Awesome MIDI Tool - CHORDGUN script for REAPER - Tutorial

[@marcussVRLinux]

The keyboard shortcut to make it stop playing the chord is: 0 :)

[@jbognap]

I'm impressed by how many musical MIDI scripts like this have been written to help with composition ideas. Hopefully, at some point, there will be a Studio One type chord track type function scripted or implemented in REAPER to manipulate both MIDI and audio. The one suggestion I have for this script is for some sort of text object to be inserted for each chord entry which indicates which degree of the scale was used, so that when adding chords on subsequent tracks, it would be easier to remember what you inserted on the first track ;-) EDIT: Perhaps there could be an option on the CHORDGUN panel for said text objects, so that it can be turned off after chords are added after the first track.

[@BrentRoos]

Used this and it is badass! One of the best scripts for the Reaper midi editor yet! Absolutely fantastic and is as good or better than some similar paid software I have bought. Highly, highly usable! Thanks for taking the time to add the review and tutorial. This is something that ought to be part of Reaper by default. I would love to see someone develop the ability to have a global chord track, similar to Studio One and Waveform. That would be the ultimate!

[@Torulv]

Can you get it in other daws?

[@takemymonkeyoff]

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Your blog really expands Reaper expirience.

[@midiland09]

Thank you for showing so useful a plugin to create songs in Reaper. Rich, complete, and working very well!

[@POSoundDesign]

Wow! I’m just starting to get into sound design and reaper. I have to say reaper just seems endlessly creative.

[@Schemilix]

Thanks - this'll be useful for learning theory. Always much easier to noodle around... I can construct these myself using the notation editor but this audition function makes it much easier to do so.

[@midiman5045]

Totaly awesome. Thanks Jon I hope all is well with you and the family.

[@nick3795]

Thanks and it does make sense. I have very little knowledge of music theory or keyboard skills, this opens up musical creativity considerably.

[@rhythmjones]

You should probably do harmonic minor when sussing out harmonic structure.

[@BellsCuriosityShop]

There was me trying to find sites with midi files of all chords and this was available ALL THE TIME! I'm about to see if I have Reapack as we speak. Previously I've been "painting" chords in "Pianoroll" or playing the root on my guitar and letting Reaper change it to midi via "ReaTune" and then turn that to chord via "MIDI chord in key".

[@leneglakay]

broooo the way you just can flip a note to a chord in the midi sequencer AT THE SAME DDDAMN TIME.... is craaazy lol

[@cristinahawke]

Shit, I can't believe I've had this the whole time. I've been waiting for Instachord to go on sale, but I think this might do everything I need! Thanks man!

[@deltavistastudio124]

Very handy for ideas! Thanks again Jon!

[@recordednowhere]

i also have scaler, but isnt it lovely what people do with those scripts. will try this out. thanks!

[@DavidSJ_DAP]

It's kind of a built-in EZKeys...damned cool...

[@mazy-beats]

Thank you! Great help for me. This was exactly what I needed to know.

[@lonnyhandwork422]

This is a great tool - I just wish that basic harmony was available. If there were no 7th chords at all I'd understand - then one could say it was just a simple "pop music" tool (in quotes because lots of pop uses more advanced harmonies too). For the harmonization of a major scale, you need a vii chord (i.e. m7(b5)), and the Harmonic/Melodic minor scales aren't even close beyond triads. In fairness, there are commercial tools out there that get this wrong as well so...

[@mcmike100]

A quick note: I haven't tried Chordgun yet. An inversion in music practice does not take the lowest note and flip it to the top, or reverse the order. An inversion changes which note of the chord is the lowest, or typically the bass note. So, if a G7 chord (G, B, D,F) is in first inversion, B is the lowest note. In second inversion, D would be the lowest note of the chord.

[@gim190]

Great info as always. Thanks Jon!

[@abrotherinchrist]

If I knew about this sooner I might not have bought Scaler and EZKeys, although those tools do bring some nice extras.

[@trestristes1]

Which extras?

[@TopSecretNick]

Thank you for this. Which toolbar buttons did you have in your arrange and piano roll views at the time of making that video? They look really useful.

[@rhythmjones]

0 stops all notes, according to Kenny. Haven't tried this script yet, but that was in his vid.

[@OrchestralMusicMidJourneyArt]

Cool!! I think I will stick with scaler, but this is great thing for being free.

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

Wow that's fantastic I can use this

[@vegardyrnes1793]

Hey. How about adding the arpeggiator before (or after??) the chord gun, on a track?? Could be fun :-D

[@carlosjazzpick]

Very useful and nice alternative for commercial chorders apps out there! is it possible to insert a track or item showing the name of entered chords, maybe as CC midi TXT or something like that? or exist some devoted script for the purpose ?

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

Fantastic video

[@TimesaverVFX]

Big Thanks!)

[@viridianloom]

I played with this a month or so ago, but now when I open chordgun I'm not getting any sound from it. Any idea why? :/ I do have my track audio on, I'm hitting notes on my keyboard and hearing sounds from my midi controller but not nothing happens when I click the chord buttons in Chordgun :(

[@viridianloom]

Figured it out. Overrsight on my part. In order for it to work you need to have your midi output set to All Channels for your Virtual Midi keyboard. So, to my knowledge, you can't use it in conjunction with an external midi controller. You'd have to switch back and forth. If I'm wrong or there's more to expand on, let me know.

[@Table-Top]

Thanks , another good video! I own Scaler so its pretty similar. Do you know of a Reaper script that will export MIDI notes (especially an Arp) into a number file? e.g. Lets say out first note is C then E then F. It would export 0, 4, 5

[@TheREAPERBlog]

I don't think I've seen anything like that

[@ignacios.7039]

When auditioning your chords hit the 0 key on the keyboard that will mute the sound

[@RonniSantmyer]

when I have midi editor open and press keys on keyboard for chords I can hear it but doesn't input that chord in the editor like in the video..ugh

[@TheREAPERBlog]

There was an update recently

[@benjohnson1938]

Hold shift to insert

[@musicmant6]

Focus has to be on chord gun or it won't insert.

[@FrequencyAlchemy]

This is very cool indeed! Unfortunately I’m not getting any sound when I use it. I’m seeing levels but no sound. I’m still a newbie with Reaper so I may not have something set correctly? Everything else is coming through without issue (drums, guitar, etc.)

[@FrequencyAlchemy]

Please,disregard my comment ... I figured it out. Actually kind of embarrassing 😩

[@nikitaryzhenkov6490]

@@FrequencyAlchemy How did you figure it out? What was the solution?

[@auroranamex5886]

Man, I was dying constantly loosing this script's GUI after clicking the piano roll. Is there any workaround?

[@bloozerd]

Jon...how are you setting up the midi editor/reaper to automatically record with a keystroke...?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

inserting the notes is part of the script

[@DopamineOverload]

Awesome script. With the bass track, the preset is monophonic so that's why Chordgun isn't sounding or inserting the chord, right?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

With the bass I was playing single notes on Qwerty letter keys. For the others I was playing on the qwerty number keys for chords.

[@DopamineOverload]

@@TheREAPERBlog Gotcha, Jon. Thanks. I was just a little confused at that part. :)

[@Not-Only-Reaper-Tutorials]

the note off is the key 0

[@maplefoxx6285]

what is really weird is you have to hold shift to insert by pressing 1 to 7 right, number 6 will not insert no matter what i tried, i wonder how you fix that.

[@lordgraga]

Question: Is there a smart way to create a virtual instrument with Chordgun on it that you can select as an input device? I've been looking for an answer with a guy on the Reddit Reaper forum but we're kind of stuck. It would be nice to have a "global input FX" for a specific instrument... is there a way that doesn't involve routing tracks between each other with "complex" recording settings. Being able to take a "MIDI Keyboard" and pipe it into a virtual "MIDI Keyboard with Chordgun" instrument which can then be piped to whatever is needed as a regular input device would be awesome.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

A lot of the setup could be done by loading a track template. sws resources will allow you to load it with a shortcut. you only need 1 chordgun per project

[@D3FA1T1]

0 is the shortcut to make all notes stop

[@sidmazzei]

Man, you should be canonized

[@francismcfadden3305]

Can you use midi to trigger the chords? Would be useful for using with a midi drum machine

[@theoryofmine7473]

Isn't F3 the midi panic button?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

depends on each person's keymap. F3 is cycling ripple edit modes on mine. Just wanted to point out the action is included.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Oh just found it by searching the script code, 0 is stop all notes when ChordGun is focused

[@JonesCo.]

0 stops the note from playing

[@enriquechagoya9044]

I having trouble when I press any number key it doesn't insert the chords does anybody knows how to fix this?

[@benjohnson1938]

Hold shift

[@enriquechagoya9044]

Ben Johnson thanks

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

Hi can you please tell me how I can get this, fantastic for piano chords, Fantastic video you are good 😊

[@TheREAPERBlog]

you need the ReaPack extension first see my video here on installing and using it kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpvSdaiVaJefoKs

[@Twistedstar0320]

I'm running into an issue where Chordgun wont stop playing a chord. It just holds all the keys down and wont stop. Even if I terminate Chordgun.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Zero key should send a note off

[@Twistedstar0320]

@@TheREAPERBlog ok that works. But, can I just have it play for as long as the mouse button is held down?

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

I I don't have this how can I get this. Yes I have got Reaper

[@TheREAPERBlog]

do you have ReaPack? reapack.com

[@LCTRgames]

Probably overlooking something simple - but I can't seem to get Chordgun to audition the chords? I'm arming a track with an instrument on it but it's not getting triggered. If I open a midi item it inserts the notes fine though. Anyone got any ideas? :) cheers.

[@MrWierdo2]

Im having the same issue. did you figure it out?

[@MrMarconi2010]

Can you tell me how I get the sound. I run the script on a lane with Juno-106 installed, then run the script. The GUI pops up but I get no sound, any thoughts would be appreciated.

[@MrMarconi2010]

Forget that got it working now. sorry for the intrusion. :)

[@vintagetelefly]

when i hit a key (e.g. 1,2,3...or E;R...) the chord/single note last forever ... How can i fix this?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

0 (zero) sends note off

[@xenoneuronics6765]

Love this but half the shortcuts seem to be Mac only

[@TheREAPERBlog]

shouldn't be, scripts are usually agnostic.

[@xenoneuronics6765]

@@TheREAPERBlog All the letter shortcuts are, but the command, option, etc. shortcuts do not seem to be. I tried to rework the code but can't seem to find out how to add modifiers that work with Windows

[@lachinhan]

Hi Jon! How do you enter the Bass Track just 1 note with ChordGun. I do not understand this

[@TheREAPERBlog]

chords with number keys, notes with letter keys

[@lachinhan]

@@TheREAPERBlog Oh. Thank you Jon.

[@leonmonami2282]

Is there a way to directly enable auditioning in ChordGun for when the MIDI Editor is closed? For me, when ChordGun is open and I click on it, I don't get any sound. I only hear it after I edit the MIDI and then hit the project play button in REAPER.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Track needs to be rec and monitor enabled. Standard setup for playing a virtual instrument

[@leonmonami2282]

The REAPER Blog Thank you!

[@MrWierdo2]

@@TheREAPERBlog my tracks are rec and monitor but i still cant hear anything. is there something im missing?

[@willford54]

Everything seems to work fine.... except chords wont insert on the 2 and 3 keys 1,4,5,6,7 are fine any ideas?

[@RightFaiky]

Same here. ALso, the chord's are inserted and replaced only at the beginning.

[@benjohnson1938]

it's because you have a UK keyboard, check the forum post where someone just uploaded a fix for that

[@juliodrums9456]

part of this should include how to load it

[@TheREAPERBlog]

Comes with ReaPack extension.

[@sickheadofficial]

uhm. chords are three different notes at the same time, right? not two or four.

[@adevine27]

They can be 2 if the chord is just an open 5th. And 7th chords have a fourth pitch (it being the 7th scale degree).

[@TheREAPERBlog]

maybe you're thinking of triad?

[@leonmonami2282]

After I click on notes they seem to go on playing continuously, and I have to click on the action Script: pandabot_ChordGun stop all notes from playing.lua to stop it. Is there another way?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

0 (zero) is the shortcut. I listed a few more of the shortcuts in the blog post

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

Hi . Can I use Bluetooth headphones to listen and mix in Reaper ??? Or can you please tell me the name off good Headphones please?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

not sure about good bluetooth headphones, honestly I've never used them. Any of the well known studio brands should be OK, such as Audio-Technica or Sennheiser. Indoors I think there's no good reason not to use wired headphones.

[@stuartwrigglesworth9339]

@@TheREAPERBlog Big thanks

[@ulfrohdin]

I can't insert midi from my computer keyboard, anyone else with that behavior?

[@TheREAPERBlog]

insert is now with shift key

[@ulfrohdin]

@@TheREAPERBlog thanks, I can not believe I missed that.

[@HurricaneSA]

So basically Lokasenna's Theory Helper but instead of being able to click a chord to hear it and then shift + click to insert it you need to close the editor? Pffff.

[@TheREAPERBlog]

number keys

[@gatorthaking1145]

shit i just bout insta chord

[@vandorb12]

Pair this with a really easy to use arppegiator and you'll be a EDM master!

[@kevinnel7038]

Check out randArp and Chordz by code FN42 does almost everything i was missing from logic pros amazing arpegiator. And its free

[@RightFaiky]

Venomode Phrasebox, so much fun!