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1. At the right of the T M toggle you can find the Load New Mappings button and Preset Mappings menu They can be used to load different MIDI note input mappings The Preset Mappings offers some presets for popular options The Load New Mappings button allows you to load custom mappings See Appendix 1 for instructions on how to create custom mappings The MIDI On Off selector if turned ON enables MIDI input notes to trigger the chords The Show Tension enables visualization of the chord harmonic tension in the current context The Show CoF opens a separate window focusing on the Circle of Fifths The Force Root column allows you to overrule the root tonic of forced chords Let s now look at the other controls of the Chord Explorer such as the Show Tension function the Show CoF additional view and the Force Root column J74 Progressive User Manual Page 22 of 52 The Chord Explorer visualizing Chord Tension When adding variations such as using forced major or minor chords it can be useful to know in advance how much a given choice would depart from the current scale and from the related diatonic set of chords a characteristic known in harmony as Tension What is Tension Tension is a characteristic of a chord within a specific context e g a selected scale Tension creates intensity and emphasis somehow departing from the expected movement of chords belonging purely to the selected scale the diatonic
2. apart from the Low tonic will be F3 to G 4 Chords will be automatically inverted within this range So a D Minor chord D F A C will be plot as F3 A3 C4 D4 first inversion in up direction Tip the default inversion chosen by Progressive can be changed if you like To do this you use the Inversion row on the Chord Progression Matrix and specify per chord which inversion to use See next for the Inversion row Tip if the Spread option is set to ON the chords will extend across three octaves 1 octave from the selected value in Octave This can introduce new voicing forms of the chords for potentially interesting new results J74 Progressive User Manual Page 17 of 52 The Inversion Row custom chord inversions As you may already know the same chord can be played in different ways You can start from the tonic and go up the classic root shape or rotate the chord starting from another note in the chord While the chord remains the same it gets a slightly different taste This is called chord inversion Sometimes it may be useful to be able to change the inversions That s why in Progressive you can if you like specify which inversion to use for each chord Note as mentioned Progressive inverts chords automatically and by default The default inversions are chosen in such a way that the equivalent performance remains contained within the pitch range defined by the Octave parameter twelve semit
3. chords and notes depend on the scale settings chord interval and mode as configured in the Main window and will be generated by the internal modeling of the diatonic method as done by the tool If we would select C Major as scale leaving all other parameters to their default this would result in the following MIDI clip Time 1 play chord degree 1 in the C Major scale which is C major chord C E G Time 2 play chord degree 5 in the C Major scale which is G major chord G B D Time 3 play chord degree 6 in the C Major scale which is A minor chord A C E Time 4 play chord degree 4 in the C Major scale which is F major chord F A C So far so good Now let s change the settings and add 7th and Low options This would give the following Time 1 play chord degree 1 in C Major with 7th and low tonic a C major 7th chord C E G B plus a low C Time 2 play chord degree 5 in C Major with 7th and low tonic G dominant 7th chord G B D F plus a low G Time 3 play chord degree 6 in C Major with 7th and low tonic an A minor 7th chord A C E G plus a low A Time 4 play chord degree 4 in C Major with 7th and low tonic a F major 7th chord F A C E plus a low F Let s now change the mode to arpeggio arp down Main window The result of the clip generated will be Where the same notes above are performed in an arpeggio with the down direction J74 Progressive User Manual Page 11 of 52 2 Let s now have a look to a slightly
4. modifier matrix J74 Build Clip Progression Chord Progression Matrix 12 4446749101 1213 14 15 16 Undo Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Compact Copy Insert Append Restore Clear All Chart Tae OIG Sie Ic Live In the specific you can see that e At Time 3 a dot is added on the 7 gt gt 9 row The chord will be modified to be a 9th Add9 chord e At Time 6 a dot is added on the 7 gt gt 13 row The chord will be modified to be a 13th Sixth chord Here the result of the MIDI clip built by using the setup in the previous picture e Time 1 play chord degree 1 in C Major as a 7th chord a C major 7th chord C E G B plus a low C There is in fact no dot applied to the corresponding column of the modifier matrix e Time 2 rest the previous chord in hold down e Time 3 play chord degree 5 in C Major but as a 9th actually an Add9 chord G Add 2 G A B D plus a low G On the third time slot column indeed there is a dot on the 7 gt gt 9 row The chord is therefore modified to be a 9th chord Add9 due to the inversion and note omission system of Progressive e Time 4 rest the previous chord in hold down e Time 5 play chord degree 6 in C Major as a 7th chord an A minor 7th chord A C E G plus a low A No dot applied to the corresponding column of the modifier matrix e Time 6 play chord degree 2 in C Major as a 13th chord an D minor 13th actually a Sixth chord D F A
5. B D Gb triad from the fourth note in the scale B e Chord Degree 5 V Db minor Db E Ab triad from the fifth note in the scale Db e Chord Degree 6 VI D major D Gb A triad from the sixth note in the scale D e Chord Degree 7 VII E major E Ab B triad from the seventh note in the scale E If you do not practice it a lot this may be quite a difficult thing to remember or find out when you need to But do not worry fortunately you won t have to remember all this Progressive will do it for you J74 Progressive User Manual Page 5 of 52 On top of the foundations given by the diatonic method many other useful techniques are known in the context of harmony making Many of those techniques are built in in J74 Progressive and are ready to use to add emphasis and twist to your creations Chord extensions sevenths added tone and suspended chords While many popular chord progressions are based just on simple triads some more sophistication can be added by using extensions and alterations with chords of more than three typically four notes The techniques to extend or alter a chord may be a bit difficult to remember and master as well Also in this case Progressive can come to aid modifying a triad into a seventh an added or a suspended chord is just one click away Borrowed Chords and Accidentals Further level of sophistication can be achieved by adding a harmonic twist to the progression somehow contradictin
6. Bb Minor7 Bb MinAdd9 D 7sus Bb Minor6 Show Tension As you can see the Bb note becomes highlighted in red signifying the root for the forced chord on this degree has been changed from the default of the selected scale Note changing the root note applies only to forced chords dots on fifth or sixth row of the modifier matrix So if you force the root note of a degree this would be the effect e If a yellow dot is inserted on the fifth row of the modifier matrix for a degree the corresponding forced to Major or forced to Custom1 chord will have the selected forced root note from this note column e Ifa yellow dot is inserted on the sixth row of the modifier matrix for a degree the corresponding forced to Minor or forced to Custom2 chord will have the selected forced root note from this note column e If no dot is inserted on the fifth and sixth rows of the modifier matrix for a degree the diatonic chord with the original root note will be used ignoring the forced root from this note column J74 Progressive User Manual Page 26 of 52 The Circle of Fifth View visualization and navigation of the diatonic modes Among its many properties the Circle of Fifths allows you to visualize the relationship between notes and chords This is useful while making decisions on what in terms of chord variation may work well or not Progressive provides a dedicated Circle of Fifths visualization window from the Chord Explorer yo
7. Forced iaer Il T Minor Extended Minor7 Minor Reset lz e The first shape Custom Chord 1 is linked tot the force to major option fifth row on the modifier matrix and is configured by default with a Major7 shape e The second shape Custom Chord 2 is linked to the force to minor option sixth row on the modifier matrix and is configured by default to a Minor7 shape You can modify these shapes in two ways e By hand clicking on the little one octave piano keyboard and selecting up to four notes as you like e By using the Chord Menu located below the little piano keyboard and selecting one of the shapes in the list Note You can quickly go back to the default Major7 or Minor7 shapes by using the respective Reset buttons J74 Progressive User Manual Page 19 of 52 Example of Custom Chords As an example we will change Custom Chord 1 into a Dominant 7 shape and Custom Chord 2 into a Major Minor 7 shape In both cases we will do it by selecting the shape name from the corresponding menu This is what we get L74_Custom_Chord Custom Chord 1 Custom Chord 2 Lise C as reference root Lise C as reference root Replaces Forced Majar Replaces Forced Minor thal dd Triad Major Triad Minor Extended Domith Extended MinMajr Domith id ETES Reset Reset As you can see the shape of both chords has been changed If we now look into the Chord Progression Matrix view you can notice
8. G Minor 7 into a G Major 7 Sus2 which is indeed a borrowed chord J74 Progressive User Manual Page 36 of 52 The Clip Modifier Humanize section The Humanize section on the right center portion of the device can be used to add some additional dynamics to a clip The tools in this section can add a form of randomized fluctuation to velocity timing and duration Commit to Clip Humanize Groove Modify Velocity Swing Pitch Kn ee i ra Cdo 0 00 aL mm t 25 25 Time Ge J3 Si Bars 1 0 00 Grid 1 16 r Duration Groove Start Stop Clip Distribute ane w 0 Grid Split Harmonize scale EET Seed EET Commit Harmonize Clip Apply Change Manual Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP 0 The available functions are Velocity Dynamics use the Velocity setting to add a fluctuation component to the original velocity of the clip The amount defines the fluctuation range around the original values Fluctuation is applied randomly within the range Time Dynamics use the Time setting eventually combined with the Grid setting to introduce fluctuation on the original timing In this case fluctuation is based on a random feed The Grid defines the reference by default within a 1 16 slot while the Time the variance range Duration Dynamics use the Duration settings to introduce fluctuation on the original duration It is normally a good idea to combine it with Time fluctuati
9. J74 BassLine In this setup J74 BassLine consequently produces bass lines which follow the scale and chords of the progression set by J74 Progressive with harmonically consistent results OO OO Main Options Triggers Pitch offset Leading Velocity Duration Step Operations Variations Rhythm Custom Presets InKey Rst T Skip Swing Duration Rst P 25 Compress inv 50 33 Yo a 7 Root Bb v help Progression Matrix Bass Undo Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Interval Compact 1 Velocity Scale Copy Minor v Octave 16 3 K ji i i i E i i i j y nd Duration Time Base Create Clip 12345 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 insert Append Linked to J74 Progressive Restore Query Progressive Clear All 20 in t gt Preset Popi hd I m Lucky Rev All Mix All Start Stop Clip step cursor 2 octaves Edit Progression Rnd All Rst All Important Notes shift 4 e With J74 BassLine in use by default in Linked mode J74 Progressive is automatically set to Track mode clips of J74 Progressive are automatically created in the track J74 Progressive is into e Changes to the Root and Scale parameters and to the Chord Progression Matrix as done in J74 Progressive are automatically synchronized to J74 BassLine e The Start Stop buttons operate in tandem between the devices For more information on J74 BassLine check the web page http fabriziopoce com bassline html J74 Progressive User
10. Manual Page 41 of 52 The MIDI Clip Analyzer Tool The MIDI Clip Analyzer is a tool for instant scale and chord detection of MIDI material Scale detection is often an important step in the composition process especially if you are trying to blend different material together Note Strictly soeaking the Analyzer only works on MIDI clips But if you combine Live s Audio to MIDI functionality you can use it to blend audio samples with MIDI material detecting the scale in an audio part and using this scale for the rest of your composition Note if you need to work with audio material eventually from a live real time feed have a look to the alternative J74 Audio Analyzer device which is described further in this document 74 Analyze Clip Notes Scales refresh Analyze Clip Possible Scales EDE O Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP 0 The MIDI Clip Analyzer has two mode of operation Scales and Chords In Scales mode it tries to find a matching scale to the clip or portion of it as being selected in Live MIDI editor In Chords mode it tries to determine the chord of the current selection Here all the available controls in the MIDI Clip Analyzer e The Analyze Clip button starts the analysis of the clip being currently selected in the Session view e The Scales Chords switches allows you to switch the mode of operation In Scales mode Scales Chords set to Scales the dark color analysis will look for scales mat
11. Off selector ON to have the _ Chord Explorer to respond to the input notes Mappings Chords p p P as specified by the configured MIDI mappings 13th Sixth E MinAdd9 Minor Minor7 F MinAdd9 G MinAdd9 G 1 The idea is simple each chord button is mapped to a specific MIDI note When a MIDI note is received see arrow in yellow it triggers the corresponding chord and the notes of that chord are sent in output arrow in blue This way you can jam hands on and capture your performance directly from the MIDI output use Live MIDI I O routing to get and record MIDI on a separate MIDI track Important as opposed to Live MIDI or KEY mapping and of course to the computer mouse using MIDI input note mappings does support MIDI velocity The velocity used for the input note is used for the chord output You can modify the default mappings by either loading a preset mapping from the Preset Mapping menu for common controllers such as Launchpad or a traditional piano keyboard or by loading a new custom mapping file using the Load New Mappings button J74 Chord Explorer EE Load New Mappings Launchpad v 9th 11th 13th Triads 7th add9 7Sus4 Sixth C Major7 C add9 C Ma7Sus4 C6 C Minor C Minor7 C MinAdd9 C 7susd C Minor6 D Major7 D Ma7Sus4 6 D Minor D Minor7 D MinAdds9 7sus D Minor6 E Major7 E Ma7Sus4 E 6 E Minor E Minor7 E MinAdds 7susd E Minor F Major7 add9 F Ma7Sus4 6 F Minor F Minor7 F MinAdd9 7susd F
12. This can be customized using the Custom Chord configuration view as described later Let s start with a progression with no such modifier in place no dot on the fifth or sixth row is present J74_Scale_Clip_Progression U74 Build Clip Progression 2 select Chord Progression Matrix EG 1 2 3 456 7 8 9 10111213 14 15 16 Duplicate eRT LE chord v Mme D3 Interval Expand Chords TP Modifiers Tth Se Me MELT Shorten Notes TR 0 00 BELET Amount Length 2 40 WEET EEE ETE 20 EN 50 EET Ed eo Scale ic v Chord Explorer Edit Arp AutoArp Auto Progression Type y Reverse Compact Copy Insert Append Restore Create Progression Clip I m Lucky Start Stop Clip Target clip selected TRACK 0 CLIP 0 Clear All Chart snitt gt Live The progression 2 3 6 rest 2 3 6 1 results in the following MIDI clip J74 Progressive User Manual Page 15 of 52 TEE er uuu AU OOOH NI II EER WEEE Let s now duplicate the progression and make a few changes to the last two chords J74_Scale_Clip_Progression 2 U74 Build Clip Progression fz select Chord Progression Matrix Te 123 456 7 8 9 1011121314 15 16 Chords EN EE 3 Duplicate Interval C Expand hords m r E Modifiers O Tth Skip MED spread Shorten Notes LR 0 00 EET TE YT 20 0 ms Length 2 40 WEET EELE CLN variable oR 20 EE 50 MO TEN variable cM oo R
13. WEEN qj i i Possible Modes I s I gt x I I Manual Threshold amp Mode Release Scale Ai Detection Ingress dad si Note Amplifier Filter Endine g Detection ien Chord Detection Live Display Audition Output Spectrogram V Auto Manual mode By default the device operates in Auto mode This involves automatic amplification of the ingress signal based on the feedback of the signal processing stages if the signal is too low it will be automatically amplified if it is too loud it will be attenuated Similarly the device also automatically clears its note cache if it detects a potential change of scale e g collected notes exceed nine AudiaSpectrum Note on full tracks Auto mode works at its best if the material has been already compressed to a relatively high level of loudness as done usually by modern mastering If this is not the case it may be a good idea to add a compressor before the Audio Analyzer plug in See further through this document for an example You can exit Auto mode and avoid this auto feedback process by setting the Auto Manual mode toggle to Manual In the Processing Chain the feedback of Auto mode is depicted with the dotted line Input Only Audition mode By default the ingress signal is passed Dry in output as the intent of this device is analysis and not audio output processing Therefore ingress amplification and filtering are used only internal
14. are MIDI mappable using Live MIDI mapping and can even respond to input MIDI notes if the MIDI On Off toggle is enabled see below You can this way use a keyboard or controller and jam with chords hands on The chord buttons The Chord Explorer presents the chords in a logical way on the vertical axis you have the degrees 1 to 7 while on the horizontal axis you have the various chord options given by the rules of the modifier matrix with the left section of buttons focused on the diatonic chords the center section on forced to major or Custom1 chords and the right section on forced to minor or Custom 2 chords The chords notes and names are populated dynamically If you change root or scale names and notes assigned to the buttons will be refreshed automatically Note if no chord name is assigned to a button the corresponding chord does not fit any of the common chord shapes This is related to the fact that a high level of dissonance is present in the resulting set of notes Besides the chord buttons a few other controls are available on the Chord Explorer The T M toggle defines how the buttons behave toggle T or momentary M mode If you trigger the chord buttons using the mouse leave this to toggle mode T If you MIDI map the buttons using Live MIDI or KEY mapping use momentary mode M If you use MIDI input notes when the MIDI On Off toggle is enabled see next you can leave this setting to toggle mode T
15. are the colors shown by the Chord Explorer with Show Tension enabled and C Major as selected scale 74_Chord_Explorer a s 9th 11th 13th Triads add9 7Sus4 Sixth C Minor C Minor7 C MinAdds9 C 7susd C Minor6 D Minor D Minor7 D MinAdds9 Tsus D Minor6 E Minor E Minor E MinAdd9 7sus4 E Minor6 F Minor F Minor7 F MinAdd9 Tsus F Minor6 G Minor G Minor7 G MinAdds G 7sus4 G Minor6 A Minor A Minor A MinAdd3 A 7susd A Minor6 B Minor B Minor B MinAdds9 Tsusi B Minor6 Show Tension Interpretation e All chords marked in Green add no tension or just the tension level given by extension or alteration They are diatonic to the scale e For forced chords you can notice that some forced to major chords are marked in Yellow for instance the second degree while some forced to minor chords are marked in Cyan degree 5 In both cases these chords will add limited level of tension give by a single accidental as one note outside the scale is used e instead forced chords marked in Orange forced majors and Purple forced minors will add more tension with two or more accidentals being introduced Note when you change scale chords tension colors are updated automatically This applies to the diatonic modes major dorian phrygian etc but also to more exotic scales in the latter case while the idea of Diatonic region is gone tension can still be calculated based based on the number of accidentals a forced chord wo
16. case J74 Progressive User Manual Page 31 of 52 The Clip Modifier Tool s The Clip Modifier is a multifunctional tool It provides functions for harmonization selective transposition of notes in a clip or portion of it for harmonic editing purposes for adding humanized fluctuation adds dynamics in both velocity and timing for adding groove rhythmic adaptation of timing and for note transformation manipulation of time and pitch such as rotation of pitch within a clip or redistribution of notes in time 074 Scale Cip Modi iI i i lal Commit to Clip Humanize Groove Modify Velocity Swing Pitch E Fa a t ah Oe 0 00 ia maa HO Time come od Gy 3 Bd Bars 1 0 00 i Grid 1 16 Start Stop Clip plea EE Jo o0 Harmonize Grid Split Commit scale EET Seed Base Harmonize Clip Apply Change Manual Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP 1 The tool works on MIDI clips applying transformations to them and has four sections e Harmonize e Humanize e Groove e Modify All sections share some common features e Undo Each time you make a change you can undo it directly within the tool The Undo button always reverts to the state of the original clip In fact this offers unlimited undo possibilities independently from how many changes you made So you can wildly process the clip e g testing it to very different scales or grooves and always revert back to the origina
17. chain together several progressions into a longer progression Tip as already mentioned the Duplicate command is very useful in combination with the Spread option turned on The chords even if repeated will be plot each time differently J74 Progressive User Manual Page 21 of 52 The Chord Explorer The Chord Explorer is a tool for chord exploration and performance The tool provides all the available chords in the scale as well as all the chords possible through the modifiers rules in Progressive The chords are assigned to dedicated buttons and can be played and combined on the fly by using pads or keys ona MIDI a controller or by using the mouse The tool can be launched from the docked device and from Chord Progression Editor J74 Chord Explorer v 9th 11th 13th add9 7Sus4 Sixth C MinAdds9 D MinAdd9 E MinAdd9 F MinAdd9 G MinAdds A MinAdd9 B MinAdds9 Here a few situations for which the Chord Explorer may result useful Define your chord palette to work with you can try the chords in free format to find something you like Note the chords down degree number and chord type and try to build a progression starting from here Looking for the next chord while creating a progression you often ask yourself which could be the next chord While programming you can quickly try the chords by just click on their Chord Explorer buttons Jam to find inspiration the buttons on the Chord Explorer
18. each other A chord may have only one shape the one automatically derived by the diatonic method no dot on fifth and sixth row the forced Major one dot on the fifth row or the forced Minor one dot on the sixth row Consequently you can place for each column time slot only one dot or none across the last two rows again the last placed wins e It is possible though to make combinations between settings of the first four rows and settings of the last two rows a chord may be forced to be a Minor dot on the sixth row and extended as a 9 chord dot on the first row Any combination is allowed as long as it fits the rules just described side note you actually do not have to worry about this The modifiers matrix will only allow valid combinations Default inversions and the Octave range As mentioned the Octave parameter defines the range for the basic notes used in the progression and defines how chords will be inverted by default The range is defined starting from the note selected in Octave and extends up for twelve semitones A couple of examples e An Octave parameter set to C3 means the range used for the chord notes apart from the Low tonic will be C3 to B3 Chords will be automatically inverted within this range So a D Minor chord D F A C will be plot as C3 D3 F3 A3 with the last C inverted in the down direction e An Octave parameter set to F3 means the range used for the chord notes
19. empty e If you leave a column empty no dot no change is made to the default 7th behavior on that chord The chord will be played as a 7 and with a shape derived from the diatonic method rules e Ifyou set a dot on the 7 gt gt 9 row the chord will be played as a 9th chord actually an Add9 chord due to the four note system adopted by Progressive see next for an explanation on how this is done e Ifyou set a dot on the 7 gt gt 11 row the chord will be played as a 11th chord actually a 7 Sus4 chord due to the mentioned four note inversion system e Ifyou set a dot on the 7 gt gt 13 row the chord will be played as a 13th chord actually an Sixth chord due to the mentioned four note inversion system e Ifyou set a dot on the 7 mute row the chord will be played as a simple triad of three notes same as if the 7th option was disabled for that chord e If you set a dot on the gt Major or gt Custom1 row the chord will be forced to become a Major chord or a custom chord if configured independently from the diatonic method rules e Ifyou set a dot on the gt Minor or gt Custom2 row the chord will be forced to become a Minor chord or a custom chord if configured independently from the diatonic method rules J74 Progressive User Manual Page 13 of 52 The Chord Modifiers example of chord extensions alteration Let s pick up again the example of the previous paragraphs about the
20. es ES n Se ed ei se ee ed ee We eg Ge ee Ge De Ge ie Go be Ge GE 9 The Chord Modifiers the modifiers matrix in the Chord Progression Matrix ViEW esse esse esse see ee ee ee 12 The Chord Modifiers example of chord extensions alteration ees ese ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 13 The Chord Modifiers forcing a chord to be a Major or a Minor chord borrowed chords ees sees ee 14 Voicing by chord extension and alteration cccccccsscccsseccseccesecceseceeceeseceenecsencessecessecseneesseceaseeeesseeeeeeses 16 Default inversions and the Octave range siese see ese ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 16 The Inversion Row custom chord inversions esse see ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 17 SDECITVING custom Chord saDes is OE GR EG GE EG A Ee GE eee 18 Sequencing and editing operations ON pDrogresSIONS esse ee ee ER ee RE ee ee Re ee ee Re ee ee ee ee 20 MVOC MORSE Oe lea ED EE EE SE EG DE GE EG ED EE EE DE DEE De A 21 The Chord Explorer visualizing Chord TensiON ees sees see ss ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 22 The Chord Explorer forcing a Chord TOOL mi EE N ES EG Ee Ge a a a a ED 25 The Circle of Fifth View visualization and navigation of the diatonic modeS sees ss sees see ee ee ee Ee 26 TledArpe ele EdILOE SEE SS ED DA MOST EE DS N Ee Ee EE a ee ea 27 He Mode RE GE De ate cto oa on doa EE EE ER EE DE EE EE GE ED ee ee 30 Ui likes MS DE EE DI EE EE ay et
21. more complex example using empty chords as rest intervals between chords 74 Build Clip Progression Chord Progression Matrix 2734 5 6 7 8 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Undo Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Compact Copy Insert Append Restore Clear All Chart Live The example shows a sequence 1 rest 5 rest 6 2 4 rest This progression will extend across eight bars being the Chord Interval set to 1 indeed 1 bar and produce the following MIDI clip relevant settings in the Main Window include Low and 7th both turned ON As you can see the first chord degree 1 second degree 5 and last degree 4 have a longer interval due to the presence of an empty chord rest behind them Please also observe the fact that by default the chord duration will extend over any following empty chord This behavior is defined by the hold empty switch in the Chord Progression Matrix a toggle switch in the left bottom corner which is ON by default If we change the hold empty setting to OFF the result would become the following As you can see in this case hold empty OFF actual chords do not extend over empty chords J74 Progressive User Manual Page 12 of 52 The Chord Modifiers the modifiers matrix in the Chord Progression Matrix view As you have seen the 7th option on the Main window allows you to add to the chords an additional note at the seventh interval in the scale By default when t
22. note or variable random fluctuations around the Length value e Length Variation Amount in ms defines the fluctuation range in variable mode e Velocity affects the note velocity 0 127 e Velocity mode can be set to fixed the velocity is the same for each note or variable random fluctuations around the Velocity value e Velocity Variation Amount defines the fluctuation range in variable mode Tip activating velocity length and timing variations eventually in combination with Spread and Skip options you can achieve very realistic performance styles Look for instance to the settings produced by the Auto and AutoArp presets These preset auto configure exactly those parameters Auto settings presets e AutoArp a preset for arpeggio common settings e Auto a preset for humanized common settings Additional buttons placed on top of the little keyboard e help opens the help summary document for the device e select track defines how the location for the next created clip will be chosen In select mode the default the clip is created on the slot currently selected in Live Session view In track mode clips are created only in the track where Progressive is placed and each new clip is created on the next clip slot Additional window launch e Chord Explorer opens the Chord Explorer window e Custom Chords opens the Custom Chord configuration window e Edit Arp opens the Arp
23. operation possible e Left Right Shift arrows Applies a rotation to the left or to the right e Up Down Shift arrows Moves Rotates the arpeggio one note up or down e Reverse reverses the arpeggio e Copy copies the arpeggio in memory for paste action e Paste deletes all and does a paste of the last copy e Clear All erases the arpeggio entirely J74 Progressive User Manual Page 30 of 52 Live Mode While the main goal of Progressive is to be a MIDI editor for chord progressions the tool offers also an alternative mode of operation for quick sketching Live Mode Live Mode is enabled if you set the Live toggle of the Chord Progression Matrix to ON it is OFF by default In this case the window will also change to a dark red background 74 Build Clip Progression Chord Progression Matrix 89 11121341518 N Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Compact _ Copy Insert Append i Restore Clear All Chart rive What is Live Mode In Live Mode you can work with your progression on the fly Instead of producing results into clips Live Mode sequences your chords in real time In this mode Progressive generates notes from within the docked device in the track any input note to Progressive will be silently dropped In this mode changes in the Chord Progression Matrix are applied immediately This can speed up your creative process Limitations Due to its on the fly nature less degree of mani
24. that the names for the last two rows of the modifier matrix have been modified into gt Custom1 and gt Custom2 to signify a custom shape is in use Chord Progression Matrix 123 4 5 6 7 HY 10 711 12 13 14 15 16 Undo Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Compact Insert Appe nd Restore Clear All Chart Live If we now take the case of the Custom Chord 1 shape extensions using a Dominant 7 shape will result into e A Dominant 7 no dot on first four rows of modifier matrix a C 7 chord CE G Bb e An Add9 7 gt gt 9 selected in the modifier matrix a C Add9 chord C D E G e A Dominant 7 Sus4 7 gt gt 11 selected in the modifier matrix a C Major7 Suspended 4 chord CF G Bb e A Major 6 sixth 7 gt gt 13 selected in the modifier matrix a C Major6 chord C E G A e A Major triad 7 mute selected in the modifier matrix in the example a C Major chord CEG Tip Custom chord shapes and custom chord forced tonic root can be freely combined Also notice that the Chord Explorer will reflect your customizations and always show the available chords and related tension J74 Progressive User Manual Page 20 of 52 Sequencing and editing operations on progressions Here a list of all the sequencing and editing operations available on the Chord Progression Matrix 74 Build Clip Progression Chord Progression Matrix 3 4 5 6 7 B 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Undo _ Duplicat
25. the signal after filtering It also presents the Input Only Audition toggle which allows you to switch the output of the device from the Dry output input to the signal after Filter processing Input Only Tips for detection The plug in if working in Auto mode tries to match the volume of the input to a level of loudness sufficient to get harmonics detection This works at its best on single parts e g a guitar or piano part isolated and if full tracks are used if the material has been already normalized read mastered with a limiter and some compression If the source material is a un mastered full track with large fluctuations in dynamics it may be a good idea to add a compressor before the Audio Analyzer plug in See picture below for an example Note the Device Activator button can be use to disable the audio engine saves CPU With the compressor it is important to try to get the output volume high enough by adding a Makeup gain while still avoiding too much clipping In the example above a Glue compressor native Live device with gentle limiter preset has been used with no EQ soft clipping and some Makeup gain J74 Progressive User Manual Page 48 of 52 One last tip Get the free J74 Harmotools HarmoTools is a set of devices for MIDI harmonization for Ableton Live Max for Live They can be used to adapt in real time MIDI to chords and scales or to simply discover and display
26. your progression The possible approaches are 1 You can force a chord to become a major a minor or a custom chord regardless of the rules of the diatonic method This is possible using the modifiers matrix as described in this paragraph and eventually by combining the modifiers matrix with the Custom Chord configuration view which is explained later 2 You can select a portion of a clip for instance a chord and harmonize it selectively transpose it into another scale or mode This approach is described later in this document when introducing the Clip Modifier This is a more refined approach to scale and modal interchange 3 Of course you can edit the resulting MIDI clip by hand editing in Live MIDI editor The fact of producing standard MIDI clips is in this case very handy While leaving the last method out of scope to this document and inviting you for the second to look further in the document see chapter about the Clip Modifier we will now focus on the possibilities given by the modifiers matrix Major Minor chord force How to use the modifiers matrix for chord forcing As mentioned the fifth and sixth row of the modifiers matrix in the Chord Progression Matrix allow you to force the shape of a chord into the Major dot on the fifth row or Minor shape dot on the sixth row Note By default the Major and Minor shapes associated to the fifth and sixth rows use a Major7 and Minor7 extension shape
27. B plus a low D On this time slot column there is a dot on the 7 gt gt 13 row The chord is therefore modified to be a 13th chord Sixth due to the inversion and note omission system of Progressive e Time 7 play chord degree 4 in C Major as a 7th chord a F major 7th chord F A C E plus a low F No dot applied to the corresponding column of the modifier matrix e Time 8 rest the previous chord in hold down Tip use the Chord Explorer to have a preview of what the extension alteration sounds like before applying it J74 Progressive User Manual Page 14 of 52 The Chord Modifiers forcing a chord to be a Major or a Minor chord borrowed chords In regards to the diatonic method the progressions you can generate with the just reviewed tools could be defined as absolutely pure They fit to perfection into the selected scale While this perfection is still the basic foundation for traditional harmony as a very good source material for further experimentation it may not reach the level of emphasis or pathos you are up to In fact several techniques are possible in harmony for adding imperfections and therefore interest to the mix A common example is the idea of borrowed chords A borrowed chord or modal interchange is a chord borrowed from another key with the same tonic It provides variety through contrasting scales e g major vs minors With Progressive it is possible to add this kind of twist to
28. Base setting affects both the Swing and Groove effects This setting defines the area for the effects to be applied looped on Essentially this influences which beats will be less affected and more on beat and which will be more effected and potentially more off beat or moved towards triplets or 32 notes Possible values for Time Base are e An ora 1 4 interval e 2n ora 1 2 interval e 2dot or 3 4 interval e 1n or full bar interval Tip you can use the Groove tool on any MIDI clip It works particularly well on drum based MIDI clips J74 Progressive User Manual Page 38 of 52 The Clip Modifier Modify section The Modify section adds a few special functions to manipulate note pitch and timing creatively D7A Scale Clip Modifie Commit to Clip Humanize Groove Velocity Swing O 000 0 00 40 aa Tie 25 2 Go J3 s0 Jo 00 Ty 0 Ye O Te Harmonize Grid Split scale M E CSa Basel 2n Harmonize Clip Apply Change Manual Commit Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP 0 You may be already be aware that Ableton Live Clip view already knows some function manipulation function You can find them in the Clip Notes Box like the one in the picture below Ableton Live built in functions for MIDI processing are e Double Half Tempo e Reverse time and pitch e Invert pitch only vertically e Legato e Duplicate Loop functions The Modify section adds the fo
29. Fifth view available in Progressive as explained later in this manual Taking into reference the C Major scale we will have the following Circle of Fifths diagram Diatonic i Me O E 2 gi a be O LL Dissonant In our context the Circle of Fifth provides this information e Onthe middle circle with capital notes symbols C G D etc you see the root of major triad chords e On the inner circle with lowercase notes symbols Am Em etc you see the root of minor triad chords e On the outer ring it shows the harmonic region for a chord within the context of the selected scale If you look at the diagram you can notice a portion called Diatonic region This region spreads the three upper central sections and includes the diatonic chords majors and minors associated to the scale majors are on the middle circle C F G and minors on the inner circle D A E When we force one of the diatonic chords into another chord type for instance from G Major to G Minor we are effectively moving away from the Diatonic region and temporary changing scale for the duration of the new chord The position of the destination chord after forcing in this example the location of the G Minor chord defines how much we depart from the diatonic region and therefore the level of tension we introduce The further we go the highest the level of tension we introduce The musical reason for this is related to the number of muta
30. J74 Progressive User Manual Page 1 of 52 J 4 Progressive OO Chord Progression Common Routes PROGRESSION c wa Harmonize Clip Analyze Clip Possible Seales Selected chp TRACK OCLIP 0 Seleciod clip TRACK CUP 0 OO 7 OO 7 Chord Progression Matrix Undo ST chord vE Cc v Arpeggio Editor Interva Duplicate Lo 7h AT Ed BETO 6 V Expand gt difiers Notes fe Shorten Lengtt 350 EETL EETL TN es Voloeity EE velocity mode ONE aroo 0 sae B MeMoor EditArp C AutoArp Auto Progression Type Pon T Copy Rewerse Pasto Compact Clear All Reset Copy Insert Append a r rests Progreasion Clip ed Restore Clear All Tm NET S Start Stop Cup Target clip selected TRACK CLIP 0 TT GN ar A tool set for Chord Progression and Harmonic Editing J74 Progressive User Manual Page 2 of 52 Table of Contents How to install and start up J74 Progressive esse sees se ee ee Ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eek ee ee ee ek Ee ee ee ee 3 Background What is a chord progression ANYWAY ees sees see ee Ee ee ee Ee ee ee ee Re ee ee ee ee ee ee ee 4 LAE Diatoii Method id A E EG ED GE Se nie sansa tex N GE GR ue wae ene eee ewe 4 Whey CHOrd Progression EdIEOF HE Es ee acon ies dicate Ge Ge de aetna weno Ee ree GE eee aE 6 The Main window of the Chord Progression Editor ccccccsecccssscccesecceenccceesceceeececeneceeeeceseuecetenecteneeeeceees 7 The Chord Progression Matrix VIEW si
31. Minor6 G Major7 j G Ma7Sus4 G 6 G Minor G Minor7 G MinAdd9 G 7sus4 G Minor6 A Minor A Minor7 A MinAdd9 A 7susd A Minor6 B Minor B Minor7 B MinAdds9 7sus B Minor6 To do the latter you must prepare a text file edited according to the following instructions J74 Progressive User Manual Page 50 of 52 The text file for the custom must be a simple list of button to note mappings A mapping defines indeed the association of a chord button of the Chord Explorer to an incoming MIDI note The definitions are made this way XYZ MIDI note number e XX isthe chord shape type o X1 1is for triad O 2 2 is for 7th o X3 3is for 2 9 oO X4 4is for gt gt 11 o X5 5is for gt gt 13 e Yis the chord category o YO 0Ois for diatonic o Y41 1is for forced to major custom1 o Y2 2 is for forced to major custom1 Z is the degree An example of line in the file would look like this 312 61 _74 Chord_Explorer i eeeee ee ee 9th 11th 13th add9 7Sus4 Sixth C MinAdds9 D MinAdds9 E MinAdd9 F MinAdd9 G MinAdds A MinAdds9 In this case the mapping says e Xisset to 3 to signify a gt gt 9 9 or Add9 type of shape e Yis setto 1 to refer to a forced to major custom1 category of chords e Zissetto2 to represent degree nr 2 e 61is the MIDI note which will trigger the chord 61 is C 3 Note mappings do not support MIDI velocity or other type of messages such as MIDI CC MIDI sysex etc J74 Progressive User Ma
32. Rotation or Distribute to produce rhythmical changes or even harmonic rhythm Tip you can use the Modify tool on any MIDI clip even outside Progressive generated material J74 Progressive User Manual Page 39 of 52 Other utilities for progressions editing The ChordDetect utility Included in the pack is also a little utility called J74 ChordDetect amxd This tool can be useful if you like to visualize chord names as being played on a MIDI track 74 Scale Clip Progression C Chords mode PE DI74 Chords di J74 Build Clip Progression Detected Chord Chord Progression Matrix e rac ords nterva ords Modifiers otes art Dela en ri i 2 3 5 6 B 9 Y n elocity TV uplicate B V N EG y i Dorian o y Chord Explo sv xpan Progression Type Pop 7 4 orten 3 as ompac Create Progression Clip I m Lucky Start Stop Clip Target clip sele J74 Progressive FO 474 Chora YVA OA ee ak In the picture above the J74 ChordDetect amxd is used with Progressive set in Live mode as a way to show the chords while testing the progression the picture was taken while a live part was being played on a guitar help Possibilities for making Presets and or Saving your Progressions If you save the Progressive device as part of your liveset all its settings will be saved with the project This way it is possible to continue experimenting with progressions and arpeggios by simply reloadi
33. aight chords arpeggios or hybrids forms such as striking the chords of a guitar or as syncopated arpeggios or adding variation to dynamics timing and velocity and notes skip spread Once you produced your results as new MIDI clips you can use them directly in your project If you like you can even manipulate the results further using the Clip Modifier tool which is good for adding a specific rhythmic flavor groove swing or for radical pitch and timing transformations the Clip Modifier is presented later in this document The user interface and the controls of the Chord Progression Editor The user interface of the Chord Progression Editor is divided in three sections the first section is the Main View window which is used to set all the fundamental common parameters The second section the Chord Progression Matrix is used for the in depth sequencing and editing of the progression The Third window the Arpeggio Editor zooms into the details of the arpeggio technique in use An additional window is dedicated to the Chord Explorer J74 Progressive User Manual Page 7 of 52 The Main window of the Chord Progression Editor e800 SS E select ante A Chords mode chord F Octave nterva Chords i Em Mode 1 M Tth ae Mes Meche Notes Start Delay Start variation Amount Length oo Length variation Amount Velocity BO Velocity mode Fixed ga Amount EET Scale Cc 7 Chord Explorer Custom Chords Edit Arp E AutoA
34. and highlights only the notes you which to apply the function on J74 Progressive User Manual Page 32 of 52 The Clip Modifier Harmonize section The Harmonize section on the left bottom portion of the device offers the possibility of adaptation of any MIDI clip to a given musical scale The tool can be useful for radical harmonic transformations e g if you apply it on the entire clip or for selective little touches such as modal interchange e g adapting only a few notes or chords to another scale for the so called borrowed chords approach 074 Scale Clip Modifier NN Commit to Clip Humanize Groove Modify Velocity Swing Pitch tee Ye 0 00 W Al A4 Time 2E H Ge 4 S0 0 00 C Start Stop Clip Duration Groove Q Distribute 0 00 0 Grid Split Grid 1 16 Harmonize scale NE OEMS Seed ase 2n Commit Harmonize Clip E Apply is hange Manual Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP 0 The Harmonize tool requires only settings for the target Root and Scale When you press the Harmonize Clip button the tool will transpose the notes which do not fit the selected target scale The operation can be performed on a subset of the notes in the clip if manually select them in Live MIDI editor or to the full clip if you did not selected anything other than the clip in the Session View Transposition is done on a note by note basis The algorithm works in this way e Ifthe note in the sel
35. as reference e Select an alternative mode for a shift of the progression Instead of one off chord substitutes isolated chord changes leaving all other chords in the progression intact and diatonic to the scale you can try a modal shift by changing the mode the progression evolves on altogether For instance if you are working with a Minor scale you may find interesting to temporary change the mode into Dorian as the Dorian mode is just one sector distant from the Minor mode Going for neighbor modes is often a good option J74 Progressive User Manual Page 27 of 52 The Arpeggio Editor The Arpeggio Editor is where you customize the way each chord is played specifying which note in the chord will be played at what time in the interval You can launch the tool from the Main window of Progressive The grid of the Arpeggio Editor shows the notes in the chord in order of time the Tonic root note in the chord the 3rd and the Sth in case of triads and the added 7th or note used in the selected form of extension alteration and eventually the added Low tonic if respectively the 7th and the Low options in the Main window are turned ON Each column is a time event somehow similar to how Live MIDI editor shows notes in time U74 Build Clip Arpeaaiol fe Arpeggio Editor Copy Reverse Paste Clear All Reset To start with an example see configuration in the picture above This shows the following At time 1 two note
36. bar Time 2 is at 25 of the bar which is 1 4th of 1 bar Time 3 is at 50 of the bar which is at the of 1 bar and Time 4 is at 75 of the bar which is 3 4th of 1 bar Cadence is quantized The Time Compress setting is a modifier of the Time Values It means that the Time Values will be calculated on a fraction of the Chord Interval If the Chord Interval is set to 1 and the Time Compress left to its default of 1 0 note time intervals would be exact quantized But if we set the Time Compress to a lower ratio the Time Values will get compressed For example changing Time Compress to 0 5 50 means the Time Values will be halved so while Time 1 still remains 0 Time 2 becomes 1 8th of the bar Time 3 is 2 8th 1 4th and Time 4 is 3 8th Let s take the same example with e Chord Interval 1 e Time Values 0 25 50 75 e Time Compress 0 5 This will result in the following As you can see the arpeggio gets compressed in time Tip you can omit notes by deselecting the dot on the corresponding row in the Arpeggio editor This can also be used to create alternative voicing to chords even if the chords are left straight and not set to an arpeggio Tip using the Time Compress in conjunction with Chord Interval and the Time Values you can achieve very powerful results and produce complex rhythmic structures Next some of the possibilities J74 Progressive User Manual Page 29 o
37. ching the selected clip or clip portion If set to Chords Scales Chords set to Chords in green Analyzer will try to find which chord is matching your selection e The Possible Scales provides the result of the analysis In Scales mode this would be a guess of the scale used by the clip Often more than one Root Scale combination will fit the same notes set e g a C Major and aA minor use identical note sets as such scales are harmonically interrelated modes of each other The menu color will provide information about the time of match o f there is a Scale match and enough information is present to guess the Scale Root the Possible Scales menu would be in gray and the scale selected in the menu the exact match o f there is one or more Scale matches but not enough information to detect the Scale Root the Possible Scales menu would be yellow Any of the scales identifies the same note set o Ifthe guess include Scales which is a super set of the the note set in the clip the scale includes all the notes in the clip but also other notes not contained in the clip the menu will be blue e The Apply Scale button allows you to spread the scale information to the other tools in the J74 Progressive set and also to HarmoTools a free real time harmonization tool set in the J74 family for more information http www fabriziopoce com download html e The Refresh button at the top right corner is useful for collecting again informat
38. chords In practice it is the result of adding some level of dissonance into the mix One approach to tension is to apply chord extension within the diatonic boundaries within a single chord itself that is add or modify the notes in the chord while still using notes belonging to the same scale Seventh chords for instance add just a little level of tension as the extra note a perfect fifth away from the third in the triad is still quite consonant with the rest of the chord it is a series of fifths Suspended chords instead create more tension as this type of chord is unresolved it has no third and creates a form of relative dissonance between the notes Tip for chord extensions and alteration in Progressive look at the extension options in the modifier matrix Another approach to tension usually with a more substantial effect is to introduce chords with notes outside the selected scale creating dissonance between chords This is for instance the effect of introducing borrowed chords chords which originally come from another mode or scale This often translates into forcing a chord which was originally a minor into major or viceversa If overdone this approach can result in excessively dramatic passages or even fall into a clich think about all the pop ballads in the 80 s raising the entire progression of one full tone towards the end of the song But if done sparsely it can end up creating a lush progression Tip for borr
39. chords and scales It can be used within a Live set or even in collaboration with other musicians using a TCP IP network eer Ta Adhd a G Harmonic Minor RE game Marmas MA HEB fo HERE ll ee The set includes e Max for Live analyzer and Harmonize based on input chords e Max for Live analyzer and Harmonize based on a selected scale e Max for Live diatonic chord Harmonize based on a selected scale e Max for Live diatonic auto populated rack of chords e Max for Live add on for network communication of chord and scale information e Standalone chord analyzer which can communicate via OSC TCP IP to the Max for Live tools e Standalone scale selector which can communicate via OSC TCP IP to the Max for Live tools J74 Progressive User Manual Page 49 of 52 Appendix 1 Chord Explorer MIDI Mappings Besides MIDI or computer keyboard mappings which you can add using MIDI and KEY mapping standard Live feature you can also use input MIDI notes to trigger chords of the Chord Explorer In fact when the MIDI On Off selector is enabled the chord buttons of the Chord Explorer respond to input MIDI notes This way you can map the chord buttons to a physical controller like a Launchpad a standard MIDI keyboard or anything which sends MIDI notes and jam with them hands on while not looking at your computer screen The picture below visualizes this concept MIDI MIDI input output P p Turn the MIDI On
40. d and you get seven chords working nicely together Consider for example the C Major scale Applying the diatonic method would give the following chord set e Chord Degree 1 I C major C E G triad from the first note in the scale C e Chord Degree 2 II D minor D F A triad from the second note in the scale D e Chord Degree 3 III E minor E G B triad from the third note in the scale E e Chord Degree 4 IV F major F A C triad from the fourth note in the scale F e Chord Degree 5 V G major G B D triad from the fifth note in the scale G e Chord Degree 6 VI A minor A C E triad from the sixth note in the scale A e Chord Degree 7 VII B diminished B D F triad from the seventh note in the scale B Note please observe the fact that chords are given here a degree name The degree is defined by the order in the originating scale of the note they are built from The degree based naming is one of the very few things you need to remember for quickly finding your way through J74 Progressive If we instead pickup a Gb Minor scale the diatonic method would result in a completely different chord set e Chord Degree 1 I Gb minor Gb A Db triad from the first note in the scale Gb e Chord Degree 2 II Ab diminished Ab B D triad from the second note in the scale Ab e Chord Degree 3 III A major A Db E triad from the third note in the scale A e Chord Degree 4 IV B minor
41. e i Expand Shorten Reverse i Compact Copy Insert 7 229 7 ss MT Append Pee 13 Restore 7 m t Clear All gt Major gt Minor Chart Hold TIETE TE TES Live e Left Right Shift arrows Applies a rotation to the left or to the right e Up Down Shift arrows Move the progression one degree up or down e Undo does an undo of the last operation e Duplicate duplicates the Progression e Expand shifts right and duplicates the first chord e Shorten shifts left and removes the first chord e Reverse reverses the chord progression e Compact removes any chord repetition e Copy copies the progression in memory for paste action like Insert Append or Restore e Insert does a paste of the last copy before the current progression e Append does a paste of the last copy after the current progression e Restore deletes all and does a paste of the last copy e Clear All erases the progression entirely e Chart opens the Chart view as reference information Note the Undo operation reverts only the last operation Tip Try the Shift operations They do not change the length of the progression but alter its movement in the case of left right shifting or even its nature in the case of up down shifting Tip a very useful combination while editing specially if using preset progression id the use of Copy in conjunction with either Insert or Append This way you can
42. e one as follows U74 Build_Clip Progression ial Chord Progression Matrix Undo Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Compact Copy B 14011121314 1516 insert Append Restore Clear All shitt 4 Chart 2 In Live MIDI editor select only the notes of the chord or chords you like to modify We choose chord number 14 in the progression a G Minor 7 In the picture below you can see the selected notes in Live editor as reported with the light blue color 3 J74 Progressive User Manual Page 35 of 52 Now open the Clip Modifier In the Harmonize section on the left side select a different scale in the same root For instance let s use the C Major scale on the Scale menu s 4 _ TA Scale Clip Modifier Commit to Clip Humanize Groove Velocity Swing 0 00 0 00 Let s finally apply the harmonization by pressing the Harmonize Clip button Modify Pitch Cones OIO Mas ame 25 vas Go 4 Su 0 00 Duration Bars l Grid 1 16 ES i Groove Start Stop Clip Distribute H P 0 00 0 veal len Grid Split scale GE Seed ET Commit Harmonize Clip Apply Change Manual Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP 0 The result of the harmonization would be the following As you can see the Harmonize tool has transposed only one note the A 3 has become a A3 This is an accidental to the original scale C Minor The chord at time 14 gets therefore changed from a
43. e will now walk through the features of all the tools included one by one J74 Progressive User Manual Page 4 of 52 Background What is a chord progression anyway A Chord progression is in essence a sequence of musical chords In music composition the interplay between the chords of a progression can be used to achieve a sense of movement and change some chord combinations will sound uplifting some somber others troubled In western pop music a song typically builds on sections such as verse and chorus which are no other than chord progressions In this context a chord progression works by building up the landscape for a melody But chord progressions are not just random sequences of chords in the same way as a melody is not a random sequence of notes To work musically a chord progression needs to evolve on and around a scale establishing or contradicting something related to it But are there methods for defining what works well and what not Well yes there are The Diatonic Method One fundamental method to build scales e g modes and chords as used in western music is the diatonic method Among other things the method defines the rules for building given a scale a set of chords with very strong harmonic relationship to their originating scale and with each other Without going into the details of theory just think of the diatonic method as the set of rules for chord making you have a scale you apply the metho
44. ection is also part of the target scale nothing happens the note is maintained e If the note in the selection is not part of the target scale the note will be transposed o Ina normal situation the note will be transposed to the next note part of the target scale with the smallest distance from note of the original clip with preference for transposing down but o f asubsequent note in the clip overlaps with the resulting transposed note the transpose action is changed to another note of the target scale either given by the note having the same distance but being transposed up or having the second smallest distance from the original note Tip The tool works at its best if the clip scale root is the same as the target scale root for instance harmonizing adapting a clip in C Major to C Minor Tip Harmonize function can be applied to the entire clip or to a portion of it To apply the function on the entire clip just select click onto the clip to edit For a specific selection go into Ableton Live MIDI editor view and highlights only the notes you which to apply the function on Tip you can use the Harmonize tool on any MIDI clip even outside Progressive generated material J74 Progressive User Manual Page 33 of 52 Here an example The original clip is in the B minor scale Db Eb F Gb Ab A B as shown here We select the B Dorian scale from the Scale settings This scale is composed of the following
45. eferences The Spectrogram window This window shows the detected notes in the frequency spectrum domain AudioSpectrum fz g A 1 AO CIDIE1F1 Gi Ai B1C2 D2 E2 F2 Gb2 27 50 55 00 110 00 30 86 61 73 123 47 32 70 65 4 130 81 36 70 73 41 146 83 41 20 82 40 164 81 43 65 87 30 174 61 49 00 98 00 brightness 162 e The ON OFF little toggle switch on the right side activates deactivates the Frequency Spectrum for the incoming signal This is useful for visual feedback of the signal level and the nature of the spectrum involved e The Threshold red bar controls the same parameter as the Threshold in the Analyzer Controls window although it offers the possibility of visually matching the threshold value to the the level of the incoming signal the spectrum levels are consistent with the level you assign to the threshold used for detection e The Brightness number box at the right bottom corner allows you to add or reduce the brightness of the bars representing the detected musical notes The notes detected are shown with different colors to facilitate visual recognition e The A notes are presented with the Red Purple color e The BCDEF notes are presented with the Magenta Purple color e The notes corresponding to the piano black keys are presented with the Dark Purple color J74 Progressive User Manual Page 47 of 52 The Filter window This window shows the Filter frequency diagram amplitude and the spectrum of
46. eggio Editor window e Edit Progression opens the Chord Progression Matrix window The latter will take us to the in depth tweaking which will be the next thing we will look into J74 Progressive User Manual Page 9 of 52 The Chord Progression Matrix view J74 Build Clip Progression Chord Progression Matrix 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213 14 15 16 MEE Duplicate Expand Shorten l Reverse Compact Copy Insert Restore Clear All C Chart Live The Chord Progression Matrix is the place where you program your own chord progression as indeed a sequence of chords in order of time As you can see in the picture where a yellow dot is placed a chord is inserted e On the horizontal axis you define when the chord is placed in time time between 1 and 16 the time unit defined by the Chord Interval in the Main window e On the vertical axis you define which chord degree will be inserted degrees 1 to 7 refer to the naming introduced in the previous background explanation e A special value for a chord is the empty chord or rest interval An empty chord can be inserted by adding a dot on the grayed out row set below the row for chord degree 1 and named empty Tip By combining actual chords degree 1 to 7 with empty chords rest intervals you can manipulate the otherwise fixed chord interval adding emphasis to the progression pace see examples further on Tip You can also try combinations of c
47. er ee GE EE EA EE GE EE ed ee 31 VOC MORE DETE CHUT DE GE TTE 31 Possibilities for making Presets and or Saving your PrOgreSSiONS sesse see ee ee Ee ee ee ee ee ee 31 Chord and Bass progressions combining J74 Progressive and J74 BassLine DlUB INS sesse see ee Ee ee 32 THE Clip Modiher Tools Go a a co aude DE AE GE Ge oe toons 33 The lipModitiers HarmonIizesseEtiOR Ee Ee n Ge AE SG GR Ne 34 The Clip Modiher Hurmatiize selle EG cia tas bose bie ED Ge Ve ee Vee de SG EN 38 The Elip Mo ditiers Groovese tion ie SE SE DE AD EE N GE a N 39 Tine Clip Moditiet Modilvseetion sn n Ee E 40 The MIDI CIOs AIZEN tool ME RE SG GE Ge SG De SE 41 TheAudi Aralvzer TOOR ED OG wal eect eect erent ada 43 Auto Manual mode iek ES EE OE GE EE OE De GR seh ake 44 Ut OMI 7 AUGITION mede n EE DS EE EG DE DE ER GE ee ie 44 The Afialzer Controis WIN AOW MEE ee Ee dete ee ED De sy ect i Md tecceindaden eas 45 THE SPECELOR FAM WIN dOWE MEE EE EG EE ER A 46 The Ellter Window mid EO ED ED De ee EE EE EE ei ae 47 DETO AE 6 lt 1 0nd AE a OE ene SE Ree SO Tee RC re EE rer ree 47 Appendix 1 Chord Explorer MIDI Custom Mapping cccssccsscccssecceseceseceesecceneceeuceseeceeeeseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeees 49 J74 Progressive User Manual Page 3 of 52 How to install and start up J74 Progressive J74 Progressive is a set of plug in s for for chord progression making and harmonic editing in Ableton Live It requires a Max for Live license to run and it will run prop
48. erly only in Ableton Live 9 or higher older versions of Live such as Live 8 are not supported Installation of the tool set is extremely easy just unzip the download pack and copy the files to your computer hard drive To start it up drop the plug in device amxd you like to use in the Ableton Live liveset In the specific you can e Drop J74 Progressive amxd on any MIDI track e Drop J74 AudioAnalyzer amxd on any Audio track The J74 Progressive amxd plug in The J74 Progressive amxd plug in provides three MIDI tools in a single device e The MIDI Clip Chord Progression Editor e The MIDI Clip Modifier e The MIDI Clip Analyzer To open the tools views use the device buttons on the little docked user interface e The Clip Progression button opens the Chord Progression Editor tool e The Edit Progression button opens its Chord Progression Matrix view e The Chord Explorer button opens the Chord Explorer view e The Circle of Fifths button opens the Circle of Fifths view e The Progression Chart button opens a reference chart e The Clip Modifier button opens the MIDI Clip Modifier tool e The Clip Analysis button opens the MIDI Clip Analyzer tool e The Help button opens the help pages for all the tools Note Progressive operates on the Session view meaning that only MIDI Clips in the Session view can be created or edited This limitation though is not very restrictive it is very easy to make a copy o
49. essive is all about let s have a look to the Chord Progression Editor interface and its functionality J74 Progressive User Manual Page 6 of 52 The Chord Progression Editor The Chord Progression Editor is a tool for building chord progressions The devices parts of this tool work using internal modeling and can generate extremely realistic results very quickly results provided in the form of standard MIDI clips ready for use in your Ableton Live project 0 00 U74 j 0 00 Chord Progression Matrix chord sw Relay 123 4 5 67 8 9 10 111213 14 15 16 Arpeggio Editor Skip skip 7 ARIE 0 00 Menara Am eee 3 50 EE EEN fixed v Mu Velocity se velocity mode Amoun Scale c Chord Explorer Edit Arp AutoArp Progression Type Create Progression Clip I m Lucky Start Stop Clip Target clip selected TRACK 0 CLIP 1 The work flow of the Chord Progression Editor is very simple you select a scale and work on your sequence of chords You can start from different points a preset progression for instance Or you can program an original progression straight into the editor In alternative you can come up with ideas by trying things out and even improvising using the Chord Explorer or the Live Mode more on these later Once you defined a useful progression you can then go all the depth into editing and tweaking of many details adapting the way chords are performed inversions and extensions choosing the playing style str
50. everse Compact Copy Scae E Chord Explorer Edit Arp AutoArp Auto Progression Type v Insert Append Restore Create Progression Clip I m Lucky Start Stop Clip Target clip selected TRACK 0 CLIP 0 Clear All Chart Shift lt 4 4 gt Live e On Time 15 we force the chord to be a Major We also change it to have an 11 extension e On Time 16 we force the chord to be a Minor These changes results in notes outside the original scale a C Major and quite a noticeable harmonic emphasis Here the resulting MIDI Clip Needless to say the modifier matrix eventually combined with configuration of Custom Chords as explained later in this manual offers lots of fine tuning possibility for variations Tip The main commands on the Chord Progression Matrix window such as duplicate undo copy etc also apply to this matrix The only exception is the Shift Up and Shift Down which are not enabled it does not make sense to rotate among chord types Tip both chord modifier extensions and chord forcing are available in Live Mode for quick sketching See further in this document about Live Mode J74 Progressive User Manual Page 16 of 52 Voicing by chord extension and alteration In Progressive chords of maximum five notes are supported four for the actual chord plus an additional note for the low tonic if added by the Low option In theory this maximum amount of notes lim
51. f 52 Examples of combinations in arpeggio s e You can for instance keep the Time Values to their defaults and try decreasing the Time Compress At values like 0 75 0 66 0 5 and 0 33 the playing style changes dramatically to things like triplets based structures e Combine the Time Compress fractional numbers with their inverse Chord Interval settings For instance a Time Compress of 0 33 on top of a Chord Interval of 1 produces a similar effect of Time Compress of 0 66 combined with Chord Interval of but with the double of chord changes If you then duplicate each chord in the sequence you essentially double the effect in the same bar e Try syncopation by having Time Values set to emulate little delays or anticipation For example instead of 0 25 50 75 you could set the timing to 0 20 60 80 or even unevenly distributed values such as 0 26 49 77 which emulates an a syncopated cadence in playing e Ifyou select the guitar option in the Chords Mode menu of the Main window you can notice that this applies an extremely low Time Compress value to an uprising arpeggio Effectively this achieves the emulation of the strings of a guitar The Arpeggio Editor also offers some additional editing functions similar to the ones of the Chord Progression Matrix These controls can be useful for adding variation for instance try shifting the chord up down or left right or try reversing the arpeggio The following are the
52. f a MIDI clip from the Arrangement view into the Session view e g just drag it over and you are done work in the Session view with J74 Progressive and then copy back the results new MIDI clips in the Arrangement view again Note A little utility called J74 ChordDetect amxa is also included in the pack This little tool is useful if you like to visualize the chord names in real time on a MIDI track The J74 AudioAnalyzer amxd plug in The J74 AudioAnalyzer amxd plug in provides tools for real time audio analysis detecting notes chords and scales in the audio material it processes To open the tool use either the Audio Analyzer button or the Device Activator on the little docked user interface in Live Track view Note the audio processing operation is applied to the incoming audio signal HE auto independently from the fact that audio is actually flowing or not e g the source is button can be use to disable i j the audio engine saves CPU playing or not the track is on mute etc Consequently as long as the device is enabled it consumes CPU cycles Therefore in case you are not using the device but like to keep it in the Live set use the Device Activator to disable it Only disabling the plugin with the Device Activator or removing the device from the liveset will save the unnecessary CPU load Closing the windows will not be enough to disable its CPU usage W
53. g the originally selected scale and creating an element of surprise to the chord sequence a chord you wouldn t expect not part of the scale but which works right at the right spot A technique which often results effective for this purpose is the use of borrowed chords A borrowed chord is a chord which is indeed borrowed from another scale or mode For instance a chord which in the originally selected scale would be a minor can be effectively be substituted by a major in the same tonic and add a strong element of contrast Also this is possible in Progressive Inversions arpeggio s groove swing real time testing and more Progressive also allows you to manipulate your chord sequence by choosing the inversion type creating an arpeggio based on the chords modify timing rhythmically and more And it can also help while creating by giving you the possibility of testing changes before applying them into the final progression No more digressions So Progressive can help you applying these techniques effectively to create and modify chord progressions even starting with useful preset progressions But presets are not necessary the point to end the journey from the initial selections onwards it s all creativity and experimentation based on a user interface as simple as the one of a sequencer while still holding on the foundations given by some of the most effective techniques in music composition Now that you have a background of what Progr
54. han 6 are present for scale detection try adding notes manually If too many notes are collected more than 7 8 you are still probably having some false note in the MIDI converted clip Look for false note again as in step 4 Tip if the material is difficult for Live to analyze you can still clean it up quickly Typically false notes have very low velocity and can therefore be easily manually deleted select the notes using the velocity bar under the clip in Live MIDI editor Also check pitch detection in transients sometime if the pitch glides live will put a wrong note in between to correct notes J74 Progressive User Manual Page 43 of 52 The Audio Analyzer Tool The Audio Analyzer is a tool for real time note scale and chord detection in audio material The tool analyzes the incoming signal in the frequency domain to find the harmonic fundamentals which define musical notes This way it can detect and display notes showing them on a Spectrogram window as well as on a live display and by collecting notes it can perform scale and chord analysis in a similar way as the MIDI Clip Analyzer Important The tool processes the incoming audio signal independently from the fact that audio is actually flowing or not e g the source is playing or not the track is on mute etc Consequently as long as the device is enabled it consumes CPU cycles Therefore in case you are temporary not using the device but like to keep it i
55. he 7th option in set ON all the chords in the progression will become seventh chords or just 7th This behavior can be modified on a per chord basis using the modifier matrix In this way you can fine tune the progression by altering extending each chord and or forcing its shape independently from the standard diatonic method rules J74 Build Clip Progression Chord Progression Matrix 1 add ad 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 1E 1E Undo Duplicate Expand Shorten Reverse Compact Copy Insert Append Restore Clear All Chart Live The modifier matrix is the matrix on the bottom section of the window and is active only if the 7th option is set to ON In this matrix you can see six rows You place dots in a given column to modify the type for the chord inserted at the corresponding time slot of the Chord Progression Matrix The first four rows affect the chord extension and alteration inserting a modifier on one of these first four rows will alter extend the harmonic flavor of that chord or reduced it to a triad The fifth and sixth rows instead are used to force the shape of a chord inserting a modifier on one of these rows will force the chord type to become either a Major Custom1 or a Minor Custom2 chord independently from the rules of the diatonic method This allows you to add accidentals and or borrowed chords into your progression In detail the following happens for each dot you place or leave
56. hich is defined by the collected notes e The Possible Minor reports the Minor Scale if any which is defined by the collected notes J74 Progressive User Manual Page 46 of 52 e The Possible Alternative Modes menu collects all the possible scales matching the collected set of notes It may include many scales as complete matches e g the diatonic modes of the same collected note set or scales which are a super set of the current set of collected notes a partial match e The Apply button allows you to spread the scale information to the other tools in the J74 Progressive set and also to HarmoTools a free real time harmonization tool set in the J74 family for more information http www fabriziopoce com download html e The Guess button let s you try a partial match guess on the collected note set e The Clear button restarts the audio and note collection engine e The Statistics toggle enables disables the display of note statistics in the Scale and Statistics Display e The Auto Manual toggle changes the mode of operation between Auto the default mode and Manual In Auto mode the device performs automatic ingress signal normalization and note cache clearing e The Normal Extended toggles the scale detection between the Normal set of scales the most common including the diatonic modes the common minor scales and the pentatonic scales and the Extended set of scales which includes more exotic scale r
57. hords before producing any clips Two approaches are possible for this e Using the Chord Explorer window where all the chords Progressive can use for the selected scale are arranged per degree and modifier type you can manually check how chords will sound together e Using Live Mode Live ON in the Chord Progression Matrix you can use the Chord Progression Matrix in real time Progressive will send out chords on the fly without a clip A few limitations to the available features apply in this case see Live Mode section later on in this document Besides the matrix for the chord sequence on the bottom section of this window you can find a second matrix the modifier matrix This section allows per chord alteration extension modifying the behavior of the 7th option and chords forcing into majors minors or custom chords outside the rules of diatonic method Using this you can add additional complexity to the chord progression on a chord by chord basis More on this in a few paragraphs J74 Progressive User Manual Page 10 of 52 Examples 1 Let s pick up a very simple example to begin with as in the picture above progression 1 5 6 4 The matrix configuration results in the following Time 1 play chord degree 1 Time 2 play chord degree 5 Time 3 play chord degree 6 Time 4 play chord degree 4 As you can see what you select here are chord degrees and not chords names like C or notes C E B The actual
58. iads 111 4 112 20 113 36 114 52 115 68 116 84 ELT T00 Custom1 TER 11 5 12 21 13 37 14 53 15 69 ND ND N ND N II J74 Progressive User Manual Page 52 of 52 216 85 217 101 Customl gt gt 9 311 9 312 25 313 41 314 57 315 73 316 89 317 105 Customl gt gt 11 411 10 412 26 413 42 414 58 415 74 416 90 417 106 Castoml gt gt 13 511 11 512 27 513 43 514 59 515 75 516 91 517 107 Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok OK Ok OR OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK Ok OK Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok RR RR OK EK RR OR RR Custom2 Triads 121 6 122 22 T23 38 124 54 125 70 126 86 127 102 Custom2 7th 221 7 222 235 223 39 224 55 225 71 226 87 227 103 Custom2 gt gt 9 sal da 322 28 323 44 324 60 325 76 326 92 327 108 Custom2 gt gt 11 421 13 422 29 423 45 424 61 425 77 426 93 427 109 Custom2 gt gt 13 521 14 522 30 523 46 524 62 525 ta 526 94 527 110 Issues and Questions In case of issues please contact info at fabriziopoce com
59. ic note outside of the selected scale Forcing a chord root note while forcing chords If you open the Chord Explorer you will notice on the right end a column with note names By default these notes match the degrees notes of the selected scale These are the notes used as root tonic note for all forced chords J74 Chord Explorer z 9th 11th 13th Triads add9 7Sus4 Sixth C Major7 C adds9 54 C6 C Minor C Minor7 C MinAdd9 og TT C Minor6 D Major7 D add9 sd 6 D Minor D Minor7 D MinAdds Tsus D Minor6 E Major7 E add9 s4 6 E Minor E Minor7 E MinAdd9 7sus4 E Minor6 F Major7 F add9 s 6 F Minor F Minor7 F MinAdds9 TT F Minor6 G Major7 G Ma7Sus G 6 G Minor G Minor7 G MinAdd9 G 7sus4 G Minor6 A Minor A Minor7 A MinAdds9 A 7susd A Minor6 B Minor B Minor7 B MinAdd9 7sus B Minor6 Show Tension As you would expect by now these notes can be changed Following our example we change the root of the seventh degree from B to Bb as in the picture below 74 Chord Explorer E i 9th 11th 13th Triads EEGEN 7Sus4 Sixth C Major7 C add9 C6 C Minor C Minor7 C MinAdd9 C 7sus C Minor6 D Major7 D add9 6 D Minor D Minor7 D MinAdd3 7susd D Minor6 E Major7 E add9 iSus4 6 E Minor E Minor7 E MinAdds 7susd E Minor F Major7 6 F Minor F Minor7 F MinAdds9 7susd F Minor6 G Minor G Minor7 G MinAdds G 7susd G Minor6 A Major A Major7 4 add9g A 6 A Minor A Minor7 A MinAdds A 7susd A Minor6 Bb Major Bb Major7 b add9 D6 Bb Minor
60. ion Clip button is your final goal as it produces the MIDI clip result of the progression In select mode remember to click on the destination slot in the Session View before using the button Tip Although not exactly the approach a composer would agree on the I m Lucky button can be an unexpected source of inspiration Try this out as it may produce stuff you won t get by linear approach Chord timing range and mode e Chords Interval defines the interval for chords changes in measures bars e Chords Model define if chords are played at once or as an arpeggio Tip the Chord Interval is an important parameter It influences many of the possible arpeggio styles Try this in combination with the Arpeggio Editor Time Compress and Time Values settings see next e Low adds the chord tonic two octaves down e 7th adds an additional note on the 7th interval the modifiers matrix can modify this per chord e Octave defines the range for the notes used in the progression and also how chords will be inverted by default The range is defined starting from the note selected in Octave and extends up for twelve semitones J74 Progressive User Manual Page 8 of 52 The 7th option if set ON allows you to use the modifiers matrix in the Chord Progression Matrix to change the type of chord on a per chord basis The 7th is the default chord type if 7th is ON but several alternatives become availab
61. ion from the clip for instance if you changed the portion being selected J74 Progressive User Manual Page 42 of 52 Important If you wish to analyze only a section of the clip select in the clip the area of interest notes to be selected in Live MIDI editor If you wish to analyze the entire clip just select the clip in the Session view by clicking On it Tip if you do not find a match analyzing the entire clip your clip probably apples one or more change of scale Select only a portion of the clip to study the clips in steps Example detecting the scale of an audio clip using Live Audio to MIDI and the MIDI Clip Analyzer Here the logic work flow for detecting a scale from an audio clip FRR RSES PLL TIERE ER A KA EE E A T 1 LEEK ie ad bi Br im TT H ARM ese EE dIE HELLE Seeeeeta MT AE INN ie de he ed ad ol Ft ER TE ES UEA A B NG Peer La IE Hi uil Dh BIERE RUE KI a B fal m Fi i id 1 Open the audio clip in Live 2 Right Click and select Convert Melody to New MIDI Track 3 Let Live analyze the audio and convert it to a MIDI clip 4 Verify the MIDI clip generated is clean Usually if the material is not well recorded or it is difficult to analyze e g this is often the case of a vocal part a few false positive will be generated 5 Once your converted melody responds well to the original audio clip material use Analyzer as usual on MIDI material 6 If to few notes less t
62. its extension which requires in some cases more notes than the maximum available Anyway by applying voicing and note omission the modifier section of Progressive still gives a useful form of chord extension and alteration In particular e Fora 7th the full 7th four notes extension is provided 1 3 5 7 e Fora 9th instead of the theoretic 1 3 5 7 9 you get 1 3 2 5 This is the result of two adaptations the replacement of the 9 with the 2 harmonically somehow equivalent as 2 and 9 both refer to the same note in the scale only 9 being one octave up from the 2 and by omitting the 7 as only four notes apart from the low tonic are possible This results in a chord form alteration known as Add9 e Fora 11th you have 1 4 5 7 with a somehow similar approach the omission of the 3 dissonant with the 4 and therefore practically always omitted and of the 2 resulting in the 7 Sus4 chord form e Fora 13th you have 1 3 5 6 with 4 2 and 7 being omitted and resulting in the so called Sixth chord Other constraints of the modifiers matrix e The first four rows are mutually exclusive A chord can be either a 7 9 11 13 and their actual alterations explained above or a triad but not more than one at the same time You can therefore place only one dot or none across the first four rows for each column The last dot placed overrules the others e The last two rows are also mutually exclusive in respect of
63. l with one click Live standard undo can also be used e Commit the modifications of the different sections are by default mutually exclusive So if you apply Harmonization and then Humanization the result would be only the last operation Anyway it is possible to use destructive editing if you like to apply multiple modifications on the same clip For this to happen you will need to commit the first set of changes before applying the next This is possible by manually pressing the Commit to Clip button on the top of the device If you like you can make this automatic on the right bottom of the device there is a toggle called Commit Manual Auto If set this to Auto each change will be committed automatically the internal Undo function is disabled in this case while of course you can use Ableton Live own undo function outside Progressive If you set this to Manual it will apply only the last operation and require manual commit to apply the next as previously explained e On the fly testing Any function can be applied while playing which is a useful way to immediately check the results You can also use the Start Stop button to start or stop the currently selected clip e Full Clip or Selected notes Any operation can be performed on the entire clip or on a specific selection of notes To apply the function on the entire clip just select click onto the clip to edit For a specific selection go into Ableton Live MIDI editor view
64. le a chord can be turned into a 9 Add9 11 7Sus4 13th Sixth or reduced to a triad a chord can also be forced to be a Major Minor or any other custom shape independently from the diatonic rules for accidentals or borrowed chords Besides the modifiers matrix other chord note variations are possible using the following options e Skip randomly skips notes in the chord main triad e Skip 7 randomly skips the added 7th if present or the added notes by the modifier matrix e Spread randomly moves some notes one octave up or down from the settings of Octave Tip Spread can add even a melodic component to the part To get an idea just duplicate the same sequence of chords or even just the same chord a few times in the Chord Progression Matrix you can do this by using the Duplicate action and enable Spread The chords even if repeated will be plot each time differently with the high notes producing little melodic evolutions Note timing and dynamics can be modified using e Start Delay affects the start time of each note A value of 0 00 ms assures perfect starting e Start Variation can be set to fixed Start Delay applied to each note or variable random fluctuations e Start Delay Variation Amount in ms defines the fluctuation range in variable mode e Length affects the duration of each note in beats 4ths e Length Variation can be set to fixed the duration is fixed for each
65. lit scale EET Seed COE Harmonize Clip Apply Change Manual Commit Selected clip TRACK 0 CLIP O Swing The Swing effect adds incremental anticipation or hesitation to the notes This is a powerful tool for giving a clipan unusual funky cadence Negative values anticipate the note timing positive values delay them The incremental nature is defined by the combination of the Swing value and the Base setting and can easily provide ways to add triplets or 32 notes in the mix Useful rhythmic values for generating triplets and 32 notes are the integer fractions such as 1 4 25 1 3 33 1 2 50 These values can be quickly set up using the little box below the Swing control Other Swing values unrelated to such fractions will create a more unusual syncopation As mentioned an important factor which affects how the incremental time shifting is applied is the setting of the Base control which is explained just a few lines below Groove The Groove effect adds per note independent random anticipation or hesitation The overall result has a more random emphasis compared to Swing as the timing has a random component Again you can combine the Groove values with the Base setting as explained below It is also important to notice that in the case of Groove the Seed button can be used to generate a new random probability set The Seed does not affect the Swing effect Base The
66. llowing extra MIDI processing functions e Pitch Shifting Left Right amp Down Up this function retains the timing in the clip but affects the pitch of the note events In the Left Right case pitch is shifted to the previous next note event in time of the original clip In the Down Up case pitch is shifted to the previous next note pitch in the selected scale Try adding a clip modified by shifting Left or Right after a few repetitions of the original clip or try the shift Down Up function on a clip with a melody or solo to hear the effect by yourself e Pitch Distribution the Distribute function Somehow opposite of the previous one takes a clip and redistributes its notes same pitches using new timing Two parameters are available to influence the time distribution o Bars which defines the area in bars indeed for collecting notes and doing the redistribution The redistribution will restart at each Bars specified interval o Grid which defines the resolution of the interval used for the notes e Grid Split this function splits the notes in the selected clip based on the grid length as defined by the Grid parameter This function can be useful to split long hold notes or chords into rhythmical repetitions In particular this can produce interesting results if combined after clip commit with other functions for instance the results of a Grid Split can be processed through a Swing Groove Pitch
67. lly a third inversion This is chosen automatically by Progressive e The 0 imposes to the chord the root shape shape which starts from the tonic and goes up in pitch In the example above the D Minor 7 chord is set in Root shape as D3 F3 A3 C4 e The 1 causes the first inversion to be used moving down the keyboard the third note of the basic triad which is the fifth intervals This gives the following in the example above A2 C3 D3 F3 e The 2 gives the second inversion moving down the keyboard the third and second notes of the basic triad the fifth and the third intervals This gives the following in the example above F2 A2 C3 D3 e The 3 is applicable only to chords of four notes and starts the chord from the added fourth note the seventh in the example C3 D3 F3 A3 This is often called third inversion This shape was actually the shape Progressive would have chosen by default in this case J74 Progressive User Manual Page 18 of 52 Specifying custom chord shapes By default the forced to Major and forced to Minor options of the modifier matrix adopt a diatonic method for chord extension as forced chords are extended using perfect fifths intervals of a corresponding major or minor scale in such a way the resulting chord becomes the root chord of the corresponding scale To make it more concrete let s consider a C Minor scale C D Eb F G Ab Bb and suppose degree 1 to be forced to Major The re
68. ly in the device with the results not being passed in output You can change this default behavior by using the Input Only Audition toggle in the Filter window J74 Progressive User Manual Page 45 of 52 The Analyzer Controls window This is the window where you define how the tool performs its analysis as well as where notes chords and scale results are provided AudioAnalyzer 2 View Filter View Spectrogram Input Filter Type highpass v Input Gain 1 25 1 00 Cutoff Peak 440 Hz 0 7 Thresholc Release Possible Major Possible Minor soon Goo Bb Major G Minor Live Display Possible Alternative Modes Normal Let s view the controls available starting from the left upper side e The View Filter button opens the Filter window which shows the ingress filter stage e The View Spectrogram button opens the Spectrogram window which shows the detected notes on the frequency spectrum e The Input Filter Type defines the type of filter used in the ingress processing chain The filter is by default a 12dB high pass e The Input dial controls the ingress signal amplification In Auto mode this parameter is controlled automatically by the device If the signal is too low it will be automatically amplified if it is too loud attenuated This behavior can be modified by setting the mode to Manual with the Auto Manual toggle e The Gain dial defines the Filter gain amount e The Cutoff dial defines the Fil
69. n the Live set use the Device Activator to disable it button can be use to disable the sudio engine saves CPU Note the Device Activator Only disabling the plug in with the Device Activator or removing the device from the liveset will save the unnecessary CPU load Closing the windows will not be enough to disable its CPU usage The tool is composed of three floating windows e The Analyzer Controls window top left in the picture below e The Spectrogram window top right e The Filter window bottom left AudioAnalyzer 2 AudioSpectrum z View Filter View Spectrogram Input Filter Type highpass v Input Gain 1 38 lt 1 00 meant TE OP A 1 AO C1D1E1F1 Gi A1 B1C2 D2 E2 F2Gb2 G2 Ab2 A2 Bb2 B2 C3 D Cutoff Peak lt 440 Hz 0 7 27 50 5 00 110 00 220 09 Thresholc Release Possible Major Possible Minor 30 86 61 73 123 47 246 94 Co Ci Db Major Bb Minor 32 70 65 4 130 81 261 63 Live Displa 2 sr Possible Alternative Modes Help 9 36 70 73 41 146 83 2 41 20 82 40 164 81 43 65 87 30 174 61 Apply uess ear Db Sus_2 49 00 98 00 EEN input Only We will describe each of these in the following paragraphs J74 Progressive User Manual Page 44 of 52 The Processing Chain For the sake of explanation as required in the following paragraphs here a reference chart of the signal processing chain of the device F m WEEN WEEN WEN
70. ng the liveset It is also possible to create presets of Progressive In this case use Live native preset saving capability by pressing the little save button on the top right title bar of the device in Live s track you will create a preset in the form of a adv file You can drop this preset any time you need and get the Progressive settings back It is of course also possible to re use MIDI clips created by Progressive through various projects This is actually the simplest way to create your own database of material To do this use Live browser and look inside a saved project for clips Drag and drop the clips wherever you like Next we will look into the Clip Modifier This tool can be used for additional processing on the MIDI clips you created with the Chord Progression Editor but also for processing any MIDI clip you like to modify MIDI clips created by any mean like things you recorded through performance or imported otherwise into Ableton Live J74 Progressive User Manual Page 40 of 52 Chord and Bass progressions combining J74 Progressive and J74 BassLine plug ins Part of the J74 product line is the separate J74 BassLine plug in a tool specialized in bass line progressions J74 Progressive and J74 BassLine can work together as an integrated environment for chord progressions and bass line production By default the tools work in Linked Mode with progressions created in J74 Progressive automatically synchronized to
71. notes Db D E Gb Ab A B As you can notice this scale only differs from the clip s original scale in two notes D instead of Eb and E instead of F By applying the transposition the result will be a clip with identical notes times and velocities but having any F transposed to E and any Eb transposed to D Tip if your clip has two scales select only the portion of the clip in the clip select the area of interest to harmonize only that selected section Tip You can use the Harmonize tool in creative ways for instance you can create harmonic variations of the same clip applying the changes on the whole clip or on parts of it J74 Progressive User Manual Page 34 of 52 Using the Harmonize tool to insert borrowed chords and accidentals in a progression The Harmonize tool can be useful for inserting musically interesting accidentals or borrowed chords into a progression Let s say you created a progression with the Chord Progression Editor as just described in the previous sections This progression will be pure as it only uses chords perfectly fitting into the selected source scale Now suppose you like to add a harmonically noticeable variation for instance a borrowed chord from another scale This will have the effect of contradicting the original scale but eventually it may give a nice musical effect Here an example on how to do this 1 Create the initial progression see previous sections For example a simpl
72. nual Page 51 of 52 Default Mappings and full mapping example directly comaptible with the Novation Launchpad Here an example of MIDI input mappings for the Chord Explorer The values used here actually reflect the default settings of J74 ProgressiveSE built in when the device is loaded These settings match the note generated by a Novation Launchpad A text file example with these definitions is provided in the J74 Progressive Chord Explorer Mappings included in the download pack To create your own mappings edit the provided Launchpad example so that it matches the MIDI notes used by your controller In the definitions change only the MIDI note numbers kkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxk xkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxkxx xxk Lines starting with this sign are comments KEKKKKK KK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKK Diatonic Triads 101 0 102 16 103 32 104 48 105 64 106 80 107 96 Diatonic 7th 201 4 202 dT 203 33 204 49 205 65 206 81 207 97 Diatonic gt gt 9 301 2 302 18 303 34 304 50 305 66 306 82 307 98 Diatonic gt gt 11 401 3 402 19 403 35 404 51 405 67 406 83 407 99 Diatonic gt gt 13 501 8 502 24 503 40 504 56 505 72 506 88 507 104 OK kk OK Ok OK OK Ok OK OK Ok OK Ok OK OK Ok OK OK Ok OK OK Ok OK Ok EK KOK EK KOR KOK Ek KOK EK KOK EK RR KOK EK KOK EK RR RR RR Customli Tr
73. on if you are after a more human feel If you are playing with leads and bass though it may be useful to use the duration alone e g for some glide effect To apply the Humanize function you must press the Apply button Note the fluctuations are random based and underwater random numbers are generated for each note If you change the controls for velocity time and duration you retain these random numbers just changing the amplitude of the effect If you like to generate new random numbers use the Seed button Tip Humanize function can be applied to the entire clip or to a portion of it To apply the function on the entire clip just select click onto the clip to edit For a specific selection go into Ableton Live MIDI editor view and highlights only the notes you which to apply the function on Tip you can use the Humanize tool on any MIDI clip even outside Progressive generated material J74 Progressive User Manual Page 37 of 52 The Clip Modifier Groove section The Groove Section allows you to manipulate the note timing in a rhythmic way The section provides two separate effects Swing and Groove each with a different rhythmic goal J74_Scale_Clip_Modifier NN Commit to Clip Humanize Groove Modify Velocity Swing Pitch ae Me 0 00 es on ee ft 4 WT 25 25 Ge iH il Bars 1 0 00 L Grid 1 16 Start Stop Clip Duration Grooves GQ Distribute 0 00 5 0 Harmonize Grid Sp
74. ones This is just one of the ways performers can play chords this is actually the form that requires the least movement of your fingers across the keyboard notes are close to each other In Progressive you can change this behavior using the Inversion row Here an example and a description on how to use it U74_Scale_Clip_Progression U74_Build_Clip_Progression z select Chord Progression Matrix Chords EEN o rT co 123 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011121314 15 16 Undo Interval 1 Duplicate Chords P EA Modifiers Low E Tth Skip E Skip 7 Spread w Expand Notes ATR ooo WETTE fixed v Tg 0 00 ms Length 3 50 MORELE CLN fixed vos 0 Velocity ECM velocity mode Amount i Compact Copy SOE C EditArp AutoArp Auto 7 gt Insert Progression Type Shorten Reverse Append Restore Create Progression Clip Clear All gt Major gt Minor I m Lucky Start Stop Clip Target clip selected TRACK 0 CLIP 0 Edit Progression Chart 101C As you can see the Inversion row is placed in the middle of the Chord Progression Matrix and shows for each chord what Progressive will do in terms of inversion e The symbol indicates that the plugin will choose the inversion automatically as by default The chosen shape will depend from the actual chord and the Octave setting In the example above we have a D Minor 7 chord With the Octave starting at C3 the chord is laid out as C3 D3 F3 A3 which is actua
75. ot of the circle and change the root on the Main window accordingly e Relative option if enabled for a relative move of mode on the circle if enabled using the Mode buttons both root and scale will be adapted in order to select a relative mode of the current scale e g from C Major to A Minor which keeps the note set intact As a planning tool the information provided by the Circle of Fifth View can be useful among other things to e identify which forced chord or forced root option could work well for a borrowed chord If you look at the circle and selected a diatonic mode as scale to work with you can visualize the Diatonic Region highlighted by a white box This region shows you the native major chords outer circle and minor chords inner circle for the scale Outside this region lay other chords majors and minors which although not diatonic may work well as borrowed chords For instance the neighboring chords just outside the Diatonic Region may work well as one off substitutes of diatonic chords as their tension will be relatively low For example with C Major as selected scale this would be the case of the D Major or B Minor in the clockwise direction or of the Bb Major G Minor in the counterclockwise direction This information is actually the same as the information give by the tension colors as shown by the Show Tension feature of the Chord Explorer tension is indeed calculated using the Circle of Fifths
76. owed forced chords in Progressive look at force to major minor options in the modifier matrix Is it possible to measure the tension level of chord How to know in advance what effect a change would have In Progressive a simple method is available for this using colors to visualize the level of tension a chord would have in the context of the selected scale This is what the Show Tension toggle if enabled does Here the example of layout the Chord Explorer gets with Show Tension enabled while using a C Major scale J74 Chord Explorer z 9th 11th 13th add9 7Sus4 Sixth C MinAdds9 D MinAdds9 E MinAdd9 F MinAdd9 G MinAdds A MinAdd9 B MinAdds9 Show Tension The colors are used to show the level of tension associated to chords Let s see now how to interpret this layout J74 Progressive User Manual Page 23 of 52 How the Tension color of a chord is defined The tension color is defined by using the Circle of Fifths For what Progressive is concerned the circle is used here to show the relationship between the chords and to measure the chord tension Tip explaining the logic behind the Circle of Fifths goes far beyond the scope of this manual If you are interested and like to know more just search on the Internet and you ll be surprised by how many explanations discussions and articles are available on the topic Anyway if you just like to explore it you can have a look to the Circle of
77. pulation is possible in this mode The following limitations apply e No Note variations Start Delay Start Variation Length and Length variation as well as Velocity Variation are not available Only the Velocity fixed setting is supported e No inversion editing chords will be inverted automatically by Progressive the inversion row is disabled Note while Low Spread Skip and Arpeggio Editing are supported in Live mode you may find minor differences specially on Spread and Arpeggio voicing between Live mode and the MIDI clip creation This is due to the limited control possible in Live mode real time operation Live Mode can be useful in many ways for instance in the following context e The creative stage of building a progression You are building your progression and are not completely sure of which chords will be part of it of which order to use or you are trying out modifiers for extensions and borrowed chords In all these cases you can benefit from the directness of Live Mode e Live Performance You are improvising live you defined just the root and scale to work with and would just like to jam using the Chord Progression Matrix as a sequencer of chords in harmony with your context Tip you can also combine the use of the Chord Explorer and of Live Mode together For instance use Live Mode to trigger the basic progression and Chord Explorer buttons to add variations You may want to record MIDI on a Live MIDI track in this
78. rp mA Progression Type Create Progression Clip Fm Lucky Start Stop Clip Target clip selected TRACK 0 CLIP 1 Edit Progression In this window you find the most important controls the Scale settings the Progression Type presets and the control buttons such as the Create Progression Clip for producing the final MIDI clip result the Start Stop Clip for auditing the result just produced and the I m Lucky for random progression experimentation which by the way can be a lot of fun The following explains each parameter Main controls e Scale Menu select Root and Scale to be used for creating the chord progression Note it is also possible to edit the scale and create a custom scale with any number of notes between 2 and 7 For this use the little one octave keyboard of the Main window change add remove notes with C as reference root e Progression Type select a progression example to start with if you like e Create Progression Clip create a new MIDI Clip with the currently edited Chord Progression In select mode the clip will be created on the currently selected Clip Slot of Live Session view while in track mode the clip will be created on the next slot of the track Progressive is hosted into more on these modes later e Start Stop starts or stops the selected clip useful for testing a just created progression e Fm Lucky generates a random chord progression Tip Essentially the Create Progress
79. s are played the Low tonic and the 7th or whatever notes is implied by the modifier setup At time 2 the 5th is played At time 3 the Tonic is played At time 4 the 3rd is played In case of a C Major chord this note sequence would be generated At time 1 the C1 Low tonic and B3 7th are played At time 2 the G3 5th is played At time 3 the C3 tonic is played At time 4 the E3 3rd is played J74 Progressive User Manual Page 28 of 52 Note Timing in the Arpeggio Editor Time events are defined by the setting of the Time Values and Time Compress parameter on the Arpeggio Editor in combination with the Chord Interval value as set in the Main Window By default these parameters are set to be the following values e Chord Interval 1 in bars e Time Values 0 25 50 75 percentages of the Chord Interval e Time Compress 1 0 a ratio from 0 0 to 1 0 100 of the Chord Interval With these defaults we have the following e Chords are played at a distance of 1 bar from each other In other words the first Chord will be inserted at the beginning of bar 1 the second at the beginning of bar 2 and so on This also means that if defined as an arpeggio a chord must be articulated within 1 bar e Intervals in an arpeggio are 1 4th of a bar Time Values define the percentage of the Chord Interval for each time event So the values of 0 25 50 75 mean that Time1 is the exact beginning of the
80. sulting forced chord if extended would be e A Major 7 if no dot is placed on first four rows of modifier matrix C Major7 chord CEG B e An Add9 7 gt gt 9 selected in the modifier matrix C Add9 chord D E G e A Major 7 Sus4 7 gt gt 11 selected in the modifier matrix C Major7 Suspended 4 chord CF GB e A Major 6 sixth 7 gt gt 13 selected in the modifier matrix C Major6 chord C E G A e A Major triad 7 mute selected in the modifier matrix C Major chord E G In Progressive this default behavior can be modified To do this you can use the Custom Chord configuration view You can open this view from the Main Progression View using the Custom Chords button see below picture J74 Scale Clip Progression select E Scae NET MMinr oy Progression Type Create Progression Clip I m Lucky Start Stop Clip The Custom Chord configuration view presents a left and a right section with two chord shapes Chords Ce chord EE C3 Interval Chords et Modifiers Lou N id MEd MEN Notes N 0 00 BEREE fixed v Be 0 00 ms See 350 EE EV Amount 0 Velocity 80 WOT ETE fixed vcs 0 Chord Explorer Edit Arp AutoArp Auto Target clip selected TRACK 0 CLIP 6 Edit Progression J74_Custom_Chord Custom Chord 1 se C as reference root eplaces Forced Major mm Major Extended Major7 Major w Reset Custom Chord 2 Us eC as reference roo Re plac s
81. ter cutoff frequency e The Gain dial defines the Filter peak Q resonance amount e The Threshold dial defines the minimum level a frequency band must have to be detected as a note ON event By default this is set to 50 a reference gating value Values lower than 50 will result in potential false notes although a shorter detection latency may be achieved e The Release dial defines the level in inverse proportion to the Threshold value that a frequency band must decrease to in order to be detected as a note OFF event By default this is 100 the same value as the Threshold Higher values allow the note OFF event to be retained longer e The Live Display has a display only function It shows on the little piano keyboard which notes are currently active in yellow which notes have been collected so far statistics history cache in purple and if applicable any detected chord as composed by the currently active notes e The Run Freeze toggle can be used to freeze the result view value Freeze The freeze option can be useful to focus on a specific event in time To let the collection run again use value Run e The Scale and Statistics Display is the larger piano keyboard area just below the View Spectrogram button and shows the notes of the last detected scale If statistics are enabled which is the default case it also reports the number of hits of each note e The Possible Major reports the Major Scale if any w
82. tions and therefore accidentals which are needed from the current scale to a new scale which has as root chord the selected new chord Moving one section on the circle requires one mutation one accidental which would be a flat if moving counterclockwise a sharp if moving clockwise moving two sections requires two mutations two accidentals and so on The Circle of Fifth can tell us also which flats or sharps are needed but that exceeds the intent of this explanation What you just need to know is that J74 Progressive calculates this for you although you can see it by yourself if you like by looking at the Circle of Fifths view enabled by the Show CoF option J74 Progressive User Manual Page 24 of 52 The color scheme The colors follow a spectrum of energy or temperature logic to represent the magnitude of the tension level i Force to Minor Diatonic Force to Major Less Tension More Tension More Tension e Green is used to represents the lowest tension applicable to chords in the Diatonic region e Moving counterclockwise increases tension adds flats b s with colors gradually changing from green to cyan blue purple and finally red the highest tension level to signify the increased tension e Moving clockwise also increases tension but on the opposite direction adding s instead of b s Colors gradually change from green to yellow orange and red again this time reached from the other direction These
83. u can open the Circle of Fifths View by enabling the Show CoF toggle which is located in the right top corner of the Chord Explorer the Main Window will be open automatically in this case as it is required for the CoF View to work 74_Chord_Explorer 174_Circle_of Fitths N T Circle of Fifths and Diatonic Modes 2 9th 11th 13th Triads 7th add9 7Sus4 Sixth Minor Diatonic Region white box The Circle of Fifth View provides the following information e The location of the Diatonic region highlighted with a white box belonging to the selected diatonic mode e The location and type of chords and therefore how close or far chords are they from the Diatonic region Note with diatonic modes literature refers to the scales derived from the Major scale by shifting the root position the starting note The modes correspond to the Major Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Minor aka Aeolian or Natural Minor and Locrian scales As these scales are derived from the Major scale they are often addressed to as modes instead of scales The modes are of course available as options of the scale menu in the Main Window The tool provides you with the following controls e Root to transpose the circle notes changing the root parameter in the Main window as well e Mode buttons to change mode and Main window scale moving to a different region on the circle e Left or Right to rotate the ro
84. uld introduce Note a complementary view on the relationships between the chords is available using the Circle of Fifth view which is explained later in this manual Use the views together to get a better grasp on why things are what they are J74 Progressive User Manual Page 25 of 52 The Chord Explorer forcing a chord root The Force Root column on the right side of the Chord Explorer allows you to overrule the root tonic of forced chords As we explained Progressive allows you to introduce chords outside the rules of the diatonic method by using the modifier matrix The Force Root can be used to change the root of those forced chords Use case introduce a chord having as root a note outside the selected scale Let s make a use case example to make this application clearer Let s suppose C Major is the selected scale Ina major scale the seventh degree is always a diminished chord a chord which is often difficult to use as it has quite a dissonant character dissonant from the perspective of the chord itself not of the scale If we look at the Circle of Fifth from the previous paragraph we would notice that a possible alternative one just one section away from the diatonic region would be to use a Bb Major chord a chord with only one accidental the Bb tonic note itself Anyway Bb is not one of the notes in the scale The feature described in this section points exactly to this case the idea of using chords with root ton

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