Ableton Forum

Hello,

I recently purchased Ableton and I could use some help. I'm planning on using Ableton to make my own versions of classical music (like Bach's Air on the G String, for example) for use as a soundtrack for my Youtube videos. The problem is I have no idea how to read music sheets and translate the chords onto Ableton.

So far I've figured out how to draw my own chords. I just can't make them into anything resembling the classical scores I want to because I can't read music. Is there some way to download ready-made chords into ableton? Or perhaps some place to download Ableton project files? Or is there any way to simply 'detect' chords from an imported piece of music and copy them?

Thanks so much for any help,
Josh

At this point I would rather search for midi files of the pieces you like on the internet.

The harmonic structure of classical and pre-classical music can be breathtakingly complicated, and cannot always be broken down into a straightforward series of chords. This harmonic complexity is one of the major things I find missing in today's popular music--especially electronic dance music.

Example: https://soundcloud.com/andrew-koenig/fugue

I think to correctly achieve this goal, you either just have to find the midi or learn how to play/read the music.

This? http://www.computermusicnotation.com/

Yeah classical music is certainly not where you want to start trying to DIY if you cannot read/play and haven't the theory behind you. That would be like wanting to teach french but not knowing anything about the language.

As mentioned, lookup MIDI files of the music you want and you will soon see when you import it just how complicated it can be. You should then use that as a starter for your piano then work on integrating your own melodies such as strings along with it. Remember that even though it is a MIDI file, it's not your work so you should try and make it your own if you want to use it.

Also keep in mind if it's just background music for your vids and not to promote your musical skills, you can get some half decent royalty-free classical music or some sites specifically for this type of thing sell professional tracks for very little cost. Would be a lot less time to spend and would be much easier on the listeners ears since there is a lot more than just a midi file and piano to good classical music.

FWIW I just learned about a free iOS app from Yamaha called Chord Tracker, which claims to be able to listen to audio and figure out the chord progression. No idea how well it works.

I've used Chord Tracker and it works very well understanding the limitations of any such system. It can only respond to what it "hears" in the audio file. Complex chord progressions will require more tweaking when Chord Tracker is done then simple ones.

For your classical project perhaps you may find this useful. https://unison.audio/product/unison-midi-chord-pack/ . I see it's $67 but I got mine for $17 and it has chords (triads) and extended chords (7th,9th,13ths) and progressions for all the keys. While I am a classically trained musician and could build these easily enough the collection saves time and, combined with a knowledge of what chord progressions you need (for pop music I'd use Hooktheory.com, there has to be myriad sites of common era classical chord progressions) will let you quickly construct tracks in Ableton. See if there's a web coupon for unison or perhaps just sharing your email with them will get you the same price I got for the pack. Depending upon how much, and for what reasons, you are making music it's probably still a great deal at $67.

Good luck.