Chord Symbol playback

• Mar 17, 2019 - 06:40

I was thinking that MuseScore could use some improvements related to chord symbols. One of these improvements is the playback of chord symbols. How do you guys feel about this? And if this were to be added, how should it be done? There could be notes generated on the score itself, or it could be done in the background just for playback. In both cases, how should the rhythms and voicings be? Any thoughts?


Comments

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello!
I want to congratulate you for the wonderful work and creation of this plugin.
Can he recognize and generate chords with five Ex notes. F7M (9) according to your example that I expanded? - Attached file...
Why do some chords have the bass doubling and others not?
Can I wish only the notes without folding the bass?
Friendly hug!!

Attachment Size
PLUGIN.mscz 6.24 KB

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Good morning, and thanks for your kind comments!

I don't know what you mean by "generate chords with five Ex notes". Can you explain?

The plugin does not understand chord symbols that contain "()". I hope to add that ability in the next few days. Try using chord symbols that don't have "()". Instead of "F7(9)", you can use "F9".

In the example file, the tonic note of each chord appears twice, once in the bass and then again one octave above. Is this what you mean by "bass doubling"?

I don't know what you mean by "folding the bass". Can you explain?

In reply to by markshepherd

Good night (in Brazil)!

Ok friend I will explain:
"generate chords with five Ex notes". You can explain?
Example answer: in the (last measure) score attached ...

In the example file, the root note of each chord appears twice, once on the bass and again an octave higher. Is that what you mean by "bass doubling"?
Answer: Exactly just that I don't want the bass, as well as avoiding it when using the plugin?

Be happy friend!!

Attachment Size
PLUGIN.mscz 7.33 KB

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Hi, thanks for your explanation and the example file. Now I understand!

The plugin gives you very little control over the exact notes it generates. There only 2 choices:
• "full chord" - all the notes in each chord
• "condensed chord" - contains only the 4 most important notes, plus a bass note, positioned near middle C
So, unfortunately, the plugin cannot generate the "five Ex note" chord you want. (Note: the next version of MuseScore (version 3.5) will have a feature called Realize Chord Symbols that gives you more control over the voicing of chords. Maybe this will meet your need.)

If you use the plugin's "rhythm pattern" feature, there is a way to include only the bass note, but there is no way to exclude it. I hope to soon have an improved version of the plugin that will give you this ability.

In reply to by markshepherd

FWIW, I interpreted the "Ex" as just being shorthand for "for example". So, the question was whether the algorithm could handle "chords with five (for example) notes". So if I understand correctly, your algorithm does handle it, either by playing the full chord (not really very musical) or condensing it to the some that resembles how a pianist or guitarist might actually play it.

Also, for the record, while 3.5 will have a "realize chord symbol" feature to explicitly convert chords into regular notes on the staff, it's not expected people would use that. Instead, most people will simply enable chord symbol playback once and the chords playback automatically from then on without needing to explicitly "realize" them. The "realize" command is more for cases where you might want to edit the voicings or rhythms.

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

I would expect an alpha release of 3.5 within the next few days.

Not quite sure what you mean about transposing chord symbols, that's already possible a number of different ways, corresponding to the different common use cases. Literally transposing chord symbols without transposing notes would not normally make musical sense so there is no one single command for it, but you can accomplish that already by transposing the entire passage then moving the notes back.

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello!
I'm glad for your effort and wisdom!
I downloaded the plugin and did everything you taught, however, this newest plugin does not appear in the "Extensions" Menu along with the others to be used.
Then I inserted the oldest in the plugin folder appeared in the list and it worked.
But this one that you sent now does not appear in the list with the other plugins ok.
My S.O. is Windows 10 and I have the most current version of Musescore.

Friendly hug!

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Hi, I'm sorry you are having problems. I work on a Macintosh, and have not tested on Windows or Linux, so you are my tester for windows!

After installing the plugin, did you try:
1. quit and re-launch MuseScore
2. do Plugins > Plugin Manager ... and make sure ExpandChordSymbols is checked

Here is what my plugins folder looks like. Is yours the same?
plugins folder.png

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Your screenshot shows that you placed the new "expandChordSymbols.qml" into your plugins folder. This will not work. Here is what you should do:
1. remove all copies of expandChordSymbols.qml from your plugins folder
2. download the ZIP file from https://musescore.org/en/project/expand-chord-symbols-notes
3. expand the zip file, to get a folder "ExpandChordSymbols"
4. place the ExpandChordSymbols folder into your plugins folder. It should look something like.
    Plugins
        ... other plugins ...
        ExpandChordSymbols
            expandChordSymbols.qml
            expandChordSymbols.js
            images

In reply to by markshepherd

I downloaded the plug-in and did everything you taught; however, this newer plug-in does not appear in the "Extensions" menu along with the others to be used.
The one you sent now does not appear on the list with the other ok plugins.
My OS is Windows 10 and I have the most current version of Musescore.
(Attached files).

Friendly hug!

Attachment Size
PLUGIN.pdf 423.6 KB

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello markshepherd

All right, I followed your guidelines now it worked perfect. The plugin read all the chords with parentheses, including a Gsus chord, very good !!
Attached file for you to enjoy.
Once again I congratulate you on your work, dedication and intelligence. Especially the affection and patience to help me.
If you create or know more interesting and important plugins, please ask me to let you know ok

See you soon friend!

Attachment Size
Plugim teste.mscz 7.17 KB

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello markshepherd!

I am contacting you with the desire to perfect and thank you for your immense idea and intelligence!
In an arrangement and I believe you know this song, the chords with Major Seventh are recognized as Major Seventh. Is it a characteristic of the cipher?
Another thing: including the Roman numbers, there is only one chord during the song
Attached files for your enjoyment.
Thank you friend!

Attachment Size
I will survive.mscz 24.03 KB
I will survive II.mscz 22.38 KB

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Hi MJB, thanks for your comments!

The plugin doesn't recognize chord symbols of the form "C7M". For a major seventh chord, you can use "CM7", "Cma7", "Ct7", "CΔ7", and various other forms.

Sinto muito, the plugin does not yet support roman numeral chord symbols. :(

When there are 2 chord symbols at the same place in the score, the plugin's result is undefined.

I hope this helps,
-- Mark S

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello markshepherd!
The plug-in is usually inserted in the plug-in folder and appears normally in that folder, but it does not appear in the list of the Musescore extension manager to be loaded, what could be happening?
This was not happening previously.

I loaded it into the plug-in creator and tried to run it from there, so it gave an error message why it doesn't run.
Attached file...
Much obliged!

Attachment Size
mensagem PLUGIN.pdf 259.13 KB

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Thanks for the PDF file. Yes, I understand your problem. Here is how to fix it. Please follow these instructions exactly...

  1. remove expandChordSymbols.qml and _expandChordSymbols.qml from your plugins folder
  2. download ExpandChordSymbolsZIP from https://musescore.org/en/project/expand-chord-symbols-notes
  3. expand the ZIP file. This will create a FOLDER "ExpandChordSymbols"
  4. place the ExpandChordSymbols FOLDER into your plugins folder.

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello markshepherd!
I carried out all your orientations but the problem remains that is, the plugin appears in the plugin folder where it is installed but it does not appear in the list of Musescore plugins ok.
I have two computers with Windows 10 and all two with the same problem.
Do you know if there would be anyone else with this same inconvenience?
I am immensely interested in this plugin, as this tool is exceptional for making educational material.
I hope I can fix it soon ...
Friendly hug!

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Nightly builds are the latest versions of MuseScore, not release yet but available for testing, which we very much like for people to help us do. You can get them by going to the Download / Software page (see link above in menu at top of this page) and scrolling down a ways. The 3.5 alpha is right there at the top. if you've never installed a nightly build before, you might find the 3.5 alpha easier. It's very stable, I use it every day and have for weeks.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Good afternoon Marc!
Sorry for my sincerity, but this plugin is more objective and practical than the added version 3.5.
The two have different objective functions, the plugin transforms figures into chords on the staff (which I need). Version 3.5 recognizes the cipher but mixes the cipher notes (chords on the staff) with the melody, leaving a confused musical understanding.
Hug!

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hello Marc!
I have tried to use the tool several times. It turns out that the cipher is interpreted but takes care of the melody. the melody disappears, leaving the chords on the staff and staff that I created or used, you know?
The plugin leaves or "left" the melody as it was and the chords on the staff appear in the team below.
Tool files for version 3.5 attachment ......

Attachment Size
Asa Branca.mscz 19.49 KB
Asa Branca depois da ferramenta.mscz 16.56 KB

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

If you want the chords on a different staff from the one that contains the chord symbols, it's just an extra five seconds of copy/paste. For example, starting with your first version:

1) select all chords symbols
2) realize chord symbols
3) select the measures on the top staff
4) copy
5) undo
6) click bottom staff
7) paste

Lots of other ways this could be done, best method depends on the specifics of your situation.

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

The goal of the built-in facility is to sound good, not to just give the raw literal meaning of the notes. For that a plugin might be preferable indeed. The notes you put in do not sound good at all, they are too low and muddy. But for teaching purposes as opposed to actual listening purposes I could understand why you might want that as it is indeed easy to read.

BTW, the reason some of the chords are not working as you expect is you have written them incorrectly. C7M is not a thing, it should be CM7.

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Sorry, I have little insight into the world of plugins or the details of this one in particular, but I know plenty about how to help people use the features of the program itself. In the end it doesn't matter to me if you or anyone else uses the plugin or the built-in facility, I just don't want to see people not trying the built-in feature and thus not providing us with the feedback we need, nor do I want to see people rejecting it because they could immediately how to use it to get the results they wanted.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Olá Marc!
Como você entendeu minha proposta didática em relação ao reconhecimento de acordes, fico muito feliz.
Como não tenho conhecimento em inglês, eu poderia realizar a sugestão incorretamente. Diante disso, você poderia realizar este procedimento? Tenho certeza que todos os usuários do MuseScore irão ficar contentes por este importante recurso.
Abraço!

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

Actually, I don't really understand why you'd want to do this. If it's just to produce a worksheet or two, a plugin should do the job well enough, but for any real world usage, the existing feature is already better. I'd need to know more about the unique situation in which you are trying to use these voicings in this way in order to understand how to make it function in a way that was useful for that purpose. Feel free to explain n more detail. It's OK to write in Portuguese, but please run it through Google Translate first.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Olá Marc!
O objetivo que imagino em relação a interpretação de acordes, para fins didáticos e de entendimento, a ferramenta poderia possuir uma opção de ler as cifras conforme a segunda equipe que enviei em anexo no contato anterior e envio novamente. Os acordes ficassem em posição fechada e com uma opção de mudança do baixo quando necessário. O plugin que realizava este procedimento parou de funcionar inesperadamente, ele aparece na pasta de instalação Plugins mas não aparece na relação de plugins dentro do Musescore. Já comuniquei ao desenvolvedor mas até o momento ele não retornou... Alguma ideia ou sugestão sobre isso?
Abraço!

Attachment Size
Amazing_Grace 1_Jazz.mscz 14.57 KB

In reply to by mjbartemusica1

What I don't understand is that the plugin didn't generate simplistic voicings like this either = it used inversions as appropriate according to my understanding. So I'm not really understanding the different you are perceiving here, except for the extra bass note.

Also, again, please run your requests through Google Translate before posting to the English forum. We don't mind providing assistance here, but we ask that people do us that courtesy.

In reply to by markshepherd

Hello markshepherd!
I carried out all the guidelines and teachings you provided me, but the problem remains. That is, the plugin appears in the "plugin" installation folder but no MuseScore "Extensions" appears.
Is there any hope of correction so that I can work with this plugin on my Windows 10?
Thank you!

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