07-16-2023, 01:22 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-16-2023, 01:24 PM by House de Kris.)
(07-14-2023, 07:23 AM)Saltech Wrote: Hi, Regarding the KB Trans mode, would it be possible to allow the black keys to actually play "wrong" / non-diatonic notes, instead of just doubling up on the nearest "right" note? I'm thinking that the best way to implement this would be for the black keys to play one semitone down from the next white key. This would allow you to play "out" and then back "in" as a great way to jazz up a solo and also to use the black keys for passing notes and slurs. It wouldn't take away from the 'safety' of playing in transpose mode - you'd just need to stick to the white keys for that, but it would open up a whole lot of expressive jazz / blues potential for soloing over a chord or chord progression.
I'm starting off by stating right away that I don't work for Conductive Labs, so my answer does not reflect their official view. It's just that this post has languished here for over 48 hours and no one has responded to it yet. The horror of it all.
I'm not sure your suggestion would work as you envision it. I made a quick graphic to illustrate the issue I see with your request.
The left side represents the keyboard you play, and it sends data to the NDLR on a channel that is processed by KB Trans, and then goes on to your desired synth. If the NDLR were set to C Ionian (Major), what is sent to the synth is the same data as played on the keyboard. In this case, your suggestion of allowing black keys for jazzy accidentals works, and is indicated by the parenthetical notes offset to the right a bit. All is good. Now, let's consider what happens if the NDLR is set to F# Ionian. Again, the black keys are denoted by parenthetical notes offset to the right. (Please excuse the error is this column for the response to A# being pressed, it should be E, not D as in the graphic.) So far, so good. Finally, let's consider if the NDLR is set to some mode other than Ionian, in the example supplied, Dorian. Suddenly, this idea of allowing "wrong" black keys to jazz things up falls apart completely. If you were to hit the G# on the keyboard, it would give you a D (because that is between C# and D#). BUT, if you were to hit the A# key in your jazzy interlude, there is no accidental that the NDLR could supply that would give you a "wrong" note between D# and E. It would have to translate your jazzy "wrong" note into a "right" note. Thus, destroying any tip-o-the-hat to the world of jazz.
This is just a single example of a key and mode chosen at random. But, the important thing is, ANY mode other than Ionian will result in a couple black keys no longer adding jazzy spice to your playing. I could be wrong, but I feel this is probably why the NDLR was designed to only want white keys in the C-Maj key to be played as input to the KB Trans function. The feature of translating C-Maj playing into any other Key and Mode is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful features of the NDLR. You aren't the first to ask for accidentals in KB Trans, and probably won't be the last, either.
(07-16-2023, 01:17 PM)Jesse Johannesen Wrote: Neat idea, but doesn't the placement of the black keys only line up with the white keys in a few modes/scales? Like if we're in Am then there is a Black key between 1&2, 3&4, 4&5, 6&7, and 7&8, so these wouldn't align with the existing key placement. It would be cool to have a way to just transpose a number of semitones, like we have on the MRCC, so that you could just play whatever scale shape in C and have it output MIDI transposed to the Root you are set to, although I can see that becoming a little bit confusing too.
Jeepers Jesse, you posted this at the same time I posted my response. I hang my head in shame for saying that the OP was allowed to languish for so long.