Chord arranger

In article
<4859ac1a$0$11620$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>,
"Karl Engel" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Looking for recommendations of basic software that can examine a midi melody
> and suggest suitable chords. Don't need a full band-in-a-box style suite,
> ideally a plug-in for my old Sonar 4 (or PTLE, though I've yet to use that
> for MIDI).

May I ask why you need this?

Jenn

On Jun 19, 11:19 am, Jenn <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article
> <4859ac1a$0$11620$5a62a...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>,
>  "Karl Engel" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Looking for recommendations of basic software that can examine a midi melody
> > and suggest suitable chords. Don't need a full band-in-a-box style suite,
> > ideally a plug-in for my old Sonar 4 (or PTLE, though I've yet to use that
> > for MIDI).
>
> May I ask why you need this?
>
> Jenn

Thinking of going to a singing tutor. Want to sing some songs I've
written which suit my range. Despite having a head full of melodies
I'm barely a musician. Thought I might accompany myself with chords on
a small portable keyboard. Wanted to speed up the process of working
out the chords. I realise no software will make all the right artistic
decisions but I'm not trying to be clever, some starting alternatives
would help.

Hey, I know I'm off topic for rec.audio.pro, but I'm not really
confident about diving into this with serious musicians, I spend most
of my newsgroup time here.

In article
<[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:

> On Jun 19, 11:19 am, Jenn <[email protected]> wrote:
> > In article
> > <4859ac1a$0$11620$5a62a...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>,
> >  "Karl Engel" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > Looking for recommendations of basic software that can examine a midi
> > > melody
> > > and suggest suitable chords. Don't need a full band-in-a-box style suite,
> > > ideally a plug-in for my old Sonar 4 (or PTLE, though I've yet to use
> > > that
> > > for MIDI).
> >
> > May I ask why you need this?
> >
> > Jenn
>
> Thinking of going to a singing tutor. Want to sing some songs I've
> written which suit my range. Despite having a head full of melodies
> I'm barely a musician. Thought I might accompany myself with chords on
> a small portable keyboard. Wanted to speed up the process of working
> out the chords. I realise no software will make all the right artistic
> decisions but I'm not trying to be clever, some starting alternatives
> would help.

Thanks. First, congrats for writing your melodies, and I urge you to
keep going!

Do you read music at all?

>
> Hey, I know I'm off topic for rec.audio.pro, but I'm not really
> confident about diving into this with serious musicians, I spend most
> of my newsgroup time here.

[email protected] wrote:
> On Jun 19, 11:19 am, Jenn <[email protected]> wrote:
>> In article
>> <4859ac1a$0$11620$5a62a...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>,
>> "Karl Engel" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Looking for recommendations of basic software that can examine a
>>> midi melody and suggest suitable chords. Don't need a full
>>> band-in-a-box style suite, ideally a plug-in for my old Sonar 4 (or
>>> PTLE, though I've yet to use that for MIDI).
>>
>> May I ask why you need this?
>>
>> Jenn
>
> Thinking of going to a singing tutor. Want to sing some songs I've
> written which suit my range. Despite having a head full of melodies
> I'm barely a musician.

Clearly. The variables involved in producing chords for a melody line are
hugely, um, variable. The possibilites for major, minor, and more
complicated variations and inversions have a huge effect on the final song,
and simple software as you want can't know what sort of end result you
desire.

geoff

geoff <[email protected]> wrote:

> [email protected] wrote:
> > On Jun 19, 11:19 am, Jenn <[email protected]> wrote:
> >> In article
> >> <4859ac1a$0$11620$5a62a...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>,
> >> "Karl Engel" <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Looking for recommendations of basic software that can examine a
> >>> midi melody and suggest suitable chords. Don't need a full
> >>> band-in-a-box style suite, ideally a plug-in for my old Sonar 4 (or
> >>> PTLE, though I've yet to use that for MIDI).
> >>
> >> May I ask why you need this?
> >>
> >> Jenn
> >
> > Thinking of going to a singing tutor. Want to sing some songs I've
> > written which suit my range. Despite having a head full of melodies
> > I'm barely a musician.
>
> Clearly. The variables involved in producing chords for a melody line are
> hugely, um, variable. The possibilites for major, minor, and more
> complicated variations and inversions have a huge effect on the final song,
> and simple software as you want can't know what sort of end result you
> desire.

Karl might try to find a collaborator who understands basic
harmonization and could provide him with options.

--
ha
Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam

On Jun 20, 9:11 am, [email protected] (hank alrich) wrote:
> geoff <[email protected]> wrote:
> > [email protected] wrote:
> > > On Jun 19, 11:19 am, Jenn <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >> In article
> > >> <4859ac1a$0$11620$5a62a...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au>,
> > >> "Karl Engel" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > >>> Looking for recommendations of basic software that can examine a
> > >>> midi melody and suggest suitable chords. Don't need a full
> > >>> band-in-a-box style suite, ideally a plug-in for my old Sonar 4 (or
> > >>> PTLE, though I've yet to use that for MIDI).
>
> > >> May I ask why you need this?
>
> > >> Jenn
>
> > > Thinking of going to a singing tutor. Want to sing some songs I've
> > > written which suit my range. Despite having a head full of melodies
> > > I'm barely a musician.
>
> > Clearly.  The variables involved in producing chords for a melody line are
> > hugely, um, variable. The possibilites for major, minor, and more
> > complicated variations and inversions have a huge effect on the final  song,
> > and simple software as you want can't know what sort of end result you
> > desire.
>
> Karl might try to find a collaborator who understands basic
> harmonization and could provide him with options.
>
> --
> ha
> Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks -
I did all the theory and could sight read SLOOWWWLY years ago but it's
all very rusty now.
So how do the band-in-a-box (Wally-at-the-controls) programs do it? I
thought they'd determine the key of the song from the melody, choose
the most likely chords, perhaps in close inversions, then let you
click & toggle through alternatives, from common maj & min to more
esoteric 7ths & diminished etc. Reviews I read some years ago implied
it was a pretty successful process, but I don't want to work with all
their virtual instruments and "style" arrangements in a proprietry
environment.

On 20 Jun 2008, [email protected] wrote in rec.audio.pro:

> So how do the band-in-a-box (Wally-at-the-controls) programs do
> it? I thought they'd determine the key of the song from the
> melody, choose the most likely chords, perhaps in close
> inversions, then let you click & toggle through alternatives, from
> common maj & min to more esoteric 7ths & diminished etc.

I think it works the opposite way. You tell it what chords to play and
style and it creates an arrangement.

Any melody can be harmonized countless ways. I doubt that there is any
software that can do what you want.