A4 - 4 Note Chords from 1 Track

I’ve spent some time today figuring out how to arrange OSC 1 and OSC 2 with their ‘5th Sub’ to give 4 note chords that are in key.

The ‘5th Sub’ gives you a note a 5th down, meaning if you hit a C note on the keyboard, it’ll give the C and an F below… which is the foundation of an F chord, not a C chord.

So, the way around this is to tune your OSC to +7… this makes the 5th Sub sound a C and your OSC sound a G.
C - G = root and fifth. Wherever you play this on the keyboard now, you’ll have the right root note playing.

Once you have this set up, you can turn to OSC 2 and use this to create chords.

If you want simple 3 note chords, you can keep the Sub off and tune the OSC to the usual settings for intervals;
+3 for a minor chord
+4 maj chord
+5 sus chord
Etc…

Where it gets more interesting though, is using the OSC 2’s 5th Sub too to create 4 note minor 7th’s, major 7th and other altered chords.

I thought I’d share my notes for anyone who wants to experiment.

OSC 1 stays the same in all examples, just OSC 2 changes. And remember, once you have this setup in C, you can use it in any key and know that it’s right.

OSC 1

  • Tune +7 = G (5th)
  • 5th Sub = C (root)

OSC 2. Min 7 chord

  • Tune +10 = Bb (min 7th)
  • 5th Sub = Eb (min 3rd)

OSC 2. Maj 7 chord

  • Tune +11 = B (maj 7th)
  • 5th Sub = E (maj 3rd)

OSC 2. Sus4 or 11th

  • Tune +12 = C (root)
  • 5th Sub = F (sus4 ( or 11th))

OSC 2. 6/9 (no 3rd).

  • Tune +21 = A (maj 6th (or 13th))
  • 5th Sub = D (maj 9th)

Once you have this, it’s easy to use Trig-locks to create chord progressions as simple or as complex as you want.

Another really cool trick;
If you set up for a Minor 7th chord you can use a Perf macros knob on OSC 2 pitch/tune. If you set it to a value of 2, it gives you 3 easy chord positions on the Quick Perf knob.
Fully left- Minor 7th
Center- Major 7th
Fully right- Sus 4

This makes C major to E minor moves, for example, really easy to do.

Anyway, enough music theory nerding from me, hopefully some of you will find this helpful/interesting. :v:

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Your calculations are very handy. I don’t know if you saw this but this is from the manual :

To get a C minor chord (C, Eb, G), set the oscillator TUN parameter to +7 semitones (for the G), set the sub oscillator to 5TH (for the C), and set the other oscillator to +3 semi- tones (for the minor third, Eb). To get a C major chord, set the other oscillator to +4 in- stead (for the major third, E). Suspended chords are created by setting TUN of the other oscillator to +5 (the perfect fourth, F) for a Csus4 chord, or to +2 (the major second, D) for a Csus2 chord. Moreover, four-note chords like the major 7th chord (maj7) and minor 7th chord (m7) are possible by using both oscillators’ sub oscillators in 5TH modes, as these chords consist of two perfect fifths. With oscillator coarse tune settings of +7 and +11 semitones (G and B, respectively) the sub oscillators will be placed at C and E notes, forming a C major 7th (Cmaj7) chord. Tuning the oscillators to +7 and +10 semitones instead (G and Bb) the sub oscillators end up at C and Eb, forming a C minor 7th (Cm7) chord. The desired chord can be heard when the keyboard or the sequencer plays a C note. When playing other notes, the chord will transpose accordingly, enabling simple chord progressions. Transitions between the minor and major variants can be done on step basis in the sequencer by parameter locking the TUN parameter of the other oscil- lator to +3 or +4 where desired.

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An additional trick is to use the second filter resonance to add another note. You can get some rich chords out of one single line, this way!

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I was doing this earlier, with the tracking and tuning in extra notes to play with.

It would be fantastic if we could have a volume control for the sub levels… and to be able to change their shapes would be too much to ask for, I know.

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Yep, pretty much what I’ve been doing without having read the manual. :hugs:

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Many thanks for the nice and useful summary. Bookmarked!
That section in the manual, although containing similar information, is hardly educational without someone taking care of proper text formatting. :wink:

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I dunno, I think @Tchu did a pretty good formatting job there, for a Saturday. :sunglasses:

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Good stuff! I often times prefer how chords sound through one filter instead of true polyphony. It’s more moody somehow.

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Bookmarked too. All the honour goes to @CCMP. He did a much more comprehensive formatting without any help from the manual. For a guy like me who doesn’t have a background in music theory, it’s very helpful.

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Beautiful
Book

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Separate tuning for the sub osc too - would give us 6-note chords per track :ok_hand:

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