[directmusic] Re: Chordlevels are cool! *SNARF!*

  • From: "Jason Booth" <jason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <directmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2002 11:31:55 -0500

        I use a very similar technique in my project; Because players
are playing the music, we wanted various instruments to follow chord
changes appropriately. For instance, imagine your playing a basic blues
in E. A bass player might play a simple riff of the E (petatonic) scale,
then move it up a fourth to A and play the exact same riff. This works
well for a blues rythmic part, but a guitar player soloing over that
riff wouldn't move through the chords that way. Someone playing a solo
would instead adapt their run to fit to the current chord/scale without
moving the lick up a fourth when the chord change happens. In essence,
they would play the same line, just adjusting for the difference in
chord/scales between the E and A chords.=20
        Thus, what we do is define diffent chord levels for different
instruments. The background score is chord track one, while the bass is
chord track two, and the guitar is chord track three. The bass we follow
root motion with, by moving it's root chord tone linearly around the
mappings. The guitar, however, we define with the inversion of the chord
which moves the root the least amount possible. Then we go and map each
part to either of the chord mappings..




-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Morgan [mailto:scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]=20
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2002 8:21 PM
To: directmusic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [directmusic] Chordlevels are cool! *SNARF!*


I've been figuring out some new things you can do with DirectMusic.  I'm
so blown away I thought I'd share my discoveries. =20

Forgive me if I sound like the ultimate nerd in my DMusic ramblings =3DD


It's about the chordlevels.  I never got that deep into them until I
started writing this article for Todd's book.

I began to realize chordlevels could do a lot more than inversions, in
fact, they actually don't do inversions very well in my experience.

Once upon a time I was very impressed that DM chords could change the
scale and a number of chord tones with one chord.  I was so excited that
I could switch from E Lydianb7 to G harmonic minor with one little
chord.=20

Now I've realized that with chord levels, each chord is really like 4
chords and 4 scales in one.  You tell your pattern part which
chord/scale it should use in it's properties page.

This has turned out to be mega useful in my work.  I can tweak which
scale and chord tones are allowed in any given part.  I can restrict the
bass to roots and fifths, the harmony to basic chord tones, and the
melody to 3rds, 7ths, and upper extensions.  Heck you can make
polytonality/polychords happen if you want.

I even made it so some chords would be played as minor with one pattern
and major with another pattern!   I just made chord levels 1 and 2 major
triads and levels 3 and 4 minor triads.  Pattern A has all the parts
using chordlevels 1 and 2 and pattern B has all parts using chordlevels
3 and 4.   It's amazing that different patterns/parts can behave
completely different in response to the same chords!

I also should tell you if you haven't been using the pedalpoint-chord
playmode, you should really give it a try.  It's cool since you can keep
your original melody and bassline shape and still have them conform to
the chords that go by, creating inversions and decent voice leading on
the fly in many cases. =20

I know a lot of people doubt DMusic's ability to handle music
intelligently (I know I did at first), but if you really dig into it you
can teach DMusic to play things in a very sensible way.  It just takes a
lot of work and patience to get the hang of all these revolutionary
concepts.

Once you get advanced enough, a combo of variation choices, chord
levels, different playmodes, and a few patterns designed for different
chord rhythms can give you an incredible amount of control over how the
music responds to dynamic chord changes.

Hehe, I know I complain a lot about bugs and so forth (I even got paid
to do it), but DAMN DirectMusic is cool!!!

*SNARF!*

-Scott Morgan
http://Morganstudios.com





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