Window 152

=  Chord Progressions for Arpeggios =

Change at first seed pos in layer
Moves forward to next chord at start of every seed in the selected layer

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Set a chord progression

You can also set the volume, e.g.V 100, V 50 etc.

Example:

v 100 O _ v 50 O _ O _ o _ o

The O is a quarter note, the o is an eighth note, and the _ before a note sets it to strum the same chord as the one before. So this rhythm is played all on the same chord.

If you wanted to change chords in the middle for instance, you would leave out an _ as in:

v 100 O _ v 50 O  O _ o _ o

Or if you want a 6/8 type pattern you could do e.g.

v 100 Oo _ v 50 o. . o

where the Oo and o. are dotted notes - you can combine beats together by just placing the characters next to each other so that they touch.

Layer
Layer for chord changes for option to change at every seed in a layer

Layer - SPIN
Adjust layer for chord changes

Change at these seed positions in layer
Moves forward at these positions in every seed in the selected layer

Change at these seed positions in layer
When in the seed to change to the next chord

For instance if this is set to 2, 4 that means that the chord progression moves on to the next chord at the 2nd and 4th notes of every seed in the selected layer

Change at every note for part
Moves to next chord every time this part sounds a note...

This is most relevant for Choose Parts by Other where some parts may play notes only occasionally or irregularly depending on the formula used, and it may be interesting to change chords in a similar fashion.

Change at every note for part
Which part to use as the one that triggers chord changes

Change at every note for part - SPIN
Adjust choice of the part that triggers chord changes

Open...
Open a saved chord progression

Save
Save this chord progression

Save As...
Save this chord progression with another file name or location

Save Custom Symbols
Save any custom chord symbols as part of the progression

Allow any inversion
Let the chords be inverted - you don't care which inversion is used...

It is done so that the inverted chords all use a similar range of pitches - chords that span less than an octave will be inverted if necessary until they only use notes in the first octave above the 1/1.

For the Chords for PC keyboard keys (Ctrl + 172) window - that's how it works if you have the option to transpose all the PC keyboard chords to notes played switched off. When the chords get transposed, they work similarly, but inverted if necessary so that they only use notes in the first octave above the note to be played.

Progression
Enter standard symbols such as Am7, vi7, etc. or a custom chord symbol...

See the help for the chord progression window for details - there are many options and features and this tip just is meant to get you started quickly.

Taking C as an example you can use the likes of:

C = major

Cm = minor

C7= seventh

Cm7 = minor seventh

Cdim7 = diminished seventh

C9 = ninth

For newbies to popular notation chord symbols - all except one of the numbers show positions in a major scale. However, the seventh in the note name notation is flat by a semitone, a Bb above C for instance, at note 10 in the scale instead of 11.- as is needed for a dominant seventh chord.

The major scale runs 0 2 4 5 7 9 11 12 14 16 ... as twelve tone degrees. Those correspond to 1 2 3 4 ... for the chord symbol notation. So 1 is scale degree 0, 2 is the twelve tone scale degree 2 and so on

So for instance, 8 is the octave, 9 is a D, scale degree 14. You put the sharp or flat before the number in a chord symbol rather than after, so b9 is 13 (Db), and #9 is 15 (D#). However since 7 is Bb, #7 is 11 (B), and b7 is 9 (A).

So for instance, C7 is 0 4 7 10 12 in scale degrees. FTS will show the chord as scale degrees, so this hopefully will help you to understand what it is doing. That's for a twelve tone scale - if you play e.g. a C7 in seventeen equal it might be shown as 0 6 10 14 17 with seventeen scale degrees to an octave.

Roman numerals are understood with the I as C major.

I = C

i = Cm

i9 = Cm9

ii7= Dm7

etc.

Be sure you have the right setting for the check box "use popular roman numerals" depending on which you are used to, classical or popular notation. See the message for that check box for details.

Note that though it may seem a big restriction to take I as always meaning C major, actually it isn't perhaps as much of one as you would think as you can transpose any chord progression to any other key by using the Pitch window to change the pitch of the 1/1. You can do the same with progressions in the note names notation too.

So examples of valid chords include

Am

G7

Dm7

Dm9

Ab7

VIIb7

Gsus2

IIsus4

etc.

A symbol such as Abm7 is thought of as the note name Ab followed by the "m7" part. So you can use microtonal note names there if you want.

Also FTS has various microtonal symbols that can modify the chord to make it e.g. a septimal minor chord or whatever. See the help for the chord progression window for details.

You can define your own chord symbols, using the Custom Chord Symbols window - or use the preset ones supplied with the program.

It is better to use the preset names where possible as then if you change the main window scale to one with more or fewer notes then the closest match to that chord in the new scale will be used, Your custom chords will only work as expected for scales that have sufficiently similar pitches at the same scale degrees as the original scale you made them for.

Chord progression links:

Olav Torvund's Chord progressions for Guitar:

http://www.torvund.net/guitar/progressions/index.asp

Howard's Big List of Guitar Chord Shapes:

http://www.jmdl.com/howard/guitarchords/

Circle Progressions:

http://www.easy-song-writing.com/articles/chordProgressions.asp

A longer list of examples you can use in the player:

C, Cm, Csus2, Csus4, Cadd2, Cadd9, Cadd4, Cmadd2, Cmadd9, Cmadd4, Cadd2add4, Cmadd2add4, Caug, Cdim, Cdim7, C5, C6, Cm6, C6/9, Cm6/9, C6/7, Cm6/7, Cmaj6/7, C7, Cm7, Cmaj7, C7sus4, C7sus2, C7add4, Cm7add4, C9, Cm9, Cmaj9, C9sus4, C11, Cm11, Cmaj11, C13, Cm13, Cmaj13, C13sus4, Cmmaj7, Cmmaj9, C7#9, C7b9, C7#5, C7b5, Cm7#5, Cm7b5, Cmaj7#5, Cmaj7b5, C9#5, C9b5.

You can build up more complicated chords in the same way with any number of extra notes such asadd4, sus2 or whatever to any of the chords.

The large chords with optional notes such as C11 etc are done with all the notes included, on the principle that you can easily remove the extra notes.

My source is the page of jazz chords mentioned above in the links:

Howard's Big List of Guitar Chord Shapes

http://www.jmdl.com/howard/guitarchords/

For the note name part of the symbol, you can choose one of a small list of common notations, and you can also choose a conglomerate setting that includes them all (with some modifications).

The note name will normally just select the nearest note in the current scale so you need a scale with more than 12 notes to an octave before you can hear a difference e.g. between Eb and D# or whatever.

The same applies to the microtonal chords such as Csm etc (septimal minor). But in that case you can unselect the option to quantize to the scale if you want - the chord will then be tuned in exact relative intonation within itself and no longer use the scale pitches - except that the root of the chord will still be played in the current scale.

Later I plan to include an implementation of the Sagittal notation system. Maybe others too eventually.

So meanwhile the conglomerate setting is a way to get started and give you a taste of what is to come. There are various other microtonal options you can use for the chord part of the symbol too.

In the conglomerate setting, you can use any of the following at present, and they can all be used with any scale with any number of notes - it just finds the closest pitch in the scale, even if sometimes it may be quite far away from the desired pitch:

Twelve tone as letters A to G with the symbol b for flat or # for sharp

Solfeggio: do, di = ra, re, ri = me, mi. fa, fi = se, so, si = le, la, li = te, ti

This can be used in twelve tone scales of course, but it is also a natural for a seventeen tone notation  - with ra now slightly sharper than di and so on.

Nineteen tone type notation - if there are intermediate pitches in the scale, then the order of the notes is e.g. C C# Db D so sharps are lower in pitch than the flats of the note above, with E# = Fb and B# = Cb

Thirty one tone notation - you have to use - or + for half accidentals. Doesn't allow bb or ## here even if you have the option seleced to use that in other situations such as the Tune window - because that would get confused with the nineteen tone notation.

So it runs

C C+ C# Db D- D ... E E+ F- F ... B B+ C- C.

Note that this notation has no E# or Fb or B# or Cb

Then for larger scales still you can use the 72 equal notation, and set your preferred characters for that in the Notation for accidentals window.

In the Maneri / Sims notation it runs

C C^ C> C] C#[ C#< C#v C#

C# and Bb are interchangeable.

Only problem here is that the C# and Bb look just the same as the nineteen tone accidentals. So to indicate that you mean C# in this 72 or twelve tone type sense as identical to Db you need to enter it as C~# or D~b - prefix the accidental with a tilda (alternatively, use a colon).

You only need to do that for the plain #s. C#v for instance would be recognised as in 72 equal because of the v at the end.

To indicate that you need the 31 equal flats or sharps rather than the nineteen equal ones in cases where they differ in pitch for the current scale, prefix with @

C@#

Rhythm
Enter chord progression here...

Example chords:

C, Cm, Csus2, Csus4, Cadd2, Cmadd2, Cadd2add4,  Caug, Cdim, Cdim7, C5, C6, Cm6,C6/7, Cm6/7, Cmaj6/7, Cmaj7, C7sus4, C7add4,Cmaj9, C9sus4, C11, Cm11, Cmaj11, Cmmaj7, CmM7, Cmmaj9, CmM9, C7#9, C7b9, Cmaj7b5, Cm7dim5, Cmaj7aug5, Cmaj7dim5, etc etc

Microtonal symbols include: j = just intonation, s = septimal, p = Pythagorean, various others - see the help. These can be used to pick out the nearest scale degrees so for instance Csm and Cjm will distinguish the nearest to the septimal and just minor chords in any scale.

To see the intended exact tuning for the chord show a New Scale window and then enter #chord Csm into the Select from field (or whatever the chord symbol it is that you want to test).

Rhythm
Enter chord progression here

# (number) Play Arpeggio
Play the chord progression - as chords, broken chords or sequences...

To configure which of these you play, use the double quaver play options button (Ctrl + 28).

\ (back slash) Options for play scale / arpeggio / seed
Arpeggio and scale playback options - ascending, descending, both and more

Play selected chord
When you press play button, it plays the selected chord

Play from sel.
Play button plays chord progression from selected chord onwards

Play all
Play button plays the entire progression

Step through
Play one chord at a time with Ok cancel messages

Am
Choice of Selected chord - its position in the chord progression...

This will change automatically if you click on the chord you want to hear

Am - SPIN
Adjust choice of selected chord

To Arp...
Copy selected chord to an arpeggio window for editing, Ctrl + press to get back

To Main Win.
Copies selection to main window. Ctrl + press to get main window arpeggio back

Play
Play midi clip, chord progression, fractal tune or metronome..

What this plays depends on the task selected from the Tasks menu.

SHORTCUT FOR FRACTAL TUNES OR METRONOME

You can use Shift + click to fast forward...

Also Ctrl to fast forward even more. Shift multiplies the tempo by 10 and Ctrl multiplies it by 100, so the two together would play a fractal tune at for instance, 60,000 instead of 60 as the tempo. This is useful sometimes for fast forwarding through fractal tunes.

Pause
Pause playback, or continue play

Volume
Set overall volume. Check also Bs | Play control - Volume, && Parts window...

The volume is also affected by the volume for individual parts in the Parts window. Also in the case of midi instruments you can configure the volume for windows as a whole using Bs | Play Control - Volume.

For the Waveform player (triangle wave etc), go to the Waveform Player Audio Properties window (Ctrl + 188)

For CSound instruments, you can set the overall volume in the CSound Options window (Ctrl + 168)

You can also vary the volume in Out | Options | More | Volume Remapping (Ctrl + 158) and if playing from Midi In there's another setting at In | Options | Keyboard Options | Touch (Ctrl + 91)

See also Help | FAQ - trouble shooting | Why is everything so quiet

Notation....
Notation for note names for the chords

Font...
Set the font for the chord progression

>> History
Click here to show recently visited files of this type...

Alternatively, Ctrl + right click on button, text field or drop list

Keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F10

Read rhy.
Read its playback rhythm whenever you select a chord progression...

Affects what happens when you select a chord progression from the drop list.

Whoever saved the chord progression may have saved it along with a playback rhythm particularly suitable for those chords.

Switch this check box on to see the rhythm that was in use when the chord progression was saved whenever you select a chord progression from the drop list.

Switch off if you want to keep the current rhythm unchanged (or keep the rhythm feature switched off) whenever you select another chord progression.

Rd scal.
Read its scale and other settings whenever you select a chord progression...

Select this if you want the scale (i.e. exact tuning such as nineteen equal, thirty one equal, historical temperaments etc) to change as you vary the selection in the drop list.

Other settings may also vary, for instance selection for "any inversion ok", "Rotate scale to chord roots", "Classical roman numerals" etc.

If you want to keep the current tuning and all your other settings unchanged, then unselect this option.

Whoever saved the chord progression may have saved it with settings for the various parameters in this window which they thought were particularly suitable for it - select this option to see what those were.

If the chord progression was saved with custom chord symbols, these are read anyway whatever your selection here. That's because any custom symbols may be needed to play the chords at all.

If you are working with the custom chord symbols, be sure to save your symbols first before you open a new progression.

Help = F1
Click for help for this window. Or F1. Other opts: Shift, Alt, Ctrl + click...

F1 or click shows the help for the current window in your web browser.

Some windows may have no help yet in which case the help icon is shown crossed out with a red line.

Shift + F1 or Shift + Click brings up the tool tips extra help window (this window) to show any extra help for a tool tip.

You can tell if a tool tip has extra help if it ends ... like this one.

Ctrl + F1 or Ctrl + click takes you to the list of keyboard shortcuts for Tune Smithy.

Alt + F1 or Alt + click (alternatively Caps lock physically held down + F1 or Click) takes you to the on-line page at the robertinventor.com web site about the current main window task - which gives a short introduction to it for newbies to the program. If there is no on-line page specific to a task, takes you to the main tune smithy page on the web site.

Since the help for Tune Smithy is currently a bit out of date and needs to be redone completely for the new 3.0 release, then you may find the on-line page for some of the newer tasks particularly useful.

Organise Windows = F2
Or F2 - Reset / save / open for individual windows, right click for cat. list...

Shows the Organise windows window - which you can use to reset all the parameters for the current window - or save them all, or open previously saved parameters for just this window. Also has a drop list of all the windows and their shortcuts.

You can also right click on this icon as a quick way to get the floating drop menu of all the Tune Smithy windows organised by category

Fractal Tunes Dialog Star
Tip of the day - Fractal Tunes category - right click for neighbouring windows...

Left click for a tip of the day in this category.

Right click to see a menu of neighbouring windows.

The neighbours are the ones you most often move to after this one or within a minute of this one, arranged by popularity.

So as you continue to use FTS, it will learn your habits, and the neighbouring windows listed here, should be the ones you most often visit after this one.