReaTrak midi chord input to region chord player.lua from the Action window or from the "Chord Region Player" button. Create a Chord Input Track when asked "Yes"
Options > Preferences > MIDI Devices > enable Input from your keyboard. On the Chord Input Midi track select your keyboard as Midi Input.
To get a Chord Font in the display right click chords.ttf > Install in Options > Show REAPER Resource Path in finder/explorer Scripts\ReaTrak\chords.ttf
Set the keyswitches to the notes in the pic or to your choice (these will be saved for next time) Set the Keyswitch Octave to 1 or your choice. You can also click the buttons on the GUI.
The idea is to generate up the tracks you need in Biab or Biab Plugin. You generate up say 4 or more bars of the chords you will be using. You can have more than 1 of the same chord region to give more variety. Same with Endings. If you want Holds also you can have a maximum of 4 bars per hold. You can generate up solos that can be put into the other color regions.
After you have generated up you track in BB or BB Plugin drag the stereo wav into a track under the Chord Input track. If the song is a different tempo than Reaper set Reaper to the bpm first. Edit the track name so it has the tempo in it "My Song 4 120bpm" this will allow you to have multiple tracks with different styles an tempos, as you select UP/Down it should solo the track and change the tempo.` You can also have all the individual instrument tracks in a track "Folder" if need be.
To get the chords from BB into Reaper you can save as MusicXML, drag that into Reaper and hit the button "MusicXML Chords". But if you have the BB Plugin just open the My Song.SGU, Unfold down the bottom right, save the My Song - Plugin.SGU reopen it again in the BB Plugin then hit the "Biab Plugin Chords" button, try it without fill regions for now as I will try and add auto fills to it.
You can add your own chord regions, just select the section, Shift+R and right click the region to edit name or color, but the easiest way is use the "*GUI*" "*GUI 2*" or "Circle of Fifths" buttons, you can then easily enter the chords or section color. If you have the cursor under a chord region you can change the section color by clicking the colored buttons on the main panel. Make sure you have Snap on and hit "Snap Chords to Grid" after.
For those new to Reaper this might be an easier way to install/update ReaTrak. 1. Reaper > Options > Preferences > General > Export Configuration check all boxes and Save as backup configuration !!!!
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