Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio?

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zoffmeister
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2010/11/05 11:47:43 (permalink)

Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio?

Hi Folks
 
Can anybody recommend any great chord analyser software? I need something that can analyse a piece of audio and pick out all the notes of a complex piano chord.
 
I would normally pride myself on this being one of the easiest and straightforward parts of my job. I normally have no problem with this sort of thing. However I need to reproduce a piano instrumental part from a song. It has some really fast playing and the solo notes are no problem. However the pianist bangs out some very quick and complex chords and I just cannot hear all the notes no matter how hard I listen. I think we are talking about 5 note chords here. Each chord is a very quick stab. I am even looping one chord at a time. You can imagine how fascinating it is to listen to a continual loop of a quarter of a second of music. I think I have three of the notes but I can't seem to get any further than that.
 
In fact if there is someone out there with super ears who could have a listen and tell what those chords are that would be amazing. The song in question is by Brad Paisley. It's called "It Never Would've Worked Out Anyway" and it's from his debut album "Who Needs Pictures". The part in question is the piano solo in the middle of the song. It is fair to say that country music doesn't normally get this complex. These jazzy chords don't turn up that often in this kind of music.
 
I am more than happy with my ability to recreate the sound, as the True Pianos module that comes with Sonar sounds great for this type of sound. However the sound won't be right if I'm missing key ingredients to what make these chords sound so great.
 
I did a google for chord analyser software, but have no confidence in the results I see which look a little Mickey Mouse from their descriptions. If you know of a tool that can handle this task no problem I will be forever grateful.

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10 Replies Related Threads

    spacey
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/05 14:55:56 (permalink)
    This makes claim to being able to.

    I haven't heard the tune but if I do I'll try to find out.
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    brundlefly
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/05 17:12:08 (permalink)
    In fact if there is someone out there with super ears who could have a listen and tell what those chords are that would be amazing.

     
    Hmmm, yeah; that's a toughie. I captured a snippet from a Youtube video, and worked on it a little (just the chord stabs). I'm getting close. PM me an e-mail address, and I'll send you a MIDI clip when I get it polished up a little more.
    #3
    zoffmeister
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/05 18:43:12 (permalink)
    Hi Brundlefly

    Glad you feel up to the challenge. I have PM'ed you. Massive appreciation for your time on this one.

    Hi Spacey.
    I have had a good look at the Melodyne site and it certainly looks like DNA will be capable of this task, which the 30 day trial would be plenty of time for. The only problem I feel looking at it is that once I've played around with it for a while I would then feel compelled to spend the £300+ to have it. It looks incredible. Emmmm?

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    brundlefly
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/05 22:44:54 (permalink)
    Ouch. My head hurts from all the manual MIDI sequencing to flesh out the solo (just for fun). I really don't know how people work this way. Recording real-time from a keyboard is so much easier, but this thing was just too dang fast for me other than those chord stabs by themselves.
     
    You have e-mail with MIDI attached. I'm posting here just so anyone watching knows I followed through... for what it's worth.
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    PerChr
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/06 08:50:38 (permalink)
    Hi
    Maybe you should check out Transcribe! by Seventh String
    A very useful tool to learn/transcribe music, and it's only $50.

    From their description ; Transcribe! will perform "note guessing" and "chord guessing" - that is, it will attempt to interpret the spectrum information for you, marking the notes being played on the piano keyboard, and attempting to name the chords (in standard form such as "Am", "E7#9", etc).

    http://www.seventhstring....cribe/screenshots.html

    Among the happy users are Dweezil Zappa (he uses it to learn Frank's music)  and Pat Metheny...

    I have downloaded the demo, and like it a lot- will be buying it soon.

    Per
    #6
    zoffmeister
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/06 09:34:44 (permalink)
    Wow thanks Brundlefly. Haven't heard it yet as I'm out and about, but very looking forward to.
     
    Hi PerChr. Will certainly check out this software also.
    Z

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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/06 10:03:45 (permalink)
    Melodyne editor is poly and it does a pretty good job at picking out the notes in a chord.... I have not used it in that manner but I did run it on some piano chords just to see ( some time back on the initial release of editor) .

    Today's country music ain't your momma's country music. It has really developed and has become quite complex in many areas, from the chords and rhythms used to the songwriting itself.

    edit:
    Just listened to it on You tube... pretty hot. Yeah those are jazz chord inversions. Brad is one hot guitar player and a damn good writer. The players in his band are very talented. Among the best of the best.  They sure ain't the kind of players that most people picture when they think of country music.....backwoods hicks that know all 3 chords..... C, F and G.

    If I knew how to capture that music solo I would, and process it through the Editor just to see.... but I don't know how to grab it from teh video, and I don't have the time this weekend... I will have some time sunday night so if you can get it or have it... email it to me and I'll be more than happy to process it for you...screen shot it and email the screenshot back so you can see the notes.   PM me if this is workable for you.
    post edited by Guitarhacker - 2010/11/06 10:12:55

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    brundlefly
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/06 10:38:12 (permalink)
    Zoffmeister, expanding on the comments in my e-mail, I just had a listen on headphones with fresh ears, and I think one reason the chords sound so big is that the piano is doubled and panned, probably with two live takes, played slightly differently, and maybe even voiced a little differently (though it could all have be done in the mix). It really sounds like two pianists both grabbing slightly different handfuls of notes.
     
    I think what I've done so far captures the heart of it, but I might take a shot at seeing what I can hear with the channels separated to mono tracks.
     
    Herb, I can send you the clip. PM me your e-mail.
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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/06 20:42:41 (permalink)
    I ran this through melodyne editor...and the results were not as difinative as I would have liked. It obviously is missing some of the audio material...

    I should be able to see all the notes being played at the same instant...and that is not showing.

    What I did get from the first chord is c# and d# together...that's all ME showed.... It did pick out the bass notes pretty accurately, but the piano notes were sparce on the screen.

    the chord sounded like F A C# D#  with the second chord right behind it dropping the D# ..that's the first 2 out of 10 or 11 chords in the solo, from my best guess, and I'm not a keyboard player so it's just a best guess....


    sorry

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    brundlefly
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    Re:Anyone know a great chord analyser for audio? 2010/11/07 01:33:44 (permalink)
    Glad to hear software has not yet rendered me obsolete.
     
    I transcribed the first chord as B4, Eb5, Bb5, Eb6, G6, Bb6, The second drops the top four notes a whole step. I haven't even tried to analyze what chords any of them are.
     
    Zoffmeister, I realized on listening again this morning, that I totally overlooked the chord that starts with the final run, and sustains underneath it. Not sure when I'll have time to work it again. Maybe tomorrow night.
     
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