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Song Writing With Chord Poly Pad

shiftsynth1shiftsynth1
in General App Discussion

I put off buying Chord Poly Pad for a long time because I didn't see a need to buy a chord app. A few weeks ago I picked it up out of curiosity and it clicked with me almost instantly. Not as a midi controller, but as an idea generator for chord progressions. I love that it takes the skill element away completely from generating ideas for chord progressions, the randomization feature is a god send for filling in problem spots and the pad structure lets you seamlessly rearrange chords to try different combinations. I've been using it more than I could imagine.

Pairing it with chordbank has completely changed the way I approach guitar too. Start with chord poly pad, get a sold chord progression going and then transition to chordbank to develop it on guitar. Jammed out for a solid hour on Sunday with some chord progressions I developed, super fun. And I wrote it, Even Better! No more, "Wait, how do I play this chord? Wait, is this what I'm trying to do? Fuck it I'll just play something someone else wrote."

I have pretty much given up on IOs as a music production tool at this point but the midi and song writing tools are incredibly under discussed and powerful.

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Comments

  • SpookyZooSpookyZoo

    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

  • JohnnyGoodyearJohnnyGoodyear

    @shiftsynth1 said:
    I put off buying Chord Poly Pad for a long time because I didn't see a need to buy a chord app. A few weeks ago I picked it up out of curiosity and it clicked with me almost instantly. Not as a midi controller, but as an idea generator for chord progressions. I love that it takes the skill element away completely from generating ideas for chord progressions, the randomization feature is a god send for filling in problem spots and the pad structure lets you seamlessly rearrange chords to try different combinations. I've been using it more than I could imagine.

    Pairing it with chordbank has completely changed the way I approach guitar too. Start with chord poly pad, get a sold chord progression going and then transition to chordbank to develop it on guitar. Jammed out for a solid hour on Sunday with some chord progressions I developed, super fun. And I wrote it, Even Better! No more, "Wait, how do I play this chord? Wait, is this what I'm trying to do? Fuck it I'll just play something someone else wrote."

    I have pretty much given up on IOs as a music production tool at this point but the midi and song writing tools are incredibly under discussed and powerful.

    It is one of the Sooper Sekrits. Please don't mention it again.

    :)

  • SpookyZooSpookyZoo

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

    Here’s a screenshot...

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1
    edited December 2018

    @tja said:
    And I just love, that it can translate single notes of a progression into a progression of chords - with easily exchangable chords!

    Wait what is this black magic? How do do you do this?

  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

    Here’s a screenshot...

    CPP can read incoming midi messages and convert them to chords? I clearly have much more to learn about this thing.

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • SpookyZooSpookyZoo
    edited December 2018

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

    Here’s a screenshot...

    CPP can read incoming midi messages and convert them to chords? I clearly have much more to learn about this thing.

    My example is the opposite of what @tja is describing.

    In my pic, I have duplicated the chord track of my Xequence project and directed it at ChordPolyPad.

    CPP reads the midi, assigns it to the active pad and spells the chord.

    I tap a new pad for each chord just before it plays.

    It’s a nice way to capture a set of chords you like, and if you don’t know what those chords are already. CPP will show you.

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • ChaztripChaztrip

    Wait what???? Jeez I better investigate this magic

  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1

    @tja said:

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @tja said:
    And I just love, that it can translate single notes of a progression into a progression of chords - with easily exchangable chords!

    Wait what is this black magic? How do do you do this?

    You just send your single notes from an instrument or a sequencer like Xequence or Cubasis to ChordPolyPad - and redirect it's output to another track of the sequencer.
    Having for example 7 chords on the first 7 pads, will then translate the incoming notes to a sequence of chords, the 7 chords you selected.

    Understandable?

    Ohhh I see what you mean. Very creative, never thought to do that before.

  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

    Here’s a screenshot...

    CPP can read incoming midi messages and convert them to chords? I clearly have much more to learn about this thing.

    My example is the opposite of what @tja is describing.

    In my pic, I have duplicated the chord track of my Xequence project and directed it at ChordPolyPad.

    CPP reads the midi, assigns it to the active pad and spells the chord.

    I tap a new pad for each chord just before it plays.

    It’s a nice way to capture a set of chords you like, and if you don’t know what those chords are already. CPP will show you.

    I see what you are saying, never thought to use it that way but it makes a lot of sense. I can imagine a creative way to use this with Ableton's audio to midi... I need to experiment with this. Thanks!

  • hellquisthellquist

    This is one of my most used apps, much due to the X/Y controller that is built-in to each of the pads, and I had no idea about the "reading chords" thing! Thanks! :smiley:

  • ChaztripChaztrip

    @tja said:
    And I just love, that it can translate single notes of a progression into a progression of chords - with easily exchangable chords!

    @tja I can’t get it to translate the single notes into chords? It’s receiving the midi but only playing the one note back. Any thoughts?

  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1
    edited December 2018

    @Chaztrip said:

    @tja said:
    And I just love, that it can translate single notes of a progression into a progression of chords - with easily exchangable chords!

    @tja I can’t get it to translate the single notes into chords? It’s receiving the midi but only playing the one note back. Any thoughts?

    I think what he is saying is that if route midi into the app it will play the pads and in that way you can generate interesting chord progressions not that the app will read incoming single notes and generate chord progressions. In order for it to do that I think it would need to be far more complex than it is.

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1

    @tja said:
    @Chaztrip and @shiftsynth1

    It works like this:

    You send a single note by MIDI into CPP and trigger the first pad.
    This pad sends whatever chord is configured onto this pad over MIDI to whatever App you configured to receive it.
    So, at the receiving end, you can record the chords.

    And the same for all pads and notes. You just need a chord configured for any note you plan to use - most of the time, 7 notes will be enough.

    More clear?

    If not, i can try to find the older topic about this.
    Or maybe create a simple AudioBus preset that contains the setup, but not sure if the CPP setting will be transported by the AB preset.

    Yeah, makes perfect sense to me. The way it was stated initially made it sound like the app would like listen to a melody and generate a backing tack or something. But I totally get what you are saying.

  • ChaztripChaztrip

    @tja said:
    @Chaztrip and @shiftsynth1

    It works like this:

    You send a single note by MIDI into CPP and trigger the first pad.
    This pad sends whatever chord is configured onto this pad over MIDI to whatever App you configured to receive it.
    So, at the receiving end, you can record the chords.

    And the same for all pads and notes. You just need a chord configured for any note you plan to use - most of the time, 7 notes will be enough.

    More clear?

    If not, i can try to find the older topic about this.
    Or maybe create a simple AudioBus preset that contains the setup, but not sure if the CPP setting will be transported by the AB preset.

    Ok so the single not does not make the chord? You have to have the chords defined already in CPP? I guess I’m sorry what is benefits of this? Why not just play the chords directly from CPP? Sorry I’m a dolt. 😁.

  • shiftsynth1shiftsynth1

    @Chaztrip said:

    @tja said:
    @Chaztrip and @shiftsynth1

    It works like this:

    You send a single note by MIDI into CPP and trigger the first pad.
    This pad sends whatever chord is configured onto this pad over MIDI to whatever App you configured to receive it.
    So, at the receiving end, you can record the chords.

    And the same for all pads and notes. You just need a chord configured for any note you plan to use - most of the time, 7 notes will be enough.

    More clear?

    If not, i can try to find the older topic about this.
    Or maybe create a simple AudioBus preset that contains the setup, but not sure if the CPP setting will be transported by the AB preset.

    Ok so the single not does not make the chord? You have to have the chords defined already in CPP? I guess I’m sorry what is benefits of this? Why not just play the chords directly from CPP? Sorry I’m a dolt. 😁.

    I can imagine this. Say you are mucking around with a rhythm in a daw with a few notes, you know you want them to be a chord progression but you aren't sure what they should be. You route the midi output from the DAW into CPP and have it trigger the pads and then route CPP back into the DAW again to play say a piano. Then you can muck around with the chords being triggered, randomize them, make them more complex, rearrange them all while the daw is triggering them in a rhythmic pattern you already developed. It is a useful trick, never thought to do it. Make sense?

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited December 2018
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • ChaztripChaztrip

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @Chaztrip said:

    @tja said:
    @Chaztrip and @shiftsynth1

    It works like this:

    You send a single note by MIDI into CPP and trigger the first pad.
    This pad sends whatever chord is configured onto this pad over MIDI to whatever App you configured to receive it.
    So, at the receiving end, you can record the chords.

    And the same for all pads and notes. You just need a chord configured for any note you plan to use - most of the time, 7 notes will be enough.

    More clear?

    If not, i can try to find the older topic about this.
    Or maybe create a simple AudioBus preset that contains the setup, but not sure if the CPP setting will be transported by the AB preset.

    Ok so the single not does not make the chord? You have to have the chords defined already in CPP? I guess I’m sorry what is benefits of this? Why not just play the chords directly from CPP? Sorry I’m a dolt. 😁.

    I can imagine this. Say you are mucking around with a rhythm in a daw with a few notes, you know you want them to be a chord progression but you aren't sure what they should be. You route the midi output from the DAW into CPP and have it trigger the pads and then route CPP back into the DAW again to play say a piano. Then you can muck around with the chords being triggered, randomize them, make them more complex, rearrange them all while the daw is triggering them in a rhythmic pattern you already developed. It is a useful trick, never thought to do it. Make sense?

    Yes .... I just can’t get it to trigger the end piece to play the chords. So I’m in audio bus and I have like Riffer triggers CPP and CPP into a synth. It’s just playing the notes not the chords in CPP. So do i need to record it back into something like Xequence for the chords to show up?

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited December 2018
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • ChaztripChaztrip

    Thanks guys. I will give it a go later. 😁

  • Blipsford_BaubieBlipsford_Baubie

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

    Here’s a screenshot...

    CPP can read incoming midi messages and convert them to chords? I clearly have much more to learn about this thing.

    My example is the opposite of what @tja is describing.

    In my pic, I have duplicated the chord track of my Xequence project and directed it at ChordPolyPad.

    CPP reads the midi, assigns it to the active pad and spells the chord.

    I tap a new pad for each chord just before it plays.

    It’s a nice way to capture a set of chords you like, and if you don’t know what those chords are already. CPP will show you.

    Woah. I don't own CPP but if I'm understanding you correctly, I do believe that you just provided a way for me to make ChordMaps2 more fun and usable! Being that i already own xequence. Cm2 allows me to very quickly come up with a progression but it's always stopped there. So i will record that loosely into Xequence which will allow me to close CM2. I'll do that trick of yours. Aside from a much more easier rearranging method, it sounds as though CPP would allow for a more expressive playing of the chords. That and feeding those chords into SPA unit..i can't wait to try! Sounds theoretically kosher?

  • SpookyZooSpookyZoo

    @Blipsford_Baubie said:

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @shiftsynth1 said:

    @SpookyZoo said:

    @SpookyZoo said:
    I found another nice use for ChordPolyPad lately.

    I load up a midi file in Xequence and solo the track that has the chords playing.

    I then place CPP in slider over mode.

    While Xequence is playing, I’ll tap a new pad on CPP so that the midi chord will be saved into that pad.

    The best feature is that CPP will intelligently spell the chord being played.

    Nice. :)

    Here’s a screenshot...

    CPP can read incoming midi messages and convert them to chords? I clearly have much more to learn about this thing.

    My example is the opposite of what @tja is describing.

    In my pic, I have duplicated the chord track of my Xequence project and directed it at ChordPolyPad.

    CPP reads the midi, assigns it to the active pad and spells the chord.

    I tap a new pad for each chord just before it plays.

    It’s a nice way to capture a set of chords you like, and if you don’t know what those chords are already. CPP will show you.

    Woah. I don't own CPP but if I'm understanding you correctly, I do believe that you just provided a way for me to make ChordMaps2 more fun and usable! Being that i already own xequence. Cm2 allows me to very quickly come up with a progression but it's always stopped there. So i will record that loosely into Xequence which will allow me to close CM2. I'll do that trick of yours. Aside from a much more easier rearranging method, it sounds as though CPP would allow for a more expressive playing of the chords. That and feeding those chords into SPA unit..i can't wait to try! Sounds theoretically kosher?

    Cool.

    But if your aim is to get CM2 chord progression into CPP, you could probably do this directly without Xequence if CM2 has direct midi out?

    I’d recommend anyone to get Xequence anyway. :)

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    We need to bribe an iOS developer into making ToneSpace into an AU...

    http://www.mucoder.net/en/tonespace/

    It's just about the perfect chord generation tool. The fact that you feed it in notes and based on parameters like inversion, spread, etc. it will automagically poop out amazing chords is just the best.

  • MonkeyDrummerMonkeyDrummer

    BUMP for "not kidding" about previous comment we need to get a dev to make it iOS!

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