chord / synth help...

[cloutier]

since i'm a drummer by trade, i typically don't find myself having too much trouble on the percussion side of my tracks. where i do find myself being completely bogged down, and inevitably so frustrated i just walk away from my computer for the day, is the synth / chord side of things. i have not one ounce of piano training, nor have i ever been able to learn it, so i'm stuck just haphazardly pushing buttons until, hopefully, something that doesn't sound like a fucking turd comes out of my speakers.

can anyone recommend some sort of website that maybe has a convenient way to preview and visually see different chords so i can maybe flip through those and start to make mental notes on things? i think it would help speed up my process and keep me from getting so annoyed with all of my productions that i never finish a damn thing.


that being said, i also seem to find myself getting exceptionally frustrated with finding synth sounds that i'm familiar with. i can hear examples in other songs that i would like to try and emulate in my own tracks but i don't know precisely what they are so, again, i spend all day going through 3000 presets and being wholly disappointed. i've got a slew of soft-synths at my disposal, and even when i had access to my old studio with the juno60 and prophet8 i couldn't find a fucking thing i liked. think classic sounds for dubby stabs, old detroit synth sounds, and any sort of warm house organ / piano.

[oblioblioblio]

are you using a sequencer to play in chords?

I used a midi keyboard when I started out, which looking back was probably really important to allow me to get a sense of how notes interact to make chords. I would recommend finding a cheap as sh!t one (don't need aftertouch or anything fancy). For me, that was the best way to learn. I still pay no attention to classical training, and find that it doesnt really apply to the music that I make (that's just me and we have some musicians with exceptional knowledge here). I know which notes and structures sound tense, or sound like home, or sound beautiful, sad. That information is there in the sounds and I prefer to interact with it directly.

I also suspect part of the problem is that you are well established as a DJ, and are under pressure to quickly translate this knowledge, both by your self and perhaps externally, into productions that match up to the tracks you are playing. That is a very big ask, and it's possible that this pressure is not in your best interest. Perhaps give yourself a bit more space to grow and find your own voice.

Soft synths are hit and miss for me. I would get a couple that cover the basic grounds and don't rely on preset surfing. It really is the enemy of creative programming. I think the reliance on surfing says a lot about the nature of soft synths. Physical synths have interfaces that are light years in advance of soft synths and the idea of preset surfing on them is physically repugnant because its so joyeous to interact with them directly... one machine to another.

[AK]

I'd second what Obli said, by playing chords in by hand, you get smooth transitions from one chord to the next that you just don't do when drawing in midi data for chords. When you play chords in, you don't normally jump around the keyboard playing root position chords, you tend to use inversions so you don't actually move around the octave in a 'clunky' fashion. It's this 'clunkiness' that often comes through when drawing in midi notes for chords as you don't take into account a natural playing style when doing so. ( That said, other times, this could be perfectly adequate )

Maybe that's jumping the gun a bit of you're only interested in making a few chords but you don't need to be fluent on a keyboard to play 3 note chords like your basic major and minor chords. You can omit 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths and so on while playing around and actually add these types of notes later on in the sequencer to build on that to make fuller, more expressive chords.

If you're finding it difficult to actually find those chords to begin with, just familiarize yourself with diatonic stuff initially to ground yourself. Once you grasp that, you'll look back and think, "Huh, is that it"?

You can learn these 2 things in an afternoon and they will act as a springboard for an ongoing development on using expressive and sophisticated chords in no time.

1. learn the major scale
2. learn the diatonic chords built on each degree of the major scale.

Seriously, in order to grasp chords, that's all you need know because once you understand it, any subsequent scales/chords you come across, the grounding will be there and they will just make sense as will the intervals that comprise them. ( chord progressions/playing style etc etc is a different kettle of fish and nothing to do with this though )

[AK]

This might be of use: http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/

Chords on the left and scales on the right.

I was gonna type something quite long but I decided not to as I didn't know what your grasp on terminology was like. Could I ask what your understanding of the major scale is?

[cloutier]

that's the thing...i can hear exactly the sound i want in my head - both chord wise, and sound wise - but making either of those happens ends up with me just getting pissed and drinking beer and playing records instead of fucking around on the computer even more. that's why i'm saying if there was some easy trainer / sample set that provided said chords online that i could quickly go through and be like "ah hah!," i could just replicate that in my track and then spend more time fumbling around with the actual sound that spending more than half the day blindly hitting keys and trying to get what i want out of it.


as for the presets thing, the only reason i troll them is because you'd think, at this day in age, where EVERYONE wants to sound like they're from the mid-90's, there's be a litany of presets that sound like classic synths. nope!

[cloutier]

This might be of use: http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/

Chords on the left and scales on the right.

I was gonna type something quite long but I decided not to as I didn't know what your grasp on terminology was like. Could I ask what your understanding of the major scale is?

found that page ages ago but the sound samples never load.

as for my understanding of the major scale...i can spell "major scale." that's about it.


what i'm trying to say is i don't have all fucking day to sit and play all of these chord variations by myself, ping-ponging between a website and ableton. if i can just have a website that plays them and i can quickly go through them, i'd be gold.

[oblioblioblio]

I think you've got to be prepared to go thru the basics... the real roots of sound. I think you have too much knowledge of the macro structure and want to move too quickly, but the basics are really crucial and there's no quick fix.

Start with really simple synth sounds, just simple sine waves or simple saw waves. Start with a single oscillator voice and play a note, and then play 2 notes.

I know it sounds condescending but honestly every moment spent surfing presets is a waste of your time. Like people stuck inside a TV just flicking channels trying to satisfy themselves, but really what they need to do is get inside their own minds and bodies.

[steevio]

i agree with oblio, the basics is really easy, honestly bro, its not the ballache you're making it out to be.

learn what the intervals sound like, just make 2-note chords with different intervals and get a feel for each one (major seconds/minor thirds/major thirds/perfect fouths.... etc. etc...
you soon start to recognise all the 2 note chords, then move on to 3 note chords, 4 note chords etc...
i'm originally a drummer too, i knew nothing about music theory, but i still got the hang of the chords in an afternoon, if you have an ear for music its easy.

put some time in.

an afternoon.