Navichord-Fresh Update Available 11/01/17

aaronpc

@nonchai said:
Now to something maybe controversial, already planned - dunno:

The Graphical Interface.

It just seems to me that certain buttons have been added over the years - as is common in these things - in evolved fashion. But that now might benefit from being placed in more logical positions.

1 ) the metronome and " ! " Silence all notes button should be placed at the top. these are typical "transport bar" type functions.
2) the OCTAVE RANGE button for the pads is “hidden” behind the chord-grid-mode. One has to press the “four-squares” icon to enter the chord-grid mode JUST in order to change the OCTAVE range. This is confusing to me ( and a little annoying ) because - for one thing I never use the chord grid at all -
and secondly - If I merely need to alter the chord range via the “C0” button which only gets revealed when I enter chord-grid mode - then this is one extra step one has to take unnecessarily.
Put simply - the OCTAVE-RANGE button should be made available in all modes. And I would suggest - best placed on the left to the first chord-pad in the 16 pads. I get very confused about this. Specially after a few beers or when tired.
3) The circular “+” symbol button is confusing. It basically serves a kind of copy/past type function. But if might be better to reconsider all the edit type functions, so that there is - for example - some kind of pop up palette - or extra toolbar with all the typical edit functions:

copy
paste
undo
redo

transpose selected pad up/down by semitone
transpose ALL pads up/down by semitone
transpose selected pad up/down by OCTAVE
transpose ALL pads up/down by OCTAVE

Also - personally - I have - as well as the chord-matrix - no need for the keyboard at the bottom. And would prefer all the screen and GUI focused just on one thing at a time - either the PADS or the GRID. maybe the keyboard could be moved to the GRID ?

Anyway - no doubt controversial and peeps will disagree.
But theres my tuppeneth..

All great apps encourage a raft of feature requests. Otherwise peeps just don’t use the app.

I think you may just need a different app. No offense. It's not that your points aren't valid, but they seem to have more relevance to your own workflow than general improvement. Many of the problem areas you list were designed with the idea of using the whole app, but you don't seem to use or need half of Navichord's features (in the beginning, all this app had was the chord matrix and keyboard, neither of which you use). I use all sections of the app at one point or another, depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. It's not perfect, but considering how many features have been added, I think it's done an amazing job of folding them in without disrupting everyone's' workflow.

I would have written counterpoints, but your work method is enough of a mystery to me that I'm not sure it would help. I will say that I like having oft-used buttons on the left side. Top menus with lots of buttons is a legacy from pc/mouse days, and I prefer using my left thumb over there without having to reach over the interface.

OscarSouth

@Kühl sudied in the UK and live in Dublin now. I’d be interested to see some references to or examples of your notation method. I’ve never seen it and it seems very inaccurate to me on first impression, but of course if people are using it in some parts of Europe then I trust that it must have it’s virtues.

nonchai

@aaronpc said:

@nonchai said:

I think you may just need a different app. No offense. It's not that your points aren't valid, but they seem to have ? >more relevance to your own workflow than general improvement. Many of the problem areas you list were > >designed with the idea of using the whole app, but you don't seem to use or need half of Navichord's features

they are fair points. To be frank i'd probably be better off with ChordPolyPad - in regards to the above - but currently CPP doesn't support Ableton-Link and I really like the idea of using NC as both a chord controller.

Plus the developer of NaviChord has been very responsive, active and supportive of suggestions from me to improve his app and that always counts for something. The dev of CPP doesnt seem to be so active in improving his app.

i'm not suggesting getting rid of those aspects i don't use - maybe just presenting them in different way. maybe in different tab ? For example the small display of the chord matrix when using the pad mode does nothing for me bt then again - its my workflow.

Answering MY workflow - well i don't need tools to suggest or help me entering or choosing chords. I just need to be able to put the chords I want, or want to tweak, transposition-wise, tweak-wise easily. and by ear.

Kühl

@OscarSouth said:
@Kühl sudied in the UK and live in Dublin now. I’d be interested to see some references to or examples of your notation method. I’ve never seen it and it seems very inaccurate to me on first impression, but of course if people are using it in some parts of Europe then I trust that it must have it’s virtues.

My notation is just like the one you use, exept for the major minor thing we discussed.
Also, we use Fdim instead of Fo (inaccurate, but you know what i mean)

Kühl

My harmony and counterpoint teacher B. Alterhaug with Celia Barros.

allegedly_audible

Navichord, thanks for quickly bringing the bundle back for upgrading to the newly updated universal app.
Glad to see a seller look out for it’s previous customers, even if they only accounted for just a minute minority of the total purchases.

OscarSouth

@Kühl said:
My harmony and counterpoint teacher B. Alterhaug with Celia Barros.

Cool! Upright bass is awesome! I’m self taught in Upright, although my electric bass tutor at MA level now plays bass for a band named ‘Queen’! He’s an unbelievable player in any style.

allegedly_audible

@allegedly_audible said:
Navichord, thanks for quickly bringing the bundle back for upgrading to the newly updated universal app.
Glad to see a seller look out for it’s previous customers, even if they only accounted for just a minute minority of the total purchases.

Note: I had to purchase it from a spare iPhone running 10.3.3 because the new
iOS 11 App Store was not showing the bundle discount.

aaronpc

@nonchai said:

@aaronpc said:

@nonchai said:

I think you may just need a different app. No offense. It's not that your points aren't valid, but they seem to have ? >more relevance to your own workflow than general improvement. Many of the problem areas you list were > >designed with the idea of using the whole app, but you don't seem to use or need half of Navichord's features

they are fair points. To be frank i'd probably be better off with ChordPolyPad - in regards to the above - but currently CPP doesn't support Ableton-Link and I really like the idea of using NC as both a chord controller.

Plus the developer of NaviChord has been very responsive, active and supportive of suggestions from me to improve his app and that always counts for something. The dev of CPP doesnt seem to be so active in improving his app.

i'm not suggesting getting rid of those aspects i don't use - maybe just presenting them in different way. maybe in different tab ? For example the small display of the chord matrix when using the pad mode does nothing for me bt then again - its my workflow.

Answering MY workflow - well i don't need tools to suggest or help me entering or choosing chords. I just need to be able to put the chords I want, or want to tweak, transposition-wise, tweak-wise easily. and by ear.

Gotcha. CPP does need Link. I'll send them a request to nudge.

Kühl

@OscarSouth said:

@Kühl said:
My harmony and counterpoint teacher B. Alterhaug with Celia Barros.

Cool! Upright bass is awesome! I’m self taught in Upright, although my electric bass tutor at MA level now plays bass for a band named ‘Queen’! He’s an unbelievable player in any style.

You mean THE “QUEEN” ?

OscarSouth

@Kühl said:

@OscarSouth said:

@Kühl said:
My harmony and counterpoint teacher B. Alterhaug with Celia Barros.

Cool! Upright bass is awesome! I’m self taught in Upright, although my electric bass tutor at MA level now plays bass for a band named ‘Queen’! He’s an unbelievable player in any style.

You mean THE “QUEEN” ?

Yeah, the original bassist wasn’t up for the reunion so they work with a session man these days.

Kühl

Wow... I’m only a 3 links from Brian May, guitarist and astrophysicist
Life is good. I’ve loved Queen since 1981. Unique band. I’m sure your tutor is fantastic.
Listening to Echoes - Pink Floyd while writing

Navichord

@RJB said:

@nonchai said:
Looking forward to some of the other suggestions mentioned here in the future too - ( 4 note Major triad chords, order off how MIDI notes get routed out via MIDI ( bass being lowest ) .

Also - i've noticed that if I have changed to inversion-order or octave range of a chord, but then want to just transpose it - change the root, either in-place or after i've copied the chord to a different block - that all the notes switch to a different octave range. things get jumbled up. I think it would be helpful if whenever one uses the ROOT selector to change root on a chord that is currently set up on a pad - that all the note-relationships, interval wise - order wise stay the same and not jumbled up. This can tbh be quite frustrating.

Also i'm getting quite a bit of clicks happening when i press certain buttons - for example the button the switches between PAD mode and chord-matrix mode.

This is on an iPad Air 2 - iOS11 latest update. Standalone.

I’m hearing clicks as a progression moves from chord to chord using the built in sounds. iOS 11.1 Pro 9.7

Thanks, I will investigate transposition and clicks.

Navichord

@nonchai said:
Now to something maybe controversial, already planned - dunno:

The Graphical Interface.

It just seems to me that certain buttons have been added over the years - as is common in these things - in evolved fashion. But that now might benefit from being placed in more logical positions.

Thank you for the detailed feedback. You are bringing useful improvement ideas, I really appreciate that.
Yes, the app evolved quite a lot from the beginning, I do agree some improvement is needed.

1 ) the metronome and " ! " Silence all notes button should be placed at the top. these are typical "transport bar" type functions.

I agree, side bar needs improvement. I was planning to group transport buttons and move them closer the top (but still on the side). The main problem I see is navigation between the screens (grid, pads, song), it would be nice to have a single control for that (like the page slider on the iPhone).

2) the OCTAVE RANGE button for the pads is “hidden” behind the chord-grid-mode. One has to press the “four-squares” icon to enter the chord-grid mode JUST in order to change the OCTAVE range. This is confusing to me ( and a little annoying ) because - for one thing I never use the chord grid at all -
and secondly - If I merely need to alter the chord range via the “C0” button which only gets revealed when I enter chord-grid mode - then this is one extra step one has to take unnecessarily.
Put simply - the OCTAVE-RANGE button should be made available in all modes. And I would suggest - best placed on the left to the first chord-pad in the 16 pads. I get very confused about this. Specially after a few beers or when tired.

The main point of hiding octave is to avoid double octave controls. It looks like it brings more confusion than help, I will revisit that.

3) The circular “+” symbol button is confusing. It basically serves a kind of copy/past type function. But if might be better to reconsider all the edit type functions, so that there is - for example - some kind of pop up palette - or extra toolbar with all the typical edit functions:

copy
paste
undo
redo

transpose selected pad up/down by semitone
transpose ALL pads up/down by semitone
transpose selected pad up/down by OCTAVE
transpose ALL pads up/down by OCTAVE

The plus button is not for copy-paste. It is to "add" chords to progression from any screen of the app. For you it is copy-paste since you are focusing on one chord source only, but it serves several chord sources - grid, keyboard, pads, midi input.

Also - personally - I have - as well as the chord-matrix - no need for the keyboard at the bottom. And would prefer all the screen and GUI focused just on one thing at a time - either the PADS or the GRID. maybe the keyboard could be moved to the GRID ?

The goal of the app is to help discovering chords + provide a way to organize what you've discovered. There is a clear mismatch with your workflow since you don't need the discovery phase. Chord discovery elements (grid, keyboard) are central for the app experience.
I'm not saying I will never hide the grid or keyboard, in fact it is already happening in the iPhone app (it uses new page design with clear navigation between app screens: keyboard is hidden, grid is hidden, octave selector is available). I hear you, but right now I don't have a good solution for the iPad.

By the way what would you like to see on the new view without the grid and the keyboard? Just bigger 4x4 pads with chord picker and voicing?

Navichord

@Kühl said:
Wow... I’m only a 3 links from Brian May, guitarist and astrophysicist
Life is good. I’ve loved Queen since 1981. Unique band. I’m sure your tutor is fantastic.
Listening to Echoes - Pink Floyd while writing

Big Queen fan here

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

OscarSouth

@Navichord said:

@Kühl said:
Wow... I’m only a 3 links from Brian May, guitarist and astrophysicist
Life is good. I’ve loved Queen since 1981. Unique band. I’m sure your tutor is fantastic.
Listening to Echoes - Pink Floyd while writing

Big Queen fan here

Here's an excerpt of us jamming on our electric basses!

We're both playing Fender Jazz basses, mine is fretless though so it gives a 'little' distinction. I'm soloing first while he accompanies and he follows while I accompany, I can't remember who's playing what at the end.

Kühl

@OscarSouth said:

@Navichord said:

@Kühl said:
Wow... I’m only a 3 links from Brian May, guitarist and astrophysicist
Life is good. I’ve loved Queen since 1981. Unique band. I’m sure your tutor is fantastic.
Listening to Echoes - Pink Floyd while writing

Big Queen fan here

Here's an excerpt of us jamming on our electric basses!

We're both playing Fender Jazz basses, mine is fretless though so it gives a 'little' distinction. I'm soloing first while he accompanies and he follows while I accompany, I can't remember who's playing what at the end.

I had a Fender Jazzbass once... about 81-82 I played bass in a new wave band. Pink leather ties and mascara included

nonchai

Navichord wrote [ By the way what would you like to see on the new view without the grid and the keyboard? Just bigger 4x4 pads with chord picker and voicing?]

Let me have a think

Navichord

@RajahP said:

@MusicMan4Christ said:
What is this Nora you mentioned?

Wow, just looked at Nora and it looks amazing, thanks for heads up!
Catanya seems abandoned, the website is down

cian

Is there a way to do inversions

Tritonman

Great stuff got done with this app! Just put it back on my iPad to check it out and, wowza! Nice!

Navichord

@cian said:
Is there a way to do inversions

On iPad, there is note-octave matrix just above the right side of the piano keyboard. See more in built-in tutorial in Settings/Intro (Settings is the "gear" button in the top right corner).

On iPhone press 'Edit chords' (left side bar button, appears when pads are visible), then press chord duration for the chord picker/voicing pop up.

hisdudeness

@Navichord said:

@RJB said:

@nonchai said:
Looking forward to some of the other suggestions mentioned here in the future too - ( 4 note Major triad chords, order off how MIDI notes get routed out via MIDI ( bass being lowest ) .

Also - i've noticed that if I have changed to inversion-order or octave range of a chord, but then want to just transpose it - change the root, either in-place or after i've copied the chord to a different block - that all the notes switch to a different octave range. things get jumbled up. I think it would be helpful if whenever one uses the ROOT selector to change root on a chord that is currently set up on a pad - that all the note-relationships, interval wise - order wise stay the same and not jumbled up. This can tbh be quite frustrating.

Also i'm getting quite a bit of clicks happening when i press certain buttons - for example the button the switches between PAD mode and chord-matrix mode.

This is on an iPad Air 2 - iOS11 latest update. Standalone.

I’m hearing clicks as a progression moves from chord to chord using the built in sounds. iOS 11.1 Pro 9.7

Thanks, I will investigate transposition and clicks.

also .. on my 8plus 11.02, when I RElaunch Navichord after a period of time (and if chord pad mode was the last mode I was using)..... it is in a freezed sate, however if I just toggle between the other mode and come back to pad mode.. it works... not a major bug ...just for your info

nonchai

in cases where the lowest note in a chord being played isn't actually the ROOT, it might be - for a future version of NC - useful to put out a separate MIDI channel - say in the AB3 MIDI Page - which ALWAYS puts out the ROOT. So this can to go to a bass instrument for example where we don't want the bass to play a "Slash" bass but want to let the chordal instrument play the inversion as-is.

Tritonman

Wow, used it with synthmaster earlier today and I was very pleased at what was happening. I have a new app friend

nonchai

Just been playing around with the new SONG feature in NC.
Great fun!
might record+post a video of my latest "opus"...

So of course this suggests something I suspect you already have in mind - but whatever. Its obvious really.

In the SONG page we now need the exact same sequencing feature as in the original 16 pad version. Namely being able to specify how many times each section plays - before moving to the next 16 pad section.

In other words we need those little white numbers in the top right-hand corner of each SECTION - to indicate the nr of repeats

When this is done the SONG page will really being to sing!

Love it.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Telstar5

@Tritonman “New app friend” lol!!!

Navichord

@nonchai said:
Just been playing around with the new SONG feature in NC.
Great fun!
might record+post a video of my latest "opus"...

That would be cool!