I have a “retirement moment” and need some advise on the following: When I compose, I play usually my Tyros or Motif XF and record the initial ideas to the keyboard before I do audio recording using Cubase 6. Now while recording on the Tyros, I can see on the display what chords I was playing while recording (not on Motif) but I cannot see what fingering I used for a particular chord. Are you maybe aware of some software that shows me the chord fingering? I guess I could record midi to Cubase and view it on the vertical “virtual” keyboard next to the piano scroll - but I felt that this would be a bit awkward.
If you had some tips, that would be super. Thanks for your time and all the best, Roland
EZKeys is really marketed toward songwriters who don’t play piano. The chord assistant, plain and simple, is a function for those who can’t write music well or aren’t well versed in music theory. And if you don’t know enough music theory to pull off a chord progression without a computer’s help, chances are you shouldn’t be making a song. Same goes for people using MIDI files on instruments other than drums.
The chord track is actually very helpful to create accompaniment parts for a lead instrument. This is best done by recording on your own using the chord track as a prompt instead of having the MIDI track follow the chord track, because of mistakes in the way chord inversions are interpreted. All that has to be corrected manually.
Thank you for your feedback - much appreciated ! I know it sounds silly (my original question) but while I compose (and I am not a pro - I do it for fun…) I do write down the chords on paper. But sometimes I get asked “how on earth did you play that?” and at that point it would be great if I could just post a sequence of images of the different chords for example. An alternative approach, which I had used in the past but it’s not perfect either, is to just record my playing with a camcorder or similar.
And I had seen a solution in the past, just can’t remember where: A guy recording to Cubase, one monitor showing the mixer and tracks and the other showing a very large virtual keyboard (unrelated to Cubase) where I could see what keys were played in realtime. And that I suppose one should also be able to “record” into some sort of file I can share with others.
Hope that makes more sense . And Steve, I am with you on this - my music comes from my mind initially, and how I play it is just a matter of working it out. Often it’s not even standard chord progressions - but I can easily write some nasty unexpected jumps - but that is simply part of the “art” . For now I am just looking for a tool that helps me in this process.
@Steve: I totally agree, so let me clarify what I was saying. I am definitely understanding of songwriters with limited means having to use MIDI recordings triggering sample based VST plugins, using drum loops, or composing any instrument part with a MIDI device like a keyboard–in fact, that’s what I do! The issue is when you start going off into using piano MIDI ideas or commercially distributed MIDI files with melodic content. Chances are you aren’t conforming this idea to your song, but rather using these purchased MIDI files as the core inspiration of your new song. The issue I have with this is that it is more musical saturation, with more individuals simply transferring their name onto intellectual property that they simply purchased. If you cannot write a decent part for at least one musical instrument, chances are you shouldn’t be making songs!
So using MIDI technology as a means of developing your own creation is good. Buying ideas with melodic content from a famous producer is lame. This isn’t the word of God by any means, just where I stand on the subject.
@roland: Very likely this keyboard you mention was part of the user interface of whatever VST instrument was being triggered.
My father has been a hobby organ player for as many years as I know him. He used to have one of those 3 manual Thomas " radio city music hall" organs with the end to end foot pedals. He is 94 now and has a Yamaha keyboard that has lights in the keys. As he plays it, they light up and as the mini recorder in the thing plays it back, they light up as played AND it has midi…wondering if an external sequencer would light up the keys when played back?
Not to change a topic : Steve, do you start by hearing the beat or hearing the music? I try to start by hearing the musical parts then fill in with drum beats after it is ROUGHLY recorded. Saves my idea and sometimes stimulate new ones. Lately, they a seem to be slow jazz type , conversational background stuff. Rut? Writers block?
Still it’s not very adapt at inversions.
. And Steve, I am with you on this - my music comes from my mind initially, and how I play it is just a matter of working it out. Often it’s not even standard chord progressions - but I can easily write some nasty unexpected jumps - but that is simply part of the “art”