Posted
I don't know if this is possible.
My idea for a useful feature in the progression editor is the following:
Have the context menu for chord transposition offer options for changing the mode and tensions of the selected chords in the following ways:
1. Make selection minor
2. Make selection major
3. Toggle selection (major to minor and vice versa)
4. Remove all tensions
5. Add tension (dropdown with available tensions follows)
Now an example given the following selected progression (or excerpt): C em am dm7 Fmaj7 G
might lead to the following results:
option 1: cm em am dm7 fmmaj7 gm
option 2: C E A D7 Fmaj7 G
option 3: cm E A D7 fmmaj7 gm
option 4: C em am dm F G
option 5 (tension 7th selected): C7 em7 am7 dm7 F7 G7 (should remove inappropriate tensions like maj7 when adding 7th)
I guess this would be useful for quickly changing parts of a progression between major and minor and experimenting with chord tensions.
Is something like this possible?
Mon, 2011-01-03 - 15:48 Permalink
You can add/remove tensions (extensions) by presisng the "Ext." button already. The suggestions above the separator line match the current mode (scale), those below it will force another mode.
There is no switch for Major/Minor. You would need to add or remove the "m" in the input box.
Mon, 2011-01-03 - 18:21 Permalink
How does Synfire/HN internally store the type of a chord in a progression?
Maybe if every chord had something like a flag or state variable telling the program "I'm a minor chord" or some kind of "property" telling Synfire "this chord is extended by a major 7th", then Synfire could iterate over all selected chords in a progression and modify the properties accordingly.
I'm afraid it isn't that easy though...
Mon, 2011-01-03 - 20:50 Permalink
HN and Synfire know everything about a chord. The question rather is whether some form of automated "jazz up" and "dumb down" function applied to a progression musically makes enough sense that would justify making it an integrated feature.
The list of extensions is constant (2,4,6,7,9,11,13) with respective # or b where applicable. It is rather easy to identify and pick the next more (or less) complex chord from the suggestions menu. Automating this could lead to unpredictable results, as every progression allows for different extensions only.
EDIT: This means if you do a "jazz up", a subsequent "dumb down" does not lead you back to the original progression.
Mon, 2011-01-03 - 23:54 Permalink
I did not think of primarily increasing or reducing complexity of a chord but instead of altering a selection in the same manner.
Let me explain this with an example:
Assume I load some plain text into a word processor and have the program make important words in my text stand out. So I select those words and change their style to boldface. It's my decision which parts of the text I select for changing their appearance. I can later on make other (even overlapping) regions of the text appear in italics, in a different [color=green]color[/color], [size=12]size[/size] or [font=Serif]typeface[/font], also it is possible to remove these adornments from parts by selecting them and instructing the word processor to cancel the styles of the selection. The word processor does not need to know the meaning of the words, the only thing that it has to know is, how to make the typesetting system in the computer print letters in boldface or load differents fonts.
If you now replace "word processor" with "HN/Synfire", "text" with "progression", "word" with "chord", maybe "boldface" with "major" and all the other styles with chord tensions/extensions, you can certainly guess what I mean.
Synfire even has that vertical bar "insert/select range" cursor known from word processors.
I hope my explanation is appropriate and somehow comprehensible (ich bin kein Englisch-Muttersprachler).