how do you use chord presets???

ok, i've never understood this..

you get chord presets from massive, how do you know if it's minor or major? Let's say we figure out it's an a minor chord... so when i hit an a on the keyboard, i'll get an (a) minor chord, then b diminished, then a c major, then a d minor, and so on correct as i move up the keyboard right?

thanks a bunch for any suggestions!

 

The chord you get is determined by the note you play and the way the used OSCs is tuned.

If you play one note and your OSCs for example is tuned to play a minor chord up from the played note, then you get the behavior you describe. Inyour example the OSC for example shall be tuned 0, + 3 and + 7 semitones.
But if for example 3 OSC's is tuned to -3, 0 and +4 semitones, then if you play a C note you actually hear a am chord. You'll get the minor chord from the note 3 semitones below the played note. X times + or - 12 semitones give octaves up and down from a 0 tuning.

So you need to examine the OSCs tunings to find out what chord you get when you play a note.
And you need to know how a chord is build.
A simple Major chord is the played note + the notes 4 and 7 semitones up from the played note.
A simple minor chord is the played note + the notes 3 and 7 semitones up from the played note.

But if we take a simple am chord, then it's the notes A+C+E. It could also be the notes C+E+A or the notes E+A+C or A+E+C or C+A+E or E+C+A....... It's just those 3 notes, but they can be played in many ways. The notes don't have to be in the same octave to form the chord. And the different single notes can be played by different instruments.

There are websites where you can read something about music theory and how chords are build. This is just a very simple explanation. The same chord can have different musical functions that's determined by the context it's in too. Even if you have the above 3 notes it don't have to be a am chord in the full contect of a piece of music.

Another way is just to use the notes you think sound okay to you. But theory can help in many ways.

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you that makes sense! I'll look more into this!!

 

Hey man to your response, this chord presets are almost like one shots right? Because let's say you want to write a chord progression, you would need to duplicate it in the case of a minor scale progression or major scale progression right? One version be for minor and one version be for major but wouldn't that be an awful pain to switch back and forth? For example:

Track 1 would be Massive containing a major chord for a C Major Chord Progression... So the following notes you could use this: C, F, G,
Track 2 would be Massive containing a minor chord for a C Major Chord Progression... So the following notes you could use this: D,E,A
Track 3 would be Massive counting a diminished chord for a C Major Chord progression... So the following notes you could use this: B

Wouldn't this just create so much more mess than actually help?

In the pic below, with simpler, bam just cranked those notes out and you got your chord progression..

But in massive, just for the first track, I have to set where i want the c major chord progression to fall on, make sure it's inputed correctly 1, 4, 7 for major..

Then I got to duplicate that track, go in and adjust the OSC to make it say 1,3,7 for the next note in the chord progression which is D....and make sure it falls on the second beat of that bar... And so on and so on and so on flipping back and forth between major and minor till you get to the diminished one...

Am I making sense of this?

 

So track 2 is massive and it would have to be minor for the chord progression of a C major scale... In this instance, it would be notes, D,F,A

That's a minor chord so I have to set this instance of Massive to 1,3.7 for the d minor chord progression

 

I can't go into a full music theory coarse. Let me try and answer your questions this way.

Your sceenshots show correct build chords using standard triads.
You are making sense.

Yes it can be difficult to use chord sounds if they for example are in Major or minor. That's why many chord sounds don't use the middle note that define the difference between Major and minor. Then the chord sound can be used in both minor and Major.
Chords like this that only uses note 1 and 7 is also called power chords in Rock and Pop music. But in some classical strict chorale harmonization it's not allowed to use chords like this and are called Empty chords.
Some times another note can be added a chord sound and work in the full context of a song.

I can see you are aware both Major and minor chords and others can be used in the same song.

I can add, that i play my chords note by note. I only use chord sounds for some things. As you say - any new chord you need has to be build, either by playing the chord or by building a chord sound for each chord you need.
Using chord sounds especially for very variable chord progessions can be a pain. Chord sounds are not flexible at all. But they can have it's use, and can have it's impact on the music - also as one shots yes.
Some find it easier to use the mess you talk about, but it don't allow to change a single note only in a held chord unless you tune a OSC while playing. Sometimes it can be very simple and easy to use chord sounds, and even prefereable as it's easy to play tight rythm chords for example.

 

Hey thanks! This is great info!

 

Hey great.

I can add that you often can find chord sounds for House music. (But not only in House music)
Simple house chords add for example the 7th for a minor chord and a major 7th for a Major. That's for a cm7 the notes C-Eb-G-Bb and for a C maj7 the notes C-E-G-B.

For this you could create two chord sounds with all 4 notes for each.

But as you can see, then those chords actually is build by 2 power chords (empty chords) in this case the notes C-G and Eb-Bb/ E-B. If you play the same power chord sounds with one played 3 or 4 semitones above the other. Then you get all 4 notes.

And if you play one of the chord sounds 5 semitones above the other, then you get a sus4 chord with a doubbling of note 1 an octave apart, just to give another example.

More possibilities you get by having a chord sound that play the same notes in two ways.
Example: You have a chord sound using two notes.
In the one sound you tune the second OSC 7 semitones above the first.
In the other sound you tune the second OSC 5 semitones below the first or 5 semitones above the first.
Things like this give you some possibilities.

In C major the Dominant is G. A G7 chord without the G note is a diminished Dominant chord. That require another sound as it's a chord only using minor third intervals between the notes in the basic form, and don't use the perfect fifth interval a power chord use.
But you can have chord sounds using two OSCs tuned to a dininished fifth, and chords sounds tuned to minor and Major third.

Chord sounds in those tunings can form lots of chords using much less chord sounds.

Also i can add this: A Drawbar organ is additive. In a drawbar organ the last 4 drawbars of the 9 drawbars form a Major triad chord. If you play a C note you actually have the notes C-E-G-C. The 1 3/5 drawbar is the major third of a played note - in this case the E.
But it can be in different levels. A sound characteristica is also formed by harmonics. This is what additive synthesis use to create sounds. So depending on some things, then odd notes may just color a sound. The 1 3/5 drawbar is used for music in minor too. So depending on how you blend things and wan't it to sound, then perhaps all notes can be used in a chord.

Some chord sounds do use the middle notes and/ or other notes than the notes 1 and 7.

 

Wow extremely informative!

Thanks!