Chord Trainer v0.1
By Richard Smith
Hex graphic keyboard to help learn to play chords
Description
===========
Really just created to help me learn how to play keyboards.
Presents 4 octaves worth of chromatic notes in a hex pattern which
preserves the same relative positioning for chord shapes - eg. a major 3rd interval is always diagonally
up and right from any given note key.
Load it up in your favourite sequencer (I use Sonar 3) in a spare audio / midi track,
dial in a preset on your favourite softsynth on a separate track, bring the Reaktor
window to the front, set Midi echo on for the Reaktor MIDI track and the soft synth track,
and start playing on your MIDI keyboard. The idea is that you can use the chord shape
on the hex keyboard to quickly verify the chord you are playing on your MIDI keyboard.
I learn best using my visual memory, so this seemed like a cool idea.
To make it easier for the example chord shapes shown in the info box to fit the musical key you want to play in, you
can change the 'root' note displayed in the keyboard by selecting a different Key value.
You can superimpose various scales over the keyboard by selecting a value in the Scale field (or
select Off to remove any scale superimposition)
I have also included info boxes showing some basic (not inverted) chord shapes and associated
chord descriptions. I map the shape slider to a CC knob on my controller keyboard, so I can quickly
scan through the shapes whilst playing chords.
I am a relative newbie to music theory and keyboard playing - so pls forgive me if I have made any heinous mistakes.
Right - now I just need to stop playing with newly uploaded user ensembles, and practise my keyboard playing instead ....
(c) Richard Smith 2004 (see other acknowledgements below)
Acknowledgements
================
I am indebted to Simon Bennett to allowing me to use edited text from his excellent, free music theory e-book, which can be
found on http://www.ravenspiral.com, and which is (c) Simon Bennett 2002-2004.
Also thanks to Herwig Krass for the Virtual Keys ensemble which gave me lots of help in wiring this thing up.
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Thanks for uploading this, Richard. I need all the help i can get with my music theory. It's a nice tool. Cheers!
nicely done! :-) lots of fun to play around with. i particularly like your poesy-infused descriptions of chord structures.
Hi Rick - txs for your kind words :-) Any credit for the chord descriptions must go to Simon Bennett (www.ravenspiral.com) and his music tutorial e-book (click on the Downloads link on the front page, then on the "The Raven's Spiral Guide to Music Theory").
Oh Gawd, that means Kev Hopper will be using "Jazz Chords, hmmmm nice....."
seriously, this is very nice, thanks.
richard, i have just been having a look at your "linear fader and knob"
uploads. very nice indeed. i like the reset buttons but what would be useful is if i could reset the value that was stored with the snap.
is that possible and is it easy to set up.......and if you have time hmmmm...could you do it and upload?
Hey Richard, I am desperately needing such an ap, but I can not get the interface up. Using Logic in OSX. Same thing in stand alone...no gui comes up when I launch. I may be missing a step in Logic regarding "midi echo" don't know what that implies. :-(
Any apple Logic helpers around??
Thanks tho, I hope I can get it working
cb
Hi Christian - u and me both huh ? :-) Sorry, I'm on a PC here .. I wonder if there is some bug / issue to do with handling embedded multi-pictures on the Mac? I'd be interested if you could open and see my UC33 ensemble for example (which also uses lots of multi-pictures).
Hi Phil - txs again! Not quite sure what u mean about the reset. The value of the Snp input into the fader module determines if the position of the fader is stored and recalled with snapshots - I think the version in the ensemble as uploaded had this turned off (ie Snp = 1). If u change the constant to 0 that feeds into the Snp input, u should it working ? Actually, all the faders and knobs in my UC33 ensemble have Snp = 1 (ie turned off) as well. Pls let me know if this helps.
hi richard, this is not quite what i meant. you are correct that by changing the constant that feeds into the snap module to 0, enables fader settings to be saved with the snap. BUT what i am referring to is the Reset button. at the moment the reset button resets the value of the fader to 0. what i would like it to do is reset the value of the fader to the value that was saved with the snap. hopefully i am being clear here?
and why do i want this, well if i randomised the value of the fader, it would be great if i could get back to the "saved" setting just by pressing the reset button, especially if that button was resetting quite a few faders.
Phil - pls see v1.2 of the vertical fader I have just uploaded. Hope this is what u were looking for. Looking fwd to seeing what you come up with this.
thanks richard, that is just what i wanted :-)
This ensemble is very awsome. I use it constantly as I have no real theory training - thanks
AnalytiK J
top notch. i really want to see more music theory related devices in reaktor.
this seems to be unable to load in version 5-
i'm having the same problem as Christian as well. i'm on a mac, running the ensemble as a standalone but none of the interface comes up.
i had a bash at the uc33 ensemble and that works