Chordion on Drambo
In my now close to 10 years adventure on IOS there are maybe 4 apps that completely astounded me. One of them is definitely Chordion by Olympia Noise Co.
In Drambo there is that cool trick where one can use Main track keyboard to transpose selected tracks. I find that already very useful but I wonder whether there might be a way to make those tracks to respond harmonically? So basically instead of just transposing all tracks to be also able to affect notes included in the chord, minor, major etc.
Do you guys think it might be possible to recreate this?
Comments
I would use scenes for that because hitting pads is easy 😊
The pad would not only determine transposition but also have different scales set on each pad (using CV quantizer) which is easily possible using p-locks.
If scale and transposition could be selected using a modulation input (a module for controlling these sequencer parameters), that would be a fun live tool.
@rs2000 I would use scenes for that because hitting pads is easy 😊
Yes, scenes with instant pattern switch seems like the easiest solution.
Do you mean using CV quantiser or you’re just projecting into the future?
Ok I get you now.
It’s just my ignorance! ;) I was hoping there was an ingenious way of pulling it off by plugging of the CV quantiser to the main track but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
My idea was to have a 2 or 3 CV quantisers which could be muted/unmuted to filter certain notes out but even if it worked it would still be a rather untidy way about it.
I thought this was @bcrichards area of expertise but he seems awfully quiet ;)
Started working on this last night :) you can do it with the XY Grid and shaper trick. It’s not the easiest to use but basically you can select from sixteen different scales using the XY pad.
Here’s the man for the challenge! Tbh Shaper and XY aren’t the first modules that come to mind when I think of harmony but definitely looking forward to what you come up with.
well, this might just be a “we did it because we can do it” kind of thing, not entirely functional. The XY pad/shaper trick (https://patchstorage.com/gridput-matrix-delay-smear/) uses the XY pad and shaper to filter input to 16 modules that do....something. Here we can filter in the gate signal, then use a CV quantizer to generate midi notes. You tack on a midi mixer at the end and this allows you to select a scale. Not super performance oriented.
I was working on a Chord Grid that might be more sensible here. Each of the sixteen grid squares would generate a different chord off of your root note. You can add in the ability to modulate X and Y independently, so it could modulate between M, M7, M9, M11 or any other groups of chords you wanted.
You could also use SpartanClownTides sequencer array to add on notes above or below to your midi. Currently sequencer values are not sequenceable, so this would have to be a live tool. If its generating midi, it could all be recorded.
I think it's a great idea and it's good to be knocking about different concepts now before @giku 's even started with scales so he has time to digest this and come up with something timeless.
first draft. There’s definitely some other places this could go.
For starters, I could swap out the chord generator for a CV quantizer in each grid spot which I suppose was the original intent :)
what’s a sensible arrangement of sixteen scales? I am not a music theory person.
this stuff is too fun. Especially using the auto strummer, and p-locking strum amount, direction, and speed, you can get some really cool sequences going.
Excellent @bcrichards!! 👏
So @bcrichards where is this plugged in. If I want it to affect all of the tracks do I plug it at the top of the main track and connect all the required tracks to it? I’ve tried it but it didn’t work. Clearly a user error.
No no, it’s designer error. I was inspired by what you all were talking about but didn’t make exactly what you were talking about. Technically these are midi racks so you should be able to insert them 1st thing on main rack and transpose other tracks, but that wouldn’t be able to impact individual track scales.
What you may have to do for the scale selection (it would look like the ChordGrid but have CV quantizer instead of Chord modules) would be to have individual midi racks on each track, but then have a master XY grid that’s plugged in to the guts of each tracks rack. Because this is generating actual midi notes.
@supadom This is how I've demoed it:
Yep, it’s a midi rack so it must go before instruments. Here’s an ACTUAL scale rack :) instructions for how to affect multiple tracks at once are included. You basically place the midi rack on all tracks, and then use just one XY pad earlier in the signal chain to switch scales/chords for each track.
patchstorage is being slow, so just uploading here for now.
this one should get pretty close to chordion, @supadom . I made a 16 chord one but it’s too cpu heavy. If you wanted more notes in a chord it can be done. 8 seemed good to begin with.
I made a project that did exactly that, however with the way scenes are currently implemented, any parameter change made in an open scene is immediately captured and saved, even tweaks made with midi. I’ve found this to be amajor obstacle, as I just want to utilize the scenes for diatonic transposition, and save effects like retrigger and humanize for performance. As it is now though, the portions of the performance gets captured into the scenes, as they are always ‘listening’ so to speak.
As a new feature, I think a ‘capture / play’ toggle button in the scene section would be useful. With ‘capture’ toggled on (red) then scenes work exactly as they do now. But with ‘play’ toggled on (black) then the scenes ignore new parameter adjustments. That way you could play the 16 scenes and tweak settings without messing up carefully made scene settings.
Hey, that’s fantastic Ben. I looked at this last night but couldn’t get it connected. I was trying to route track x y to mains x y but x y module doesn’t expose inputs unless a source is selected first. Of course I didn’t get the idea but didn’t have time to delve deeper. Baby steps instructions required! 😬
@aleyas No, not exactly, the changes are only captured as long as p-lock editing is active (indicated by orange control outlines).
Maybe the red outline markings on "scened" controls let you think that you're still editing a scene parameter?
@rs2000
I'll record a video later to demonstrate what's up.
Basically what I'm run-in into is this:
Lets say I have 15 tracks set up. Each track has a midi retrig, humanizer, transpose and chance module. I've also mapped scenes A-P to 15 midi midi notes. In scene mode, the only parameter I have p-locked is 'transpose' (on each scene a different interval). So now, when scenes are active, (by pressing either of the buttons to the sides of the morph fader) I can "play" the scene pads A-P, to dynamically transpose the tracks. However, in order to "play" the scene pads, by necessity, p-locking must be active - because activating scenes is the same as activating p-locks. If you turn off scene mode, and go back to track mode, then the controllers mapped to scenes A-P simply trigger the tracks, and not the scenes themselves. In that way, it is impossible to sequence or play scenes A-P without capturing p-locks to any parameter adjustment.
I hope that made sense. When you click on the scene buttons to the side of the morph fader, they turn red. At that time you can freely jump between the 16 scenes, but p-locks recording are enabled too. I just want to propose a mode that enables or disables the capture of p-locks in this scene view.
@aleyas
You're absolutely right, currently you can only crossfade between two and the crossfade is smoothened out.
+100 for instantly switching between the 16 scenes without "p-lock" being active!
I think that if the controller assignments for scenes A-P and tracks Main-15 were separate, that would go a long way to improving scene usability.
Novation Circuit has a very visually simple way of tackling scales and key signature. I’m sure it isn’t as simple under the hood but it could be an inspiration for the UI.
Drambo, the best bits from all hardware grooveboxes.
@supadom I guess this doesn't do exactly what you need. So you'd like: scales on the tracks, ability to set scale globally, AND the ability to modulate track pitch through the scale, from the master?
For that, I'd use the ScaleGrid rack. You would place a ScaleGrid on each track, an XY module on the Main rack. Uncompacted, you can disconnect the X and Y modules (shapers) from the internal XY pad and connect them to the XY module on Main. Then any connected track will have its scale set. You would then connect each track you want to be affected to Main's MIDI input. Now, you can modulate the tracks' pitches through the scale, and switch scales on the fly.
I will try and get a vid out on these racks shortly as they are not particularly elegant or intuitive, nothing like a baked in module or feature for the app itself. More of just an experiment on my part :)
Maybe a ‘scenes’ button could work (like ‘keys’)? I think the way it’s implemented right now is elegant, but it can be annoying if you tweak any parameters.
Here’s a demo project with two tracks being affected by the scale selector. On Main, you can select a scale (only 4 of 12 actually set right now) with the knob, visualized by the CV sequencer. The pitch module Key sets the key of the scale 0-12 semitones, (C-B), and you can also transpose on the scale from the main track.
ill work this into a more fleshed out template in the future. Currently plocking the scale is hard because you can’t visualize the changes in the CV sequencer while setting a plock.
This!
After jamming in a session in AUM that changes scenes AND modulates parameters as a performance, I make sure I don’t save anything before I quit. Your suggestion would be helpful to distinguish between playing and programming scenes.