Korg PA Tutorial: "Style to Keyboard Set” and how to use it

Cubase: Using Chorder For Lo-Fi Chord Voicings

 By John Walden

Chorder lets you play full chords with a single trigger note and, via the Record button on the MIDI insert slot, you can choose to record either just the trigger notes or the full chords.

Want lo‑fi style chord progressions? You need look no further than Cubase’s Chorder MIDI plug‑in.

There are various ways in which the lo‑fi genre embraces simplicity, but it also tends to favour more sophisticated, jazz‑influenced chord voicings. A quick web search will cough up a multitude of lo‑fi style chord sequences that you could use as an inspiration for your own musical experiments, but if the piano keyboard isn’t your main instrument, all these seventh, ninth, 11th... and beyond chords might be a bit of a stretch (sometimes literally!). Fortunately, though, Cubase can help you create progressions using these harmonically rich chords, even if your piano‑playing skills are extremely limited.

Trigger Finger

In fact, Cubase offers a number of options for triggering complete chords from single MIDI notes. The Chord Pad system, the Trigger Pads in HALion Sonic 7 and the Chorder plug‑in are all prime candidates. Each has its pros and cons, but in this workshop we’ll be exploring Chorder. The MIDI plug‑in is conceptually simple and it’s very easy to use too. You simply place it into one of the MIDI insert slots of the desired MIDI or instrument track, configure the required chords (a one‑time task for a particular chord set, which can then be saved as a preset) and get playing. Do note, though, that once Chorder is in place its MIDI insert slot acquires a ‘record’ button; more on that below.

Chorder offers three options for arranging chords across potential MIDI trigger notes. Lo‑fi progressions are generally built from just a few chords, with additional interest added via different voicings or different inversions of the underlying core chords, so the One Octave mode, in which you can configure a single‑octave range as chord triggers, makes a sensible starting point. I’ve also set the Playstyle control to ‘simultaneous’, meaning that all the notes in the chord are triggered simultaneously, but this control also allows you to randomise the playback timing in different ways.

Chord Creator

To keep our example simple, let’s focus on creating a chord set based around a single key, C major. The standard triad chords would be C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and (everyone’s favourite!) Bdim. Using the One Octave setting, we can activate the Learn button for each trigger note in turn (the note gets highlighted in dark red), and then click in the upper part of the display to select which notes we want to trigger. The result of this is shown for the D trigger note in the first screenshot: the D, F and A notes have been selected to form a Dm triad.

Note that, in this first example, the Number Of Layers slider is fully left, so that only a single layer of chords (one chord for each trigger note) can be created. However, if we now move the Number Of Layers slider right, Chorder automatically adds chord layers above our first layer; these can be populated with additional chords. I’ll describe how we can trigger these various layers in a moment, but for our lo‑fi ambitions, layers for seventh (Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bdim7) and the equivalent ninth chords are good candidates. An example is shown in the second screenshot where, for the C note, the three layers contain C (three notes), Cmaj7 (four notes) and Cmaj9 (five notes).

You can go much further than this harmonically, though. If your knowledge of the notes required for more exotic chords is limited, there are some really helpful web resources. For example, the websites pianochord.org and songtive.com provide comprehensive guides on chord voicings, all laid out with piano keyboard‑style graphics.

Chorder lets you add up to eight layers of chords to each trigger note, with layer selection using either Interval or Velocity modes.

One Digit Or Two?

Chorder’s Layers setting offers three different options for triggering your newly configured chords: Single, Velocity and Interval. Whichever mode you use to trigger your chords, it’s worth noting that when recording your performance you can choose to record either the trigger notes or the full chords; the latter is achieved by engaging the record button on Chorder’s MIDI insert slot that I mentioned earlier. Once you have the full chords recorded in a performance you are happy with (bar any minor editing), you can simply disable Chorder during subsequent playback.

The Single mode applies only if you’re happy to limit yourself to defining a single layer of chords. If you’ve defined more than one chord layer, Velocity mode allows you use the MIDI velocity of your trigger note to control which layer is played. The Velocity Spread slider provides some adjustment of the velocity range associated with each chord layer. This all works in a very straightforward fashion but, as triggering the higher layers means using greater MIDI velocities, it’s perhaps not ideal if the specific virtual instrument sound you are using also delivers notable velocity‑sensitive timbral changes. That said, as noted above, once you’ve recorded a MIDI clip with the full chords, you can easily adjust the note velocity data as required.

Interval mode is an interesting alternative to Velocity mode, although, for triggering, it does require two fingers rather than just one. The lower note determines the base note of the chord, while the higher note determines which chord layer is used, based on the interval between the two trigger notes. In our example, if we played the C note trigger and the D# key above it as the second note (three semitones above the lower note), we would trigger Cmaj9 (that is, the chord associated with layer 3 on the C note trigger). This method does require a little practice (the process is somewhat quirky) but, again, you can always record the full chord performance and tidy up any issues with a little editing.

Inversion Therapy

As suggested by the earlier screenshots, at this stage I’ve simply created each of my chords by starting with the root note and then including the additional notes in sequence above this. Harmonically, these are correct, but in practice, when they’re played within a sequence, chords voiced in this very ‘linear’ fashion might not always provide the most musical of results (in the same way that simply playing the same chord shape up and down a guitar neck isn’t always the most musically interesting way to execute a chord sequence).

Chorder lets you explore alternative voicings or inversions of chords but, however complex the chord, it can be easily played via one (or two) trigger notes.

It’s at this point that you can start to get creative with the voicings used for each chord by rearranging how the notes are laid out across the piano keyboard. The final screenshot shows a Chorder example for a three‑layer version of a Cmaj9 chord. The first layer contains the five notes (C, E, G, B and D) arranged in ascending order, as before. In contrast, the two other layers take exactly the same combination of notes, but rearrange them to voice the chord differently. In layer 2, that’s simply been achieved by moving the lowest two notes (C and E) an octave higher, creating a second inversion of the chord with G now as the lowest note. In layer 3, the same notes have been spread out across a wider range of the keyboard to create a more ‘open’ voicing (and one that would clearly require two hands to play), an approach that’s often used when voicing chords across an orchestral string section, for example. All three versions contain the same notes, but when played, and particularly when played within a sequence, the musical effect can be very different.

Any chord with four or five notes provides plenty of scope for these sorts of voicing variations...

Lo‑fi Lowdown

Any chord with four or five notes provides plenty of scope for these sorts of voicing variations, and for lo‑fi style chord progressions this can often be where the magic happens. The simple audio examples available on the SOS website (https://sosm.ag/cubase-0723) that accompany this workshop include an illustration of the kinds of things that are possible. However, with Chorder’s ability to ‘build’ these chords for easy triggering, and the option to use layers for alternative chord voicings, you have a means to experiment with these sorts of chord sequences regardless of your piano skills, and the option to record your performance in a simple (and easily editable) format.

With your cool chord sequence in the bag, you can move on to some of the other elements that characterise the lo‑fi vibe. For example, Steinberg’s free Lo‑Fi Piano instrument for HALion Sonic 7, which I’ve used for the audio examples, is an excellent sound source. However, Cubase can also help when it comes to the styles of audio processing required to make your sounds suitably retro. That would make a good subject for a future column, but until then, why not compile a few chords into Chorder and let your jazz muse out, lo‑fi style?

Published July 2023

Tutorial: Migrating Korg Legacy Collection Licenses to the new Korg Collection

Cubase: Beat Designer

By John Walden

Beat Designer: drum machine‑style pattern creation with a simple workflow.

Create drum machine‑style grooves in a flash with Cubase’s Beat Designer.

Classic drum machines such as the LinnDrum or those in Roland’s TR range helped to shape a whole smörgåsbord of electronic and dance music styles, but their influence didn’t only live in the distinctive sounds they offered: the grooves of their drum patterns were also a hugely significant factor. The feel of these grooves came from the grid‑based pattern creation process that lay at the heart of these machines — and with Cubase’s Beat Designer MIDI plug‑in you can emulate that workflow. What’s more, with a few key tricks under your belt, patterns can be created really quickly. So, without further ado, let’s explore Beat Designer’s, um... beat designing options!

Basics: Sounds & Beats

You can configure Beat Designer’s lane layout to suit your needs.Beat Designer is placed as a MIDI insert plug‑in on whatever instrument track you wish to use. You’ll need to load a suitable drum instrument, of course, and the bundled Groove Agent SE or a sliced drum loop within a Cubase Sampler Track both make good candidates. Beat Designer does include some good beat presets and, as I’ll discuss below, a single instance can host up to 48 different patterns (four sub‑banks of 12 patterns each). It’s easy to switch between patterns too, and if you set a cycle region and let Cubase loop playback, you can audition your pattern creations as you work. Initially, though, Beat Designer opens ready for you to start creating from scratch, without any pattern pre‑loaded.

The central part of Beat Designer’s GUI is occupied by the pattern grid. Arranged vertically on the left side is the list of eight individual drum lanes and you can add/subtract lanes as required via the small ‘+’ and ‘‑’ buttons on the far right of each lane. If the default drum selections don’t suit, you can use the drop‑down menu in each lane to pick the drum sound target from your drum instrument. You can also use the small speaker icon to audition each selected sound; it’s simple and easy to configure.

You can add hits by either clicking on a single lane/step, or clicking and dragging to add multiple hits (for example, on the hi‑hat lane). Where you click vertically within a step provides initial control over that step’s velocity (high velocities at the top, low at the bottom). Hits are colour‑coded based on velocity. Clicking and dragging up/down on a step lets you adjust velocity or, if you hold Shift while clicking/dragging, change the relative velocity up/down (until a step reaches min/max velocity values) for all active steps in a lane. You can also change the velocity on selected multiple steps by clicking/dragging vertically on one step, and then dragging sideways across other active steps before then moving up/down to set the velocity. Equally, you can add volume ramps up/down by repeating this same mouse movement while holding the Alt/Opt key. And, of course, clicking on an already active step deactivates it.

If you don’t want to roll you own, Beat Designer includes a good selection of pattern presets to explore and adapt.This whole process is really simple and obviously makes for very speedy rhythm creation, but there are further useful shortcuts on offer too. For example, holding Shift, clicking on a step within a lane and then dragging left/right allows you to move all the steps within a lane. You can also copy one lane to another by holding Alt/Opt and clicking within the lane label area, then dragging to the lane where you wish to place the copy. And, for some further interesting rhythmic experiments, hold Alt/Opt and drag left/right over a lane: this inverts all the steps (so active steps become inactive and vice versa).

Step, Swing, Flam & Offset

The number of steps and the step resolution can be set on a per‑pattern basis. Both settings are located top left of the GUI, and there’s some fun to be had here, particularly if you create a pattern using a tried and trusted 16 steps/16th‑note step‑length format and then change the number of steps or pick a triplet step‑length format. Equally, if you use two separate drum instruments, each with its own instance of Beat Designer but set to different step counts or step lengths, you can be rewarded with some very cool — and sometimes wonderfully odd! — rhythmic interaction.

Beat Designer can also apply swing on a per‑lane level to every second beat in a pattern, or every third beat if using triplet steps (so bear in mind that the number of steps you use influences how swing impacts). For each pattern, you can configure two levels of swing, using the sliders with the diagonal icons that are found at the bottom right. For each lane, swing can be set to off or to one of the two swing amounts, using the appropriate diagonal icon at the right end of each lane. This can be a great way to add a nice groove to your hi‑hats, for example, but more extreme swing settings on your hats, kick and snare also let you experiment with the more ‘uncomfortable’ rhythms used in some types of hip‑hop or lo‑fi music.

You can add one‑, two‑ or three‑note flams to any active hit — their timing and level are configured using the group of sliders located bottom left and set at the pattern level. If you hover the mouse over the bottom of any active step, a three‑dot icon will appear and you can click this to add one, two or three flams to that step.

The horizontal sliders found to the right of each lane (next to the on/off buttons for swing) apply a timing offset for that lane, allowing you to push/pull the timing of the active hits relative to the main grid. This serves two main functions. First, you can use it in a corrective fashion; for example if the lane is triggering a sample that contains a short rise to its peak level you might want each hit earlier in time for that sound. Second, you can use it more creatively to create a rushed (ahead of the beat) or laid‑back (behind the beat) feel to elements of your groove. Or if Dilla‑style hip‑hop beats are your thing, you can use it to explore just how ‘off but not off’ you can take your rhythms. As with the swing settings, offset settings are configured at the pattern level.

Pattern Performer

As mentioned above, a single instance of Beat Designer can hold up to 48 different patterns. These are managed using the four sub‑bank and 12 pattern buttons, found at the bottom centre of the GUI. Slots that contain a pattern are indicated with a small circle icon, and clicking on a specific sub‑bank/pattern button combination makes that pattern active for editing/playback. Dropping down the Pattern Functions menu (found at the top right) provides menu options for copying, pasting and clearing patterns. This makes it easy to create variations: just duplicate a pattern and then customise the copy.

There are a number of ways to copy the contents of a pattern, or all the patterns within one of the four sub‑banks, onto a Cubase MIDI or instrument track.

The Pattern Functions menu allows you to perform various operations in Beat Designer or export the MIDI patterns to your DAW tracks.This menu offers a couple of other useful functions. First, the top three entries let you shift an entire pattern left/right one step at a time or to reverse the whole pattern. Second, courtesy of the options at the base of the menu, there are a number of ways to copy the contents of a pattern, or all the patterns within one of the four sub‑banks, onto a Cubase MIDI or instrument track, and once there you can further edit the MIDI using the Cubase’s standard MIDI or drum editors. A particularly useful option is the Fill Loop With Pattern command: this inserts the current pattern as many times as required to fill the region between your left and right locators, and it’s a super‑quick way to get your initial Beat Designer drum groove up and running so that you can work on other elements of the track. (Once you’ve copied your pattern data to a MIDI track, remember to bypass Beat Designer, so as to avoid any double triggering of notes!)

If you prefer to create a performance by triggering pattern changes on the fly, enabling the Jump button (top right of the GUI) lets you use the four‑octave key range from C1 to switch between any of the 48 pattern slots. Once Jump is enabled, the GUI adds a Now button that allows you to toggle between instant pattern switching or switching at the start of the next bar, and you can record the trigger notes to capture your performance (and, if you wish, edit them after recording).

Get Creative

You can create all sorts of beats using the various tools I’ve outlined above (inverting lanes, different step lengths, shifting lanes left/right, etc) but the real beauty of Beat Designer is its speedy workflow — if classic drum machine beats are what your project needs, then it is well worth taking the time to explore it. Meanwhile, just to give you an idea of the sort of pattern variations you can generate really quickly, I’ve included some audio examples on the SOS website: https://sosm.ag/cubase-0823 

Published August 2023