Ableton Forum

Hello. Does any one know of a Mac software plugin that will allow a MIDI note (from a foot controller) to trigger a 3 or 4 note chord? I could use the Ableton Live Chord MIDI plugin, but this isn't quite right because the chord inversions stay the same. I need to do something like the following:
1. Play a C note. Trigger E-G-C, 2. Play a D note - trigger D-F-A-C.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
A

Make a selection of MIDI clips, each containing one of the chords you need, and map these clips to be triggered by the notes from your foot controller.
If you set the clip's launch properties to Quantization=None, Loop off, and Gate mode, the chord will play the instant you hit the foot controller and will play for as long as you keep your foot down. (If that's the behaviour you want... you can try different triggering/quantization schemes depending on your needs)

yes, or make a midi Rack with on each wanted key a coressponding chord device set as you want.

fx23 wrote:yes, or make a midi Rack with on each wanted key a coressponding chord device set as you want.

Hi, that was my first thought too, but it seems that the original incoming note is always included as part of the Chord plugin's output, which may not always be desirable - unless I'm missing something?

Use a Pitch in front of the Chord to transpose the incoming note to the root note of the chord in question?

Thanks much! Good suggestions.

massenmedium wrote:Use a Pitch in front of the Chord to transpose the incoming note to the root note of the chord in question?

You're right! Starting to get quite involved tho, with a rack chain/key zone plus two plugins for each chord. If you use the clip triggering method you get an easier piano roll interface to "write" your chords, instead of using the Pitch and the Chord offset knobs. Just a thought

Yeah I agree, it's getting a bit much. The clip method is a good one!

yeah booth have their advantages, clip tek is more visual, easier to setup, but needs clips, so can be controlled by realtime input
but not by a clip playing on that same track.
Rack is longer to setup but have the advantage of beeing easy duplicable once done or store various chords progressions
as rack presets, and can be controlled by a clip on same track, so depends on needz.

Good suggestions.

Alternatively, you could learn to actually PHYSICALLY play the keyboard (probably almost as quickly as setting up chord banks of midi clips and complex racks !)

Call me old fashioned, but I could never personally just drag and drop clips of premade MIDI chords into an arrangement. To make that worthwhile for me, you'd have to do all the inversions of chords i.e. C major = C E G, E G C and G C E and do dozens of chord types for each chord. I suppose once it's done it's done and then you better backup !! You'd hate to lose all that work in a harddrive crash etc. I DO see the benefits for live on stage work though, via a foot controller of using Paddy's suggestion, especially if you're a one man band doing lot of stuff with controllers or doing complex synth stuff with wicked leads and lots of pitchbending etc.

If you're making house music and just want to copy pretty much everyone else, just setting up one key/sample as a minor 7 will probably do you, some Operator and Sampler presets and many 3rd party vsts have this. Am7 Dm7 Em7 - SORTED for the next 5 albums

NOTE - EDITED FOR BEING A DOOFUS ...

leedsquietman wrote:Good suggestions.

Alternatively, you could learn to actually PHYSICALLY play the keyboard (probably almost as quickly as setting up chord banks of midi clips and complex racks !)

That would be some fancy footwork!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

hehe leedz, you are not getting old fashioned but ya still get old, you need glasses

DOH

scratch what I said above, I failed to see the part about CONTROL with a FOOT CONTROLLER part in the original post ...

(paper graded F - Must pay MORE attention).

Has anyone written a max patch that will do this for various scales? I was thinking of writing one but I figure someone else has probably already made it.