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chord memory and its magickal prowess


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I love the chord memory feature on my Polysix, and I used it frequently enough back in the day on my Poly61. I know the SCI P600 has chord memory.

 

Anyway, my question isn't really about which synths have it, although that would certainly be a dandy sub-topic within this main topic. My question is how to get the same effect on other gear, namely on the PEK and the Q.

 

I haven't explored the PEK's various voice modes (been terribly busy these days with things other than music I'm sorry, but also happy, to say). Those seem promising, along with the 4 oscillators per voice.

 

What say you? CHORD MEMORY IS MAGICK! I need to whip up that spell on other gear.

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I've just taken down a ebay listing for a naff old Siel DK-80 because before sending it out I was testing it and I got so into using the chord memory. It's instant rave/techno and it seems to make any sound sound good.

 

Ideally, like some of these jazz types you'd be able to do the same thing on the fly without any aides but I guess you could never do it as fast.

 

Check out the gekko series by Waldorf, there's a chord memory one that works off the power on the midi cable. The Waldorf homepage has details of two of them, the other one being an arpeggiator but i've read reviews in SOS that describe a different one that's a type of midi chord trigger.

 

They sound pretty cool but I can't say i've ever seen them on the secondhand market here in the UK.

 

On the same topic of chord memory, my three tier Electone organ has a pretty cool feature where you can choose whether the one fingered chord is major, minor or dominant with the bass pedals but unfortunately it doesn't allow you to choose your own voicing.

 

Chord memory :thu: It's ravetastic.

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Not sure exactly what you mean when you say Chord Memory but I assume you're talking about triggering entire chords with one note...

 

If that's true, you can easily get something like this using some type of modular midi processor on a computer. I use Plogue Bidule for some stuff like this, and it's neat. Of course, it means you have to have a computer in your midi loop, which may be a dealbreaker for you.

 

But if not, it's extremely flexible. It wouldn't be hard to have a midi slider controlling which type of chord is generated, on the fly, while hitting notes to trig the selected chord type, for example. I even set something up to generate random chord sequences based on this.

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The thing with chord memory is that it's like stacking voices in a unison mode, except that instead of stacking all of the voices onto the same note, you can assign those voices into a chord, or more precisely specific intervals. So you get a mono-synth response from the synth but its playing multiple voices at a set interval. That's what makes it special. Using a MIDI trick won't cut it because you still get the trigger and release characteristics of the poly, unless, of course, your chord/interval uses all of the voices the synth has (although in this scenario you still won't get the proper unison/mono-type of triggering).

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Originally posted by sizzlemeister

I love the chord memory feature on my Polysix, and I used it frequently enough back in the day on my Poly61. I know the SCI P600 has chord memory.


Anyway, my question isn't really about which synths have it, although that would certainly be a dandy sub-topic within this main topic. My question is how to get the same effect on other gear, namely on the PEK and the Q.


I haven't explored the PEK's various voice modes (been terribly busy these days with things other than music I'm sorry, but also happy, to say). Those seem promising, along with the 4 oscillators per voice.


What say you? CHORD MEMORY IS MAGICK! I need to whip up that spell on other gear.

 

 

You can either setup the oscillator pitches to create a chord or use Live's Chord midi plug-in.

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Cubase has a chorder too. you can program a different chord for each key on your board.

 

Another way is to use a board with a 'multi' mode. set several of the same type voices to the same midi channel and use the transpose function to set the intervals.

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Originally posted by sizzlemeister

The thing with chord memory is that it's like stacking voices in a unison mode, except that instead of stacking all of the voices onto the same note, you can assign those voices into a chord, or more precisely specific intervals. So you get a mono-synth response from the synth but its playing multiple voices at a set interval. That's what makes it special.
Using a MIDI trick won't cut it because you still get the trigger and release characteristics of the poly, unless, of course, your chord/interval uses all of the voices the synth has (although in this scenario you still won't get the proper unison/mono-type of triggering).

 

 

I do appreciate the responses, fellows, but at the same time you ain't a readin' what's I a writin'.

 

I think the PEK can do something like chord memory much easier than the Q. The Q may require a lot of sussing that may not be worth it.

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