Posted
As Christian pointed out in another thread, there seems to be some confusion regarding auto-chords and voice leading:
[quote]The voice leading you (the original poster in the thread) are probably thinking of is four-part counterpoint composed for four instruments playing in different registers. The voice leading HN currently does is for narrow (close) voicings played on a single instrument. Due to the narrow pitch range, there is not enough room to seperate individual voices over longer periods of time, especially when the physical playing ranges of the instrument are limited. Depending on the bass you set, and the playing ranges of the instrument, your results may vary.
The caveat with four part composition is that it would be plain MIDI synthesis rather than figure rendering. It would work like the current auto-chords feature. Even if the phrase contained a figure, it would be ignored.
From a composer's standpoint it is questionable how useful a series of plain sustained chords ("pad") might be. You certainly don't want to play these raw chords only. The only use I could imagine is for synth pads in electronic or dance music.
We don't yet have the right idea how to make use of the synthesized chords (final midi pitches) in conjunction with figures that can be supplied by the composer. It would also be cool if there was some feature that could distribute the four voices across different instruments.
A feature that "guides" a figure along a synthesized pitch (per voice) might be an approach. If someone has ideas or suggestions, they are highly welcome!