Posted
I have imported a 3 track mid file, which is the simple beginninng of an original composition, created via piano roll in a DAW. Track 1=melody; Track2=Chord harmony;Track 3 Bass line. I am attempting to modify the chords (track 2) along the lines shown in the tutorial (HN2: Harmonizer).
All 3 tracks sound correctly when previewing the song in the progression window. However, when I attempt to use the harmonizer tab, I cannot get the melody (track 1) to sound when I'm in the mode of selecting chords from the chord suggestions pick-list, or clicking around in a palette. If I click in the harmonizer at the top (where the chords are named), all tracks sound (which is what I want). However, in order to get into the "mode" of chord selection, I need to click lower, where the visual "midi style" bars are found. Then, I get only the existing chords sound, and no melody. I have also tried various combinations of checkmarks in the box under rendered notes, with no effect. ( side question - is that box relevant in this procedure?)
I need to hear the melody in order to audition various chords in a palette.
I want to have HN looping on a selected area while I audition chords from either the pick list or from various palettes. The goal is to modify the existing content of track 2 to a new harmony and chord structure. What am I missing? Any assistance would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Terry
Thu, 2011-07-14 - 11:38 Permalink
As i understand ..for me to learn too...can you give the midi example ?
You can see the chord structure of track 2 ?
-than you have 2 tracks more: a melody and bass
BUT Looping is not possible i think with the harmonizer while trying to find a suitable chord ?..look at he video tutorial made by Cognitone
You can only loop( i think..) the whole progression: with the old progression or new progression ( via tick box rendered notes and selecting the tracks)
Beware on the resolution... for the progression editor ( snap to ) and the resolution in the harmoniser
Depending how many chords chances are for the songmeasures
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To practise i took a piano and Bass1 accompaniment and add 8 bar harmony in the progression editor ( auto_correction tick box ..empty..so no auto-correction )
For ease of use i take this accompaniment in C major, but if you auto-correct than the scale of the accompaniment is showing up
Probably it is better to take the original key of the accompaniment i think
So i set the key for the accompaniment on C major for now ...
Than with keyboard (typing chords) or palette (dragging chords) i filled in the progression C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-C-C
Than i choose a C major scale as dominating horizontal/vertical scale
In the harmonizer i do have two lanes of chord progression
- up = original progression
-down = harmonized progression
I can switch both progression to listen by looping the8 bars and use no Renderd notes tickmark box
resolution on 1/8 and shortest on 1 ( means on every measure a chord ) , transition: keep, style : generic
The origal 8 bar chord progression was
C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-C-C
harmonized chord progression was.
C- F6-G6-Fmaj7-G-Am-Am-C ==> it seems to me that there is no chord refinememt/ improvement any further here possible
If you put the span tool: "vertical line cursor" say on the second chord F6 or all others chords also than the chord suggestions points to the existing chord on the bottom.
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So with your 3 track accompaniment .. let see what the auto-correction in the progression editor says about the vertical/horizontalscales? .. in what key you have made this ?
It is possible to chance the chord progression in a own key as i showed
Than you can harmonize it further..
Thu, 2011-07-14 - 18:13 Permalink
However, when I attempt to use the harmonizer tab, I cannot get the melody (track 1) to sound when I'm in the mode of selecting chords from the chord suggestions pick-list
For selection preview and melody playback, the global instruments are used. Check your global instruments in the Audio & MIDI Setup window.
The loop can be used for playback only. You might want to use the backspace key in the palette to return to the previous chords and then try another next chord. This does however not work inside the harmonizer.
Thu, 2011-07-14 - 21:17 Permalink
Thanks for your thoughtful post. It appears that the functionality I desire (looping playback while editing/recording) is not currently possible in HN. See Supertonic comment, next post.
I am looking for more granularity of control and more of an iterative process amongst the tracks; i.e., looping playback of selected tracks, while editing, say a chord type, voicing, or its timing, then, perhaps, tweak the nearby melody track, back and forth...... I was very impressed with the HN demos and videos, but I find I'm spending way too much time in the manual and tutorials, trying to get something useful (for my creative process/workflow) out of HN. Perhaps HN can be utilized later in the development process, on a stubbornly near-completed song idea, to suggest or inspire a mood or pattern change. For now, I'll relegate HN to just running palettes so I can audition/select possible chords while the song fragment loops separately in a DAW. I can then edit the melody, chords and rhythm in the DAW, using its piano-roll and chord/arpeggio generator, once a specific chord/harmony has been determined.
Fri, 2011-08-05 - 01:06 Permalink
Modulation: Navigating The Circle of Fifths is the tutorial video is studied by me now , but it is very hard to follow what is going on here
I am sorry even with my solid understanding of modulation concept ( i think) i cannot follow this tutorial
It needs more explanation of the steps to explain the concept of modulation in HN2
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Frustrating to get now not clear on a easy way in HN2 that 2 keys are involved with shared chords
How to do this in HN2 ?
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Sun, 2011-08-07 - 02:03 Permalink
OK understanding of this in steps..it takes some time for me
source key--> targetkey
- select in the circle of fifth a source key and use the palette for seeing the chords
- than choose a target key with Ctrl + click target key .--> now the pivot chords ( if any ?) are showing up
tryout first the diatonic modulation because the distance between the keys is no too big and the strongest progression is I_source key -?- V_ source key -? - V_targetkey-?-I_targetkey
It starts on the source tonic and goes to the dominant of the source key ..and so on and ends on the tonic of the target key
- freezing the pivot chords and construct a bridge with subdominants or dominants at least to get a harmonic movement of th echords
- take some not pivot chords from the target key to arrive at the tonic of that key
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Perhaps it is a good idea to position the 2 keys palettes in a right octave position against eachother vertical to follow more easy the flow of the modulation progression ?
For example Dminor and Bminor -- Dminor is the source key ...
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Mon, 2011-08-08 - 00:11 Permalink
It is good to study a example of modulation from the inventors of HN2 itself ..
Dm --> Bm
From this video tutorial you can learn that Dminor and Bminor do have two shared chords for a subdominant and dominant
So it goes from (I)Dminor-?-iV_(sourcekey+targetkey= Dm and Bm)-V_(sourcekey+targetkey= Dm and Bm) -?-(I)Bminor this modulation progression
Here there are no 2 subdominants or 2 dominants for every key what they share, but only 1 subdominant and dominant.
A complex task to do ..a modulation in HN2..to keep oversight what you are doing..is there no more support possible in HN2?
, when you figure out a modulation progression with the palettes and circle of fifths diagram?