PreSonus Forums

I am going to ask this question and try my best to be as exact as possible about what it is that I wish to do. I have been using Studio One for a while but I haven't really tried to use the Chord Track. Please do not refer me to the Marcus Huyskens tutorial video. I have followed it step by step and it does NOT work. There is no "freeze pitch" option for me to use. That said here is the exact situation:

I have studio One v4.5.2. I have an audio track. It is monophonic. I want to extract the chords from the part and then create a midi (instrument) track from those chords. From everything I have read it should be possible to do this.
ISSUES: I do not have a way to detect the key. That option is not available to me. I have tried for the past 2 evenings to do this and I can detect the chords, and extract the chords. This is where I get stuck. The chords are there. Mr. Huyskens "freeze pitch" is not available. There is no "Musical Functions". There are Events, Audio and Instrument functions. I have been through every menu a dozen times and I am pretty sure that this is not available in v4.5.2.

Ok so how do I convert the extracted chords to a midi track? Please assume that I know nothing about Chord Track and it's capabilities. I'd really like to make this work.

Thank you in advance.

I really think we should be able to set the input for an instrument track to "chord track" and then record it but until then the easiest way I know is to fill an instrument track with triad chords (eg C) then set it to follow the chord track. Then right-click and Freeze Pitch on some or all of the events.

For composing from scratch with chords I tend to use Cubase as its chord track offers loads of different voicings (inversions) for each chord and gives you a really easy way to record them onto a track. I then pull the track into S1, extract the chords onto the chord track and then go from there. I'm hoping that the S1 devs will add extra voicings and easy chord track capture in a future release.

Edit: Freeze pitch is there. Right-click - Musical Functions - Freeze Pitch. It applies to a midi event on an instrument track. And, yes, I'm in S1 Pro V4.5.2!

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, I am using an audio track and extracting the chords from it. I want to use the chords to create[i][/i] a midi track to use with a virtual instrument. I do not have a keyboard and I do not play piano. The tutorial was saying that the chords extracted from an audio track could be frozen and a midi track created from that. I only have an audio track at the moment.

You said you had extracted the chords. Once you have the chords on a chord track if you do what I said in my post I think you end up with what you want, unless I am misunderstanding what you want!

You can put a triad chord in using just the editor. Add a C. E and a G note, each full measure long then just duplicate it and set it to follow-parallel in the inspector and the chords will magically change to those in the chord track.

larso wrote
Ok so how do I convert the extracted chords to a midi track? Please assume that I know nothing about Chord Track and it's capabilities. I'd really like to make this work.

Getting the chords is the hard part - can't you just play the chords on your keyboard? That's what I do if I need to.

Toontrack EZKeys does have a function of entering chords from a chord chart.

IanM5 wroteYou can put a triad chord in using just the editor. Add a C. E and a G note, each full measure long then just duplicate it and set it to follow-parallel in the inspector and the chords will magically change to those in the chord track.

That's what I currently do, make a CMaj7 chord and duplicate it down the timeline and it automatically follows the chord blocks. You do need that fourth note though because it won't magically create it for 7th chords and other similar things.

You also need to turn on Advanced > Midi > Cut Long Notes at Part End so you can downsize those events to match the chord block positions if necessary and have them stop playing at the right places...or alternately stretch them to match I guess.

Lawrence wrote

IanM5 wroteYou can put a triad chord in using just the editor. Add a C. E and a G note, each full measure long then just duplicate it and set it to follow-parallel in the inspector and the chords will magically change to those in the chord track.

That's what I currently do, make a CMaj7 chord and duplicate it down the timeline and it automatically follows the chord blocks. You do need that fourth note though because it won't magically create it for 7th chords and other similar things.

That's a good tip. Thanks, although as I mentioned I tend to use Cubase for chords if I am going from scratch simply because of all the different voicings. I have put a suggestion into PS to add voicings to the chord dialogue. Here is a typical choice for one chord in Cubase. It would be brilliant to have that in S1.