Progressions for iOS - MasterClass 1

[@carlsalazar4490]

Thank you for taking the mystery out this great App. Cheers

[@Ukobold]

Wow, It’s getting huge !

[@ARP_2600]

Thank you for adding the continuous pattern on chord change!🤩🙏

[@djba]

Thanks Paul for another great app. I like the feature of the url for file transfer.

[@noemismusic]

Great app Paul that just keeps getting better!

[@mmane257]

will i be able to transfer the midi to my desktop daw of choice?if so you just made my day.

[@PeterJoslynHarris]

I would love to see this functionality merged into Pluginguru's Unify. It would be a music composition and synthesis supergroup!!! Someone call Skippy and let's make history!

[@kabedford]

Thank you for this, Paul! :) I have been meaning to ask you about changing or adding instruments, and Lo, here you've gone and explained that very thing! :)

[@Jazzman82]

Swing function would be 👍

[@TerenceKearns]

Yes. This makes a big difference. Even better would be ability to use midi groove files.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

It is on its way.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@TerenceKearns It is coming in the next version

[@TerenceKearns]

@@PaultheMusicMan awesomeness 👌🏽

[@Teo22athome]

That’s an awesome update Paul. I can see how Progressions will now become a central part of my workflow with the ability to generate printable chord charts as well as song midi going to notation software. Thank you for the tutorial - I know I’ll have to watch it repeatedly while I learn all the features as I have with many of your tutorials but the fact that they are not long rambling videos makes it easy. That’s why yours as well as Leo’s at soundformore YT channel are my favourite tutorials. It looks like you’ve hit the ball out of the park again with this one as you did with Helium, NuRack and Neon Audio Editor ! Now, if I could only get it into my thick skull to open every new AUM session with your MidiMixer app…..🤔

[@3stig]

Thank you Paul for the Tutorial 🧙‍♀️😎👍🏻This app is magnificent 🧙‍♀️

[@PeterJoslynHarris]

Brilliant!

[@dale4278]

This app just gets better and better! 😸

[@ig2413]

Cool beans!

[@PaultheMusicMan]

As the immortal Doug once spoke... cool beans indeed!

[@dadadrew]

Genius.

[@isaacanthonydj4124]

nice, i have to figure out how to route my Keystep and Bob is my uncle?

[@PaultheMusicMan]

It depends on the host application as to how this is done, but it's pretty easy in AUM by clicking the hamburger menu to the left of the Progressions icon and you should see the KeyStep listed as one of the inputs.

[@kentaccordionist]

Would love to play a chord on my accordion bass and have it control the chord in progressions in real time like you implemented for me in strummer fx.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

Does it not work if you turn on MIDI input?

[@kentaccordionist]

@@PaultheMusicMan to be honest I didn’t think of that. I will try when I get back from work. Thanks Paul. Hope you ok

[@MarkBennett007]

Onwards an upwards

[@alejandrocortesvilches]

I tried to create my own bass line, unfortunately the root always changes of position on the secuencer…. Are you thinking on a bass line editor at the future… .? It would be crazy. Thanks Paul

[@PaultheMusicMan]

The bass is automatically generated as the root of the chord, but it can jump up or down and octave depending on what type of chords you use. I think most people record the MIDI song ouput and carry on editing inside a DAW. If I added the ability to edit lead and bass it would indeed be great, but heading more towards a MIDI editor which I never intended. We indeed thinking about this though.

[@basstutorman]

This is a great app Paul but it's not easy to create and record ideas using it on Cubasis or Logic Pro. I set up Progressions as a MIDI FX input to the sound I want to record, but both DAW's don't record the MIDI notes from the selected DAW instument (although I can hear the output from the monitor). I can record the MIDI notes if Progressions is set up as an instrument (not a MIDI effect), but then I only have the one sound which comes with Progressions. So I used the generated MIDI track and changed the instrument to one in the DAW only to find that the bass notes were out of sync. The main arpeggio parts were fine (looks like a bug in Progressions to me). This is with Cubasis and Logic Pro. Also, would it be possible to edit the bass notes? Having said all that, I think this app is a composers dream. Thanks for putting the time in.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

In Cubasis try adding Progressions as an MIDI Effect on a MIDI track and enable SYNC. Now when you record in Cubasis it will record the MIDI coming from Progressions as MIDI data. Once you have the MIDI stems you can drag them to other tracks with other instruments.

[@basstutorman]

@@PaultheMusicMan Thanks Paul. Brilliant, that is much easier thanks. I've also just discovered the bug with the bass note only seems to happen with the Moog plug ins. So all good with Progressions and other plug ins. Do you know the simplest way to get the MIDI notes out of Progression into Logic? Logic doesn't seem to have the REC to TRACK option with the MIDI FX. That's why my work around was to make Progressions the main instrument, record the MIDI from that, then cut and paste the MIDI track to one with the required instrument. Thanks again for coming back so quickly. Cheers Steve

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@basstutorman Sadly with Logic being so new it is missing lots of the routing we get in other apps. If you go into the Progressions Settings you can map the output of Bass, Chord, Arpeggios etc. to a specific port. Think of ports as MIDI cables, each carrying 16 MIDI channels. In Cubasis you can route these ports to other instruments. It is beyond the scope of an explanation here but worth experimenting with. Maybe you can export a MIDI file with the tracks you create and import than into Logic. I'm not a Logic user myself so not 100% sure how.

[@basstutorman]

Ok, thanks for your help Paul. The simplest work around I could find for Logic Pro was to make Progressions the main instrument using the single internal sound you have. It records the MIDI sequence fine, then just replace the Progressions instrument with the required one. Just one idea, I think it would be cool to have a few more internal sounds for Progressions. Maybe a MIDI piano, a guitar (to capture strumming) and a strings/pad type instrument. I think it would hold it’s own more if used in standalone mode (I know it’s not intended to be). I really think this is one of the best music apps out there for iOS and looking forward to it’s ‘progression’ (sorry about that he he).

[@FredBloggs919]

Hi. Great app, Paul! Just a small issue - Stand-alone - Instrument - only one Soundfont available - click on Transfer and copy http address - server offline!

[@PaultheMusicMan]

Do you have any firewaalls or virus protection software installed on your PC/MAC?

[@edgardocrespo3840]

HI Paul, which one would you suggest if I want to transfer the finish song to either Garadge Band or Cubasis. Would it be easier to use Helium or Pregression. I have both and just wondering which applications would you suggest. Thank you and more power to you.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

I assume you are currently hosting the app inside something like AUM. In that case easiest method would be to record the AUM output as indivisual WAV stems and import them that way. The only way I can think of to get the MIDI accross to Cubasis is to output your song to MIDI. You must have a song to do this, then with the song window active go to the main menu and select Export Song to MIDI. The song will play and record at real time and present you with a completion dialog. Drag the completed file icon to the Files App and load it into Cubasis. It should be imported as multiple tracks.

[@campingbackofen7246]

Can you use f.ex. Arpeggio and block chord simultaneously in one instance and route them to different out sources controlling two instruments in AUM? One instrument would play the chords and one the Arpeggio.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

Yes, look at the port assignment in the main menu. You can specify a different port for ARP, STRUM and BASS.

[@campingbackofen7246]

@@PaultheMusicMan How do I make progressions play arp and chord simultaneously in one instance? So far I only manage to play either or ( by pushing the respective buttons).

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@campingbackofen7246 Oh, I focused on sending bass and arp to different channels. You definately need two instances to do that mate, but using the Sync Instances feature it is really easy. Jade Starr did a really good video where she had 8 instances and it sounded awrsome!

[@itsaboutchina732]

Ok ok, you immediately addressed an issue I had. Why can’t you change chords on the quarter beat when live playing? I know this is possible in Scaler2.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

You can't change arps on half beat boundaries, especially if they are set to continuous and not retriggered.

[@itsaboutchina732]

@@PaultheMusicMan I figured out a work around to change chords, arps and strums on every beat within Cubasis to use Progressions as a composition tool track by track. One of the drawbacks with this approach is you have to start and stop the clock but so far with the tune I am working on it hasn’t been as much a hassle. As I am composing in sections, another thing I wish I had more control of is velocity. I am aware Progressions varies the velocity but I would like to see it vari the velocity around the triggered note being played.

[@acustichenry]

this is a app ? or a plugin ? and where is the link ? because I can't find it no where ?

[@PaultheMusicMan]

This is an AUv3 plugin for iOS as mentioned in the title of the video.

[@TerenceKearns]

I'm looking forward to playing around with this. Not sure why you can export pdf files but you can't just save midi to a file without going through another program. Minor inconvenience i suppose. Would be good to have chord progressions midi files that is compatible with band in a box (which seems to be really fussy).

[@PaultheMusicMan]

You can save a MIDI file by simply dragging and dropping the icon to the files app. I just assume everyone knows these things. The saved files are standard multi-channel since a song can change channels during playback

[@TerenceKearns]

@@PaultheMusicMan cool. i didn’t know that. thanks for the info.

[@zoukoupomme2]

@@PaultheMusicMan Personally I am not able to reduce the size of Progressions to be able to drag the icon into File 😞

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@zoukoupomme2 If running on the iPad you don't actually reduce the size of Progressions, you just need to drag the files app from the iPad dock to either the left/right of the display and it will float there allowing you to drag/drop files. This is really an iOS thing and nothing to do with Progressions.

[@zoukoupomme2]

@@PaultheMusicMan I just did as you told me, it works :-) I didn't know about this iOS function Thank you for taking the time to explain to me.

[@nonyourbuz5805]

...so...you are running a "Progressions" server?....How many files can be stored on there?...

[@PaultheMusicMan]

There is no progressions server as such, we have a mini HTML web server built into Progressions which allows you to access files within Progressions file system. The number of files is as many as you have free space on your device.

[@davidallred991]

I had a couple of comments about a midi issue I was having but I got it to work and deleted the other comments. When selecting a midi channel in Progressions the list is off. It starts at 0* which I thought meant all channels, but it actual means channel 1, and then the rest of the channels are all off by 1 number and ends on 15 rather than 16. So I need to set the receiving hardware one number above what is selected in Progression. Just a minor bug but can cause some confusion. Looks like a cool app and looking forward to start using it now that I got the midi sorted.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

Aha, I was just looking for your old comment and couldn't find it. This is one of those things where some apps display ports and channels from 0-15 and other display 1-16. Both are technically correct and developers choose which one they want to use. Glad you fixed the issue though. Just for clarity, where abouts in Progressions are you seeing MIDI channels starting with 0?

[@davidallred991]

​@@PaultheMusicMan In the main AUM screen where you add all your tracks. On the left hand side next to circle that displays the app logo. It says "midi out" and then has a number with small arrows above and below it, when you click on it the menu comes up to select your channel and the list is from 0* - 15 , what does the asterisk stand for? I assumed it was a send to all channels option but I guess not. I also have never seen the midi selection menu in that place in AUM before with other apps. Its why I wasn't finding it before. It also only appears when you load Progressions into an AUM midi track as an Audio Unit Midi Processor , it doesn't appear when loaded as an Audio Unit Extension even if loaded into an AUM midi track. It is the only way I found to set a midi channel, is there another place? If you give me an email address I can send you some screen shots. I messed around with the app last night, and really liking it so far. Already came up with a new progression for a track I probably wouldn't have come up. I like how when you generate the set of chords it has the chords coming from other keys which allows me to easily test out chords I probably wouldn't have tried on my own and visually see what key there are coming from. In Scaler it is a bit more unclear as you can only get to other scales through the suggest chords feature and it isn't clear where they are coming from unless you really know your theory well. My first recommendations for possible updates after only limited use. 1. I would like to be able to lock selected chords in the Grid and then when I hit generate again, it only fills in the chords I have not selected to lock with new chords. I thought that maybe this is what the "Hold" button in the bottom right corner of the Circle of Fifths wheel was for, but it didn't seem to do this. What does that "Hold" feature do? I tried to find it in the manual but didn's see it, although I only skimmed through looking for it. 2. I would like to be able to drop more octaves, I find the chords fairly high on the register even when dropping them to the "Low" on the blue "Octave" wheel. It won't allow me to drop the octave at all for the first chord, and the other chords I can only drop one octave and have to do each individually which is a bit of a pain. I guess maybe you had set it this way to allow the addition of the bass notes option, but for me I don't really want an added bass note, I want to drop the octaves of the full chord even lower. I can achieve this by recording a midi clip and then dropping then transposing, but again, kind of a pain. It would be nice if the octave range was just increased for lower octaves especially the first root chord. 3, Lastly, in your video when talking about selecting arpeggio type you mentioned selecting from the 64 arpeggio types, I only see 6 default ones, and then there about another 12 options when I click on the load custom. Am I missing some somewhere? Great App, thanks for making it, I like it enough I am going to buy your Euclidean app today also, Cheers

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@davidallred991 The Hold pedal works like a hold pedal on a piano, so when it's down chords are sustained. Try turning down the note gate and then turn on HOLD, and you will understand. This can be triggered as part of a song. If you add the chords froom the chord palette to your song, they become independent and you can randomize a new set if you like. The first chord is effected by the Octave knob, but the algorithm works by attempting to apply top note alignment against that first chord, so we don't let you shift it.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@davidallred991 Are you talking about the 16 output ports, each containing 16 channels? I don't see where in this video you are talking about. You really need to watch all the videos as I do explain how everything works over the course of all the videos. I do demonstrate being able to adjust the MIDI out by tapping the area in the ARP editor just above the A-F tabs.

[@davidallred991]

​@@PaultheMusicMan Thanks. 1. "Hold" makes sense now. I couldn't figure out what the icon was in the "hold" button box was. Now that you explained it I see that it is a foot on a sustain pedal. 2. I missed that button above the "A-F" and must have missed it in the video also. One interesting point, is that when I have Progressions opened as a midi track and loaded as an "audio unit MIDI processor" that little "midi out channel" section that appears to the left of the hamburger menu in AUM reflects one number off from what I set in the midi button above the "A-F". So if I set the midi channel to 14 using the "A-F" button then the midi channel will be shown as 13 next to the hamburger menu in AUM. Not a big deal since I know what is going on, but a small bug that should be fixed in next update. 3. Even with the blue "octave" knob set full left to "low" the root chord sits quite high on the register. I will take the most basic example. Block Chords, A minor, Freedom 0, Complexity Basic. So I get root chord as Am1. (This is also strange to me that the root chord always starts at 1st inversion but I will leave that for later comment). So the root chord I get with octave setting as low is C4 D4 A4 with all generated chords unable to go lower than this octave range. Each octave setting up moves up one octave scale, medium starting at c5, and high starting at c6. Trying to adjust any chord using the octave adjustment will never let me go lower than the root chord scale range. This octave range is really high. I am never playing bloc chords in this range. Sometimes an Arpeggio, but this is melody range and actually even higher as I am rarely ever above C5 and almost never above C6 in any circumstance. I have tried generating using higher complexities options and will get some notes in lower octaves but this is also accompanied by more notes in higher octaves. I think it is good to have these higher ranges available as options for those that want to use it but the lower ranges should also be added. Instead of the octave knob being (Low, Medium, High) why not have six options (C2-C6)? My only current workaround is to either record midi into another midi controller and transpose octaves down (not ideal because any changes I would like to test out with new chords needs to be recorded and adjusted each time) or I can transpose the patch I am using down octaves (not ideal because I need to do this for every patch as I am trying out different patches). 4. No matter what settings I use (Key, Mode, Freedom, Complexity) the root chord is always in 1st inversion. Not sure why this wouldn't be the root chord in basic position (or 0 according to Progressions grid nomenclature) Since you can't adjust the root chord at all, the only way to get a true root chord in basic position is to generate a chord grid, get a duplicate of the root chord (Am1) in above example, and then invert down to (Am0). In the generation it will also never generate the root chord in basic position although it will produce other chords in basic position. (F0, E70, E0, etc). but will never generate a Am0. Or at least I tested this by doing 50 generations and one never appeared. 5. As for locking chords, using the song mode to add chords and then regenerate is what I did since I wasn't able to lock chords, it still would be a great option to lock chords in the grid and then only refill the unlocked chords on regeneration. 6. About the 64 ARPs, sorry it wasn't in this video it was in the Arp Editor video and I misunderstood, You said you can assign any of the " six default arps" and I had heard 64 arps". To be fair though I had Captions on and google heard 64 arps also. Hahah. Anyways, great App, with some minor tweaks to the octave ranges and the ability to have the Root chord be in basic position vs 1st inversion I would find it much more useful for me personally but understand that maybe others wouldn't find those tweaks useful. Besides the the moving of chords into different scales according to the circle of 5ths, I think integrating the arpeggio and strum editor was ingenious and the combination really sets the app apart from others, Cheers.

[@issiewizzie]

Hi Paul, would it be possible to use external midi keyboard to amend a selected code instead of using the one provided within the program.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

Sorry mate, I didn't understand a word of that one?

[@keyboyrecords]

I have tried everything and can’t get one MIDI note to produce a chord. This is too complicated. Tried all MIDI connections and nothing.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

If you run the app in standalone mode first and popup the keyboard then scroll all the way to the left you will see markings on therer telling you which notes are associated with which pads. It is MIDI notes 1-18 that needs to be sent to produce the chords. In order for this to work the MIDI Input button has to be enabled, and the little speaker icon in the upper left corner. Progressions should now send MIDI out for the incoming single note. This is not really what it is intended to do but it can be done.

[@paxvriesen5715]

I just can't figure out what the blue knob "Octave Low Medium High" is for. It doesn't seems to do anything. Can someone clarify please?

[@PaultheMusicMan]

The octave button changes the octave of the chords on all 18 pads. In other words if you turn it to High then the notes are increased by 12 semitones so will sound a higher pitch. On low the notes are decreased by 12 semitones etc.

[@pax4music286]

@@PaultheMusicMan Hi Paul, thanks for your reply. It does work on all 18 pads but it doesn’t work when I am in song mode. I don’t know if it was intended to be like that but it would be nice if I could change the octave of the chord in song mode as well with this knob. It would be much quicker and easier than to edit each chord in the song chord editor.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@pax4music286 This is intentional. Once you add a chord from the chord palette to a song it becomes independent of the chord palette. That way you can randomize more chords and in theory add unlimited chords to your song. You can EDIT a song chord to change it's octave but ideally you get that sorted before you add to the song chain.

[@pax4music286]

@@PaultheMusicMan Makes sense, thanks

[@djba]

Does anyone have recommendations for good sound fonts? Thanks.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

To be honest no, the inclusion of soundfonts is only really of use in standalone mode or when loaded under apps that that don't support MIDI plugins. If you have the choise I would always load as a MIDI plugin to reduce CPU load and trigger external instruments. Soundfonts (..sf2) files can be gound all over the internet, but bary in quality. Because of copyright issues I was unable to include more than the one for demonstration.

[@djba]

Thanks Paul. I had not considered CPU load. … Now that I think about it, I wonder what the difference in CPU load would be between running Progressions in standalone mode with soundfonts and running it as a Midi plugin feeding a bunch of AUv3 instruments. I am not recording so good sound (soundfonts) will work for me instead of great sound from AUv3 instruments. (In case you are wondering, I play live at retirement homes … for free). I think I may test and see. Thanks again for all your hard work.

[@PaultheMusicMan]

@@djba Running as a MIDI instance the CPU usage is around 0.5% max, but when a soundfont is loaded and a reverb effect it jumps as high as 5% for me. Of cource that doesn't soubd a lot but it all mounts up if you have many instances. Jade Starr did a demo with 8 instances running in sync, pretty impressive!!

[@nigelparker]

I'm using Garageband ios, and I can't seem to suss out how to get a song created in the Progressions song sequencer into Garageband. Is it possible?

[@PaultheMusicMan]

Yes, see my videos on song mode and then another on song construction mode. You really need to work in FULL screen mode in GB which you can do as long as your on an iPad.

[@nigelparker]

Thanks Paul. I'm using it full screen in ios GB, and I can create a song sequence. When I choose export song to MIDI and press Record Now, it brings up the export MIDI file window, but I can't drag that or loadit into GB. Am I going about this the wrong way?

[@PaultheMusicMan]

​@@nigelparker Completely wrong. You record the sequence into the GB editor, then drag the recorded clips to other instruments. I have a new video coming out maybe tomorrow going over this. I'm not so familiar with GB and it's ability to load MIDI files of any length. If it can be done then you would have to drag the rendered track into the Files App and then somehow import that into FB assuming it can load midi files.

[@nigelparker]

I'm really looking forward to that. I see a lot of creative song potential in this that Inwant to tap into.

[@SLPGroundSoundMusic]

im not sure if its a bug but is there anyway to connected the standalone of progressions to nanostudio 2 so i can play and record NS2, like it is posible with tonality and scalesbud, it is possible with those apps because it is recognized by nanostudio 2 midi inputs connections as soon that i do open those app as standalone, but when it comes to progressions its not being recognized by NS2 which its my main used daw for composing and making beats, i did connect progressions into the midi fx slot in nanostudio2 in which it do recognize progressions but only when i press the play button on progressions but not when i do play the pads in progressions, which by the why when i do try to record that but it doesn’t record anything NS2, which i never was able to figure how to record midi connection being played through the midi fx slot in nanostudio2 anyway,, so the only way i can used and record any virtual midi controllers into nanostudio is by using them as standalone like tonality and scalebud, but i cant even do that with progressions, so my question is it possible do to play progressions midi output into nanostudio 2 midi inputs as standalone ? but if not, if progressions is an app that i never will be able to use which i was really hoping to be able to use it in NS2 because it seems like a very interesting app, but if not it its ok because i just take it as me just supporting your work and as a thank you for creating the apps that i do get to use…

[@PaultheMusicMan]

The reason is that Progressions is a plugin and not really a standalone app. All it's MIDI routing is provided by its host app which is why it isn't visible as a standalone. I prefer my apps to be focused on AUv3 since most have little worth as a standalone app, especially Progressions that needs to drive other apps, the routing is provided by the host app. Some apps don't allow MIDI processing when the transport is OFF sadly, unlike AUM which carries on processing even when the transport is not running.

[@SLPGroundSoundMusic]

@@PaultheMusicMan Thank for your reply

[@heymichaelc]

where can I find thid app/software?

[@GavinskisTutorials]

Apple appstore 'Progressions'