Navichord 2.5 is out

TheAudioDabbler

@telecharge Thanks. That is awesome and good to know. I will test this out.

@JohnnyGoodyear I had to look up Boffin. That is an awesome compliment. As a kid I wanted to be a National Geographic Explorer so I guess that same exploration and inquisitive mind translates into exploring audio software the way I do. I really enjoy both iPad and Desktop ways of making music. Each has its strengths and weaknesses.

Navichord

@gmslayton, good work, keep it up!

johnfromberkeley

I have to admit, I don't understand Navichord as a performance app. Even trying to nail the targets for major and minor chords is difficult, let alone the more complicated chord fingerings, which I find difficult to remember, as well as manipulate.

As a composing tool, I find ChordPolyPad more fluid. The chord relationships aren't mapped; but as I said, I haven't found Navichord's mapping that useful.

Am I missing something? People rave about it, and I don't understand why. I figure I must be wrong.

[Deleted User]

You know interestingly I find it the other way around

@johnfromberkeley said:> I have to admit, I don't understand Navichord as a performance app. Even trying to nail the targets for major and minor chords is difficult, let alone the more complicated chord fingerings, which I find difficult to remember, as well as manipulate.

As a composing tool, I find ChordPolyPad more fluid. The chord relationships aren't mapped; but as I said, I haven't found Navichord's mapping that useful.

Am I missing something? People rave about it, and I don't understand why. I figure I must be wrong.

fjcblanco

Thanks for sharing, Mr. @gmslayton

Navichord

@johnfromberkeley said:
Even trying to nail the targets for major and minor chords is difficult

Please try touching the triangle center with one finger, it doesn't look very difficult to me.
This kind of grid representation is pretty standard in harmonic analysis, here is a quick explanation: https://www.adsrsounds.com/news/this-diagram-turns-music-theory-into-a-breeze/

telecharge

@johnfromberkeley It could be that Navichord just doesn't click with the way you like to compose or play. Maybe ChordPolyPad is your cup of tea -- it's another great app, for sure.

But if you haven't already, you might want to experiment with saving chords to chord pads and saving your chord progressions.

johnfromberkeley

@Navichord said:

@johnfromberkeley said:
Even trying to nail the targets for major and minor chords is difficult

Please try touching the triangle center with one finger, it doesn't look very difficult to me.

I get that part.

This kind of grid representation is pretty standard in harmonic analysis, here is a quick explanation: https://www.adsrsounds.com/news/this-diagram-turns-music-theory-into-a-breeze/

I can hit the triangles... major and minor chords. But is that the bulk of it... in addition to the harmonic relationships?

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a beautiful app, I'm happy I bought it, I just don't know how to really "play it".

I really admire the app design, intricacy and ambition. I am still trying to click with it.

Navichord

@johnfromberkeley, thanks.

Here is how I use it:

• I play around on the grid view. Press a triangle here and there, then try to do a triangle plus one extra note somewhere around. If i like the chord I save it to the pads using the plus button. The power of this layout is that all important notes are geometrically close to each other. At this stage I can also decide to stay in scale or go ouside looking at the light and dark circles on the gird. I don't have chord names in my head, just trying to discover chords close to each other that sound interesting. Every chord I save to another pad. For theory enthusiasts there is a view with Roman numbers (Look and Feel section in the menu). For me it is difficult to start with chord names, so I just explore and see what happens.
• Switching to pads. My progression is already there. I may want to tweak chords, drag them around, delete, transpose, change voicing. This screen would be a better starting point for someone who knows what chords to use.
• When I'm happy with the progression I set correct length for each pad and press play
• Sometimes I send MIDI to Korg Gadget for arpeggiation / rhythm
• Then jam on the piano

Here is a little guide with tips about using the grid -http://5pin.link/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=6

aaronpc

@johnfromberkeley said:
Am I missing something? People rave about it, and I don't understand why. I figure I must be wrong.

If you have the hold setting turned on (the hand) it's then harder to play complex chords. Maybe that's the problem?

As for me, I just can't stand trying to play chords on an iPad keyboard, much less constructing them. I need something that allows me to noodle about like when I'm sitting at a real keyboard, so Navichord makes for a much more fluid workflow for me. I can try variations quickly and even find progressions I would have never thought of thanks to the grid. Then the keyboard is there for devising solo hooks alongside the playing progression. ChordPolyPad is very powerful, but it doesn't have the immediacy I need when starting from scratch. Seems more like work.

johnfromberkeley

@Navichord said:
@johnfromberkeley, thanks.

Here is how I use it:

Thank you for the help. Navichord is truly "beloved" by the audiobus forums, and I think everyone should own it.

JohnnyGoodyear

For what it's worth I went back into my large book of other people's accumulated wisdom and found this which seems to work (A THOUSAND APOLOGIES FOR NOT GIVING CREDIT AS I DON'T KNOW WHO FIRST POSTED IT):

ALERT ALERT Our friend @telecharge points out that it was in fact our friend @Wim who originally posted this. Isn't it great to have friends!

Navichord to Auria

1 Open up Navichord. It does not need to be loaded into AuriaPro.
2 In settings, disable Audio
3 In the MIDI settings

• Enable MIDI
• Disable all MIDI inputs - you don't need them
• Turn on Enable Chord Voices
• Set all the channels to 1

• Set Output to Navichord Virtual Out
  4 Open up Auria Pro and start a new project (so we don't have anything else confusing things)
  5 Add a MIDI track and set the instrument to a FabFilter Twin preset
  6 In the FX settings for the channel under PORT:

• Channel = 1

• Input = Navichord Virtual Out
• Output = Off
  7 Arm the Track
  8 Switch over to Navichord and play something to verify that you hear FabFilter Twin playing.
  9 In Auria Pro, hit record then play
  10 Flip over to NaviChord and play
  11 Flip back to Auria Pro and hit stop. You should now have recorded notes in the FabFilter Twin

Dchild

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
For what it's worth I went back into my large book of other people's accumulated wisdom and found this which seems to work (A THOUSAND APOLOGIES FOR NOT GIVING CREDIT AS I DON'T KNOW WHO FIRST POSTED IT):

Navichord to Auria

1 Open up Navichord. It does not need to be loaded into AuriaPro.
2 In settings, disable Audio
3 In the MIDI settings

• Enable MIDI
• Disable all MIDI inputs - you don't need them
• Turn on Enable Chord Voices
• Set all the channels to 1

• Set Output to Navichord Virtual Out
  4 Open up Auria Pro and start a new project (so we don't have anything else confusing things)
  5 Add a MIDI track and set the instrument to a FabFilter Twin preset
  6 In the FX settings for the channel under PORT:

• Channel = 1

• Input = Navichord Virtual Out
• Output = Off
  7 Arm the Track
  8 Switch over to Navichord and play something to verify that you hear FabFilter Twin playing.
  9 In Auria Pro, hit record then play
  10 Flip over to NaviChord and play
  11 Flip back to Auria Pro and hit stop. You should now have recorded notes in the FabFilter Twin

@Navichord IAA sync is not working for me in Auria / modstep / AUM. I'm pretty sure it used to work.

telecharge

@JohnnyGoodyear I'll give you a chance to edit before he notices, then I'll edit this one.

https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/234085/#Comment_234085

Navichord

@Dchild IAA sync was not implemented before, only IAA MIDI. I will look into that, thanks for noticing.

RJB

I'm have a problem, not sure if it's a bug. When I load a preset scale into the pads it changes my scale to C Major all time, is this right?

TheAudioDabbler

@RJB it seems that the presets load up a set of chords but those chords can be transposed up or down to get to the correct key using the new edit option.

RJB

@gmslayton said:
@RJB it seems that the presets load up a set of chords but those chords can be transposed up or down to get to the correct key using the new edit option.

Thanks for the help gmslayton, i think I'm getting it now. Tranposing will work for major and minor but not the more exotic scales?

Navichord

@RJB, this is normal. Presets contain scale info, pads, UI and MIDI settings. For changing scale please use the Scale menu.

ipadmussic

@Navichord said:
@RJB, this is normal. Presets contain scale info, pads, UI and MIDI settings. For changing scale please use the Scale menu.

@Navichord, how do i load chords for a particular scale once i select the scale. I swear i saw some button/label saying something like "load chords for scale"...the day the new update was released, but now i am unable to see that option.
This is what I want to do:
1. select a a scale.
2. lock keys to that.
3. load all chords that conform to the selected scale to the pads.
4. play melody line on keyboard while changing chords.

I know how to do all the steps above except #3. Could you please help? Thanks.

Navichord

@ipadmussic said:
I know how to do all the steps above except #3. Could you please help? Thanks.

'Chords from scale' is replaced with 'Random chords from scale', which is the same thing plus randomization.
To access the feature please go to pad edit mode (bottom icon on the sidebar). There will be another window with pad controls like transposition and chord randomization. The single gaming cube modifies the selected pad with a random chord from scale. The 3 cubes button fills all the pads with random chords from scale.

ipadmussic

@Navichord said:

@ipadmussic said:
I know how to do all the steps above except #3. Could you please help? Thanks.

'Chords from scale' is replaced with 'Random chords from scale', which is the same thing plus randomization.
To access the feature please go to pad edit mode (bottom icon on the sidebar). There will be another window with pad controls like transposition and chord randomization. The single gaming cube modifies the selected pad with a random chord from scale. The 3 cubes button fills all the pads with random chords from scale.

Thanks for your response.
Are you saying the "Chords from scale" feature in previous version is replaced by "Random chords from scale" in the new update?

I saw the gaming cube and how it fills the pads with random chords. I am not sure which approach is better, but somehow feel, I liked the previous approach as it gave me chords that turned yellow (has notes for all voices). With random chords, I see chords (does not turn yellow) , which when played has only one or two notes being voiced rather than the complete voicings (may be the scale selected does not have some notes in the chord).

Is there any advantage you felt with the new approach? I think it is better to pick all chords (that turn yellow) and has notes available in all voices for the chord from the scale.

studioAB

@Navichord always appreciate your explanation and tutorial to get the most out of this amazing app. It really is an essential tool for me. Thanks for the update!

Navichord

@ipadmussic , you don't see yellow chords simply because you have "Mute out of scale notes" enabled, and your chords were generated for another scale. You could also check the refresh sign close to the scale name, if it is on, Navichord will try to change scale on its own to match what you are playing.

Is there any advantage you felt with the new approach? I think it is better to pick all chords (that turn yellow) and has notes available in all voices for the chord from the scale.

Perhaps you could use the grid view for 'chords from scale'. Chords from scale are fairly visible - you can hit all triangles on the highlighted area without any problem. I could recommend to enable 'Look and feel' / 'Show chords on grid' for easy navigation. Sorry for removing that function, I hope you find this workaround useful.

@studioAB , my pleasure!

Thank you guys for updating your reviews and giving me a lot of stars, I really appreciate it

Dchild

@Navichord said:
@Dchild IAA sync was not implemented before, only IAA MIDI. I will look into that, thanks for noticing.

Weird IAA behaviour in the new cubasis 2.1 update. Trying to use midi sync. How can I sync navichord to a host?

Navichord

@Dchild said:

@Navichord said:
@Dchild IAA sync was not implemented before, only IAA MIDI. I will look into that, thanks for noticing.

Weird IAA behaviour in the new cubasis 2.1 update. Trying to use midi sync. How can I sync navichord to a host?

What is the weird IAA behaviour? I don't have Cubasis, but will try to reproduce it with AUM.
External sync can be enabled in MIDI/MIDI IO, then select CLOCK from the correct input.

craftycurate

@aaronpc said:
Another nice update to a very mature composition app. I've run out of new features for which to beg— except for perhaps an iPhone version with which I can noodle out progressions on the run.

MAJOR
New preset format includes all settings (scale, pads, MIDI, Audio, UI)
Audiobus state saving
Improved Pad Edit - rearrange pads by dragging, easy transpose, delete and chord generation buttons
MIDI clock input and output
Color themes

MINOR
Improved Settings structure and appearance
Improved Toolbars structure and appearance
Selectable accidentals (sharps, flats, auto)
Lock scale to white keys (use onscreen white keys to play any scale)
Note names changed to lowercase
Added a simple mixer for internal instruments
Help section updated - chord shapes are back
Ableton Link quantum is changed from 1 bar to the length of the chord sequence
Grid hold is changed to latch
Added Bluetooth MIDI support

You forgot the MINOR 7TH changes 😂

Charlesalbert

For me in audiobus after some cycles of chord it gets out of sync and some chords play longer then others even if set with same lengths.

audiblevideo

Nice update!