Here’s my Chorder preset I’ve been working on, ‘Como’s C Datonic Chorder.’
Once set up, you can play it on the keyboard and/ or sequence it using the ‘two note’ interval method explained below.
To learn to use it, you’ll need to print the two chordmaps attached below. The author, Steve Mugglin, gives permission for not-for-profit copies.
http://mugglinw.ipower.com/chordmaps/mapC.htm
http://mugglinw.ipower.com/chordmaps/genmap.htm
If you know music theory, you’ll immediately understand these chordmaps upon which my preset is based.
If not, jump in anywhere and follow the arrows back to ‘C.’
This preset provides an easy way to recreate all of the chords in the chordmap using the piano notes C1 to B1.
The preset uses an ‘interval’ design in which it requires two notes to play any chord. To play that chord you will first press the C1 key, for an example, and then hit any of the next 8 semitones.
On C1 + C# 1 you get the I-III-V C major chord.
On C1 + D1 you get the I-II-V C 2 sus (or G 4 sus) chord.
Look carefully at the ‘A Progression Map For C’ chordchart at the bottom where you see the large C in the square, that states ‘Home’ in the upper left corner. Look in the box underneath the C. You see " 2, 6, M7 (for C Major 7), M9, Sus." With a few exceptions, this is exactly how the preset is laid out. The large note in each square box represents both the piano key or midi note moving up from C1 to B1 and the eponymous diatonic chord.
So, key A1 will be the Am chord at A1 + A#1, A1 + B1 will be chord Am7, A1 + C2 will be chord Am9, etc., following how they are presented in the square chord boxes AND the extended circles pointing back to the square diatonic chord boxes.
That means that after A1 + C2 gets you chord Am9, A1 + C#2 gets you chord E Major, A1 + D2 gets you chord E7, etc.
So the primary piano key or midi note that represents each diatonic chord … but won’t play one until the second note is struck … are:
C1 = C Major
D1 = D Minor
E1 = E Minor
F1 = F Major
G1 = G Major and by extension G7
A1 = A Minor
And, B1 = B Dim
This all assumes you know how to use Chorder, the midi plugin, and know how to find the right folder in Cubase 6/ Presets/ Chorder/ Custom to place my prest in.
Finally … ‘But, Como … I wanted to do my song in D Major, not C!’ Use the midi modifier after Chorder to increase the output up or plus two semitones.
‘But, Como … the chord voicing is too high (or low)!’ Use the midi modifier after Chorder and increase it by 12 semitones to get a different octave of C … or adjust accordingly for the key and voicing you want.
'But, Como, I wanted to play Desperado by the Eagles and I need a C Minor! Oh, right, almost forgot!
Keys or midi notes at C2 using an additional note in the octave also give you C Major … and every other major up every semitone. C3 gives you minor. C4 gives you major 7th, etc. Check it out.
Also, check out C2 particularly where I’ve worked out the intervals of the keys to give C Major, C Major 1st Inversion, C Major 2nd Inversion, etc., using C2 + C#2, C2 + D2, etc. That’s what I plan to work on next for the other octaves.
Hope you find this useful … or at least interesting.
Kudos to Raino for getting me started on this.
Como
Como’s C Diatonic Chorder.rar (1.68 KB)