Posted
I was creating some chord progressions. I noticed when using basic guitar finger picking. The arpegio is one measure long. If however you have chords changing faster than one chord per measure; the arpegio doesn't retrigger. On some of the finger picking presets this sounds awkard. Is there a way to correct for this?
Or does this get rectified when you insert the accompianment into an arrangement? This effect is more noticeable on single instruments. On 'combos' the effect is less apparent. Also seems more awkard on certain chord progressions.
I uploaded a "MStylesProg1' file. If you select the first chord progression (I-iii7-iv7-Vmaj7-iii7#5-iv#5 ---- and choose basic guitar and finger picking 1 the effect is apparent. On some accompianments, the effect is not obvious, on others it is.
Is this an 'artifact' of the software design, or a choice in my choice?. Is there a way to 'retrigger' the accompainment pattern for certain instruments?
Thanx...
Sat, 2011-05-28 - 01:07 Permalink
Playing a palette with live mouse clicks is a bit constrained concerning the speed of chord transitions. The response time depends on how the Transition parameter is set for the respective accompaniment pattern. "Transition" sets the places in a measure where a chord change can potentially happen.
You might also try and click a little ahead of the beat in order for the click to be considered ealier.
However, this is only the case for real-time rendering. As you correctly assumed, using a pattern/phrase in an arrangement does not show this limitation. You can change to the next chord within an 1/8 note, if you wish.
Sun, 2011-05-29 - 18:18 Permalink
I didn't make my post clear enough. I have already created the chord progression. If I play back an accompianment consisting of one instrument (guitar picking, piano). The accompianment will sound awkard, if the chord change is not on beat one. Perhaps if there was the option for the progression to retirgger whenever it encountered a chord change. If you refer to my previous post, and try the chord progression I mentioned, it will be apparent.
This effect is not apparent on the combo accompianments. Or does this get smoothed over once you incoporate the part into an arrangement?
There is also an issue of when recording the chord progression from a 'live input' MIDI keyboard. It seems SF is not scanning the kbd quickly enough to be aware of chord changes. If I'm recording at a tempo of 100 bpm, it will miss a number of chord changes, or register them late. My solution is to figure chords I like then slow tempo down and record them in. Recording the chords in real time into the chord progression, is so much more inspirational, then entering them with a mouse.
I'm using a Yamaha Tyros 4, and in general, the latency doesn't appear to be an issue if I am recording a kbd part, while an arrangement is playing.
Mon, 2011-05-30 - 16:50 Permalink
Ah, now I understand.
If an accomaniment sounds awkward with a certain harmonic rhythm, it's probably because the chord change does not go together with the rhythm of the pattern. Finger picking has a strong rhythm in itself that might clash with a sudden chord change? Anyway there is no technical reason why a single instrument finger picking pattern should behave any different from others patterns.
The phrases of a pattern are rendered with a much higher quality when put into an arrangement, yes. That's because Synfire has plenty opportunities to look forwards and backwards through the stream of music, which is impossible in a "live" situation.
Chord recognition "Live" requires at least three notes held before a chord will be detected. Also the "Transition" parameter of the pattern applies, that is, you can only capture chord changes at the rhythm of that parameter. It is easier to capture chord changes in "Chords Only" mode that does not use such a grid.
Also remember to always trigger chords a little ahead of time.
HTH