Xeno - Chord Explorer

Comments (36)

• saulbass · February 20 2014
  wow - looks interesting - thanks!
• sverga · February 20 2014
  Pure Genius. Thank you!
• Jimbabwae · February 20 2014
  Amazing.. thanks for sharing!
• AlphaSynessence · February 21 2014
  I'm eager to try a device that's designed by someone wishing to make short hand or chords that has a deep understanding of their structure, seems like fuzzy logic, but I'm seriously impressed by your commitment.
  Thanks for sharing.
• asylumsp · February 21 2014
  I spent a great deal of time with google really exploring chords before I started writing this. I'm hoping myself that in me using this, it pushes me to find other chords and stuff that I have never considered!
  And glad you all are having fun with it! I'm glad I could stop playing with it long enough to release it! :) Haha.
• denbuter · February 22 2014
  Cool!
• asb2m10 · February 22 2014
  Simple and interactive.... thanks for sharing!
• gogoolplex · February 23 2014
  this is great! thanks! Together with the cord splitter/receiver the possibilities are endless
• AlphaSynessence · February 23 2014
  Try an arpeggiator set a low speeds for some fascinating scales, sequences and glissandos.
• cosmosray · February 23 2014
  @asylumsp thanks for creating this! i just started using this last night. thank you also for the documentation on your website. i am using max 9.1.1 with push on osx 10.9.1. right now i am just trying major ionian mode with Q:Down and M: at diff settings. it seems that sometimes i have to strike the keys twice before it will output the chord. it lights up in the device but the sound doesn't output every time. any thoughts about what i may be doing wrong or is their some zombies in the pipes? thanks!
• asylumsp · February 23 2014
  @cosmosray, I am not in my studio at the moment but I will try your settings tomorrow night. I do have a push as well.
  I've not had any other feedback of that happening yet, but we'll see. I'll also try the versions you are running.
  My first inclination would be note on/note off problems. What happens when you use the keyboard on the computer keys, does that work properly?
• Budatron · February 23 2014
  This is a great, great device. That was needed long ago something like that. Thank you very much for sharing this great piece.
• zeep · February 25 2014
  This looks great. Though, would it be possible to 'compile' this for Live 8 Max version?
• whatupdoe · March 05 2014
  great device, am I right in thinking that the actual chords produced can not be saved?
• AlphaSynessence · March 07 2014
  All midi data from sequencers, arpeggiator's and the such can be re-captured in live with another midi channel set to record the output of the desired output channel.
• whatupdoe · March 09 2014
  that wasn't the question Alpha
• Rosko · March 16 2014
  You are just saving the random parameters, live does save the chord with a project.
  This is an excellent device, very well thought out. There is a strange bug with imposcar2 when using this device, when turning a nob on imposcar it interferes with the m4live device. Im not sure what is causing this or if it is just these two plugs that don't get on.
• asylumsp · March 19 2014
  The chord settings should save when you save your project. The preset system in the actual plugin is ONLY for the randomize settings. Given that live already has a preset system, I felt it was important to just use that.
  So basically, yes your chords are saved.
  I do not own Imposcar2, but I do own Imposcar1, I tried it and had no problem. Unfortunately I do not know anyone with Imposcar2 that I can try this on. When you rotate the knobs on imposcar2, what is happening with the M4L device? (And given how little of the M4L system I have to use in this plugin, this is certainly strange. Probably some sort of thread contention.)
  cosmosray, are you still having the problem? I use a Push and I cannot recreate the same problems on my system. Very very odd. That's the joy of M4L! :)
  As a note, I am working on an update with added features. Not sure when it will be done, but I've received a lot of feedback on it that I want to implement....and some new things that are just going to be REALLY fun.
• zeep · March 19 2014
  asylumsp, my question again, can this work in Live 8?
• traubensaftschorle · April 21 2014
  Really Awesome Dude, Thanks very very much :) This will do a lot for me :D
• sterno · April 28 2014
  Beautifully done. Thank you!
• adh82 · June 09 2014
  This is such a great device!!!
  i would love to see some kind of individual note timing randomisation/human feel aspect to this for really bringing this device alive.
  something with a wet/dry percentage of timing/quantisation?
  It would be super cool to to get a range from super tight (dance/house style) to super relaxed/sloppy (soul/jazz style) chord fingering....
  what do you think?
  cheers,
  Adrien.
• ozman · June 19 2014
  This is one of the best devices (if not the best) that I've come across.
  A serious composer has to take chord progressions seriously.
  This device makes Ableton that much closer to be a serious composing tool.
  All we need now are Chord Tracks (ala Cubase) :(
  This is awesome work, please continue to work with this one and update as need. I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one.
• ozman · August 19 2014
  Any chance that you can provide a vst version of this as well?
• BuleriaChk · December 12 2014
  This is certainly on the right track. One issue I come up against over and over: I am a Flamenco musician, which means that the Phrygian Mode "Final" (e.g., the E chord in the key of E Phrygian relative to A Harmonic Minor, and C Major) uses an E Major as its most important chord (not an E Minor This would also be true of the Bdim B,D,F, since adding an E and G# makes it a substitute).
  So when ever an E or a Bdim chord is voiced (in whatever inversion), the scale should change the G to a G# temporarily; otherwise a natural G so it can be used with C and G chords in the scale.
  So then could play the Andalusian Cadence: Am -> G -> F -> E(major), which could then act as a dominant to the next progression E -> Am.
  Thanks in advance; and yes, it should be a VST.
• BuleriaChk · December 12 2014
  PS - I stress - the Em chord is NEVER used for Flamenco in E Phrygian, ONLY E Major for the resolution F->E and as the dominant 7 to Am: E7->Am
  This allows one to switch between major and harmonic minor without sacrificing the flavor of each in the same key.
  (Transposed to all other keys, of course)
• BuleriaChk · December 12 2014
  Please let me know if you implement this..
• BuleriaChk · December 12 2014
  So whenever you hit a g# not in E Phrygian mode, you should also be mapped to an E Major Chord (or a Bdim)
• BuleriaChk · December 12 2014
  Whenever you strike a G# note in "E Phrygian Mode" - call it something else - "Flamenco is also taken, but that scale also sharps D, so you can't play Dm) maybe call it "Flamenco Basic"
• BuleriaChk · December 12 2014
  Sheesh. Whenever you strike a G# note in the "E Phyrgian Mode" scale (or "Flamenco Basic", the chord voiced should be an inversion of E MAJOR or Bdim (e.g., G#,D,F,), since adding an E would give E7-9, very commonly used in Flamenco w.r.t. E "Phrygian".
• hanztc · December 18 2014
  Dude, your work is purely genius. This is the reason i love ableton and all it's amazing community included here. Thanks for your hard work for this plugin. I'm trully helped.
  Cheers,
  Hanztc
• prodcrastination · February 17 2015
  Really nice thing, I currently use it with a homemade tool that allows to separate melodies from the playing pattern (like an arp, I'll upload it here soon), and also add a velocity randomizer after the chords to give them some more human feel.
  Only thing is that keys get stuck sometimes and I can't seem to flush them with the panic button.
  Further on, is it possible to map the randomizer button to something like a macro or midi device?
• bahadorQ · May 18 2016
  thanks a million, this is one of the greatest max devices i've used
• chistorra · October 25 2017
  this is amazing thanks!
• mrchatoyant · November 21 2019
  awesome device thank
• Ryandfv · October 04 2023
  Cool