Do you know of a quantizer that spans more than one octave to help with extended chords?
That’s strange, I was wondering exactly the same thing the a few days ago! I thought spacing out notes across octaves would maybe produce better generative melodies too. Found this one, 9 octaves enough for you?
Ha ha, that’s fantastic thank you. Nine octaves - now that’s what I called extended!!!
In my next version of the Venom plugin I plan to release an Intervallic Non-Octave Scale Quantizer.
It will allow creation of scales by specifying intervals and a root note. The total scale interval is the sum of all the interval steps, and it is not limited to an octave - it can be smaller or larger than an octave. You can specify how many intervals (notes) are used in the scale.
The root specifies the V/Oct pitch at 0V, and the scale rises from there. The first interval specifies the 2nd scale note, the second interval the 3rd note, etc. The final interval specifies the root note one pseudo-octave higher, meaning each pseudo-octave can produce different notes.
Each scale step interval will be an integral multiple of an Equal Division of a Pseudo-Octave (totally independent from the scale pseudo-octave) , meaning it will support equal tempered micro tunings.
The concept for this module was inspired by the CuteFox Intervallic Pair Quantizer.
Although inspired by the CuteFox module, my module will produce very different results.
I will begin work on this module once I finish development of my Linear Beats module that converts multiple channels of triggers/gates into a linear drumming pattern. Hopefully that work finishes up today.
I love it when my modules find users and uses…
I specifically designed this module to allow different notes in different octaves.
Sorry that the docs are a bit sparse, please do reply if you have any feedback or questions about the module.
Thanks @dan.tilley, I tried it at the weekend and it works exactly how I wanted, I think it’s going to be my quantiser of choice from now on. I guess 40hp may put some people off, but I’m not bothered about module size personally.
Next question, what are everyone’s favourite extended chords to try out? I love a maj7 add #11 at the moment, because I use the Lydian mode far too much! I also just discovered the sus13, which is great for old skool drum’n’bass pads, but I couldn’t find a voicing on guitar that sounds as good as it does on keys. Add 6/9 is another one, I just need some tips for stringing them together into a decent progression now
Awesome, I am glad to be of service
I am not good enough at music to know the most accurate name for this chord, plus my guitar is usually downtuned by an unspecified amount, BUT…
This is one of my favourite guitar chords, because it sounds funky either strummed or picked, you can move it up and down the neck, it fits in with many different styles and genres (works well with and without distortion), the pinky finger is optional, I have my thumb free to mute or voice the bottom string (available for chugs if I want them) and I find it very easy and quick to switch to and from it (I suppose this is true of many chords, but I like this one )
Edit: you can also just change the index finger to a barre, but then i think it makes it distinctly uncool
Ooh, I’m on the spot here! I’m terrible at music theory too, but I that looks like the ‘Hendrix’ chord (it was used at the start of Purple Haze and quite a few other songs) and I think it’s actually a minor 7th add #9. The way that works is the sharp9 is the same note as a major 3rd, so you’ve got both the minor and major third at the same time. You’d think that would sound horrible, but spacing those two intervals an octave apart gives it a lovely tension, and it does make sense in a very vague way if you think how the major/minor thing is used in blues.*
A perfect illustration of why we needed a multi-octave quantiser!
*Disclaimer: this could be absoolute nonsense.
D7#9, a type of dominant chord, if you add that Ab you almost have under your thumb it could be Ab13#11, a tritone sub for the D7#9
I like spicy chords a lot, try the James Bond chord, open low E, tenth fret A string (G), ninth fret D string ( B), eighth fret G string (D#} seventh fret B string ( F#) also called Eminor major9th
Cheers @cubistguitar, great suggestions! I also like a minor7 b9, which fits perfectly around Dorian b2, one of the melodic minor modes and a favourite scale of mine. The minor major 7 or 9 also comes from the melodic minor. Or does the scale derive from the chord? I suppose you can look at it both ways. As the saying goes, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing! I kind of know bits and pieces of music theory without having a thorough understanding. One thing that’s always confused me is whether chord extensions refer to the major or minor scale. For example, a ‘minor 6’ chord is a minor chord with the 6h note of the major scale, but it’s not called a ‘minor major 6th’ like the 7th.
a lot of soundtracks in the last decade used maj7 and 11# (often without the perfect 5th) it sounds very nice to me too
Extensions except for 7 all use the major scale as the thing, so that m6 is major 6 added. Of course 6th chords are just inverted 7th chords, like Cm6 is also Am7b5. When I use minor major9 it really refers to the seventh of the chord which is a half step higher than usual. Maybe less confusing to say Eminor major7(9) but it usually ends up EmM9.
I used to think “derived from scale” but over time I’m settling with the chords leading the wagon. Any fun row of notes that works is fine, but the changes are the changes.
Thanks, I had to read that twice but it does make sense now!
This is a fab module, thank you works as expected, without reading the manual I’ve yet to explore all the sockets on the panel though.
I think my ideal module, for extended chords specifically, would be two octaves that wrap around - in the same way that the single octave ones wrap. Of course I can bring that about yours by programming in repeats on multiple octaves. Just being lazy
But then having the nine octaves opens up new possibilities I hadn’t thought of originally such as “right hand chords over left hand bass notes”, from one synth voice.
The Hendrix chord is legendary, although the jazz/blues people tend to get a little vexed that it gets called that, “as if he discovered it” they say with eyes raised to heaven
I’ve been experimenting a bit with this quantizer:
I like using it with bogaudios polycon, or docb PLC, if I don’t necessarily want to use standard tunings. But you can send it up to 16 different fixed voltages, which it uses to quantise any signal, and it can wrap around, as an option in the context menu.
Fun stuff. . .
@Soxsa you’re right, it’s all about context. It’s a jazz chord in the right progression and Hendrix certainly wasn’t the first to use it. However, he was the first to play it on an upside down Stratocaster into overdriven Marshall stacks, which was genuinely novel and also totally badass
@auretvh thanks, that looks interesting. Polycon is underrated module too, I use it in almost every patch. Want 16 LFOs on a poly cable? Just stick it in the FM input of the fundamental LFO, boom!
Ah yes, there was that
…and he won’t be the last
Actually, when I was younger and learning guitar, I was a massive fan of SRV and it was from his track Testify that I learnt the chord first, but of course, SRV took inspiration from Hendrix…
immediately I thought “ok, another way to get close to random chaos”
then I figured out that sometimes I should try to use a tool for something “less random”