Why no perfect 5th in Chord track?

The Ramones are appalled…

Maybe SB could make a feature just for an arbitrary note cluster, that can be named with an arbitrary name.

The definition of chord in Cubase is the technical theory one, not the guitar player one. :wink:

The technical music theory definition of a chord according to Laitz - Juilliard

Chord = Any combination of two or more pitches sounding simultaneously.
Triad = A chord comprised of three different pitches able to be stacked in thirds.

Moreover, the Chord? Track uses Slash Chords, which is only used by popular musicians, where music theory uses figured bass for inversions and never uses slash chords. So if Steinberg is going to take the low brow option of using slash chords, they can add a beer guzzling Power Chord to boot.

All joking aside, the Power Chord is harmonically functional in the music we make, they should have a no third chord.

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I made a light-hearted comment, and didn’t do any research on it, so if you are or were a student of Laitz at Julliard I certainly defer to you. Grove also defines it as two or more, Webster’s as three or more simultaneous notes.

Irregardless (is that a word? No!) As far as the question at hand, A perfect fifth doesn’t have a chord quality (i.e. major, minor, diminished) so there’s nothing to be done with it in terms of the Chord Track’s algorithms. That’s why I said what I did.

So if this were a feature request topic, what I would request is what I said above -

Agree about the beer. But slash symbols are not used in the chord track.

What is the harmonic function of the No3rd chord?

I hope you know I’m just kidding around at this point… and I know you were joking around too.

But yes, you can add slash chords in the Chord Track. It is the column to the right of tensions. Also it will correct analyze slash chords as well from midi.

I mean functionaly, I can play a I IV V with only power chords, and no 3rds, and I can hear they are functioning differently, and the V even with no third still wants to return to I. The no third V is a 5 and 2, so there is still pull. Obviously not like 5 7 2 of the triad or the even stronger dom 7 – 5 7 2 4 which wants to slam back to I.

Maybe we are just used to it by now.

And there is the music of the Police, where they had a stated goal of avoiding 3rds. You can still hear the functional movement of the chord progressions.


All that said, I think whatever they call it… it would be most useful in the 2nd column where you now define Major, Minor, Dimished, Augmented. Add No-3rd. That way we can still add tensions, and slashed bass notes.

And yes, I like beer and slash chords :wink:

slash

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Yes, I know you’re kidding. This is a very dry conversation, which needs more beer.

I didn’t know you meant alternate bass notes in saying slash chords, I thought you were talking about rhythmic slashes, or measure repeats.

As far as the function, I would say it’s more that we hear the familiar bass movement and know what to expect in a particular context, there’s almost no tension/release.

The problem in my view with adding 5 chords or No3rd is that it doesn’t fit in to the elaborate algorithms the programmer designed, so it can’t be used for the chord assistant-- It’s an exceptional case, and doesn’t fit into the the semantic structure of all the chord track features.

But what we do have currently is the Custom Chord Symbols feature, and any chord can be named anything. I think the following would fit into the existing logic –

Add a new chord “type”, maybe in that second column, that is freely definable. Even just one note. It would be useful for composers who use No3 chords, but also it would be useful to composers who do any kind of atonal or non-traditional harmony. Tone clusters could be named and catalogued, etc.

yes, that would work. It would be even more versatile and allow a lot more uses, many of which are beyond my current comprehension.

I have a semester of Atonal music coming next Fall. Currently I have no clue how they define a chord or tone clusters as you have stated. Sounds like I’ll have to move from beer to Lagavulin 16 for that…

Ah. When you finish that class I bet you’ll have a new take on all this. I’ll make a feature request in the C11 category soon… I’ve been meaning to for a while.

You wanna hear something that might blow your mind?

Check out Ben Johnston’s work-- he’s a microtonal composer, he used Just Intonation and creates tension and release in a whole different way. He only passed away in 2019.

The first piece of his I really dug was Ben Johnston: Quartet #4 "Amazing Grace" - YouTube

You are right, beer will not be sufficient. But with Lagavulin 16 you will be broke in minutes. Try the Islay Storm Single Malt at Trader Joe’s. Like $20 for a fifth, no 3rd. :exploding_head:

Do we really need computer assistance to add a fifth?

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Only after the second bottle. :crazy_face:

Hmm, I’ll try that Islay!!! Listened to that Ben Johnston’s, and I really need that Islay!!

@MrSoundman I’ve been experimenting using the Chord Track to generate other tracks, chordal tracks, arpeggiated chordal tracks, bass lines. When it gets to the chords where I don’t want a 3rd showing up in the generated tracks, I have no options…

It’s nice for song writing, as I can change the chord track as I write, and the bass line or chordal tracks dynamically update. I was pretty amazed that you can play a bass line into a track just playing one note, and the chord track changes it to the correct note.