Nopia MIDI chord generator controller based on tonal harmonic theory...well, this seems different

[timwat]

This just fell into my feed:

 

 

[PianoMan51]

I’d like to hear this play Mustang Sally in a cover band.

 

Otherwise it’s No, PIA.

[ElmerJFudd]

3 minutes ago, PianoMan51 said:

I’d like to hear this play Mustang Sally in a cover band.

 

Otherwise it’s No, PIA.

No, please. Not Mustang Sally again.  Swap it out for another Wilson Picket tune. 

[Reezekeys]

I know this sounds dismissive and I'm sure the dev put lots of thought, time and probably $$ into this, BUT... what I heard in this video sounds like a "e-z" approach to making smooth jazz or new age loops. It's another example of a tool that promises "results without the pain"... i.e. you don't actually have to know anything about music theory... let this box do the work! It's way better than the pre-rolled "midi-paks" of course, and I'm sure some will find creative uses for this. I'd like to hear & understand more, but at the end of the day I respect a composer that comes up with chords and chord progressions from scratch - without, as Buddy Rich said, "the assistance." 🙂 

[stoken6]

Yeah, sorry to the manufacturer, but this is nonsense. The "C" on the keyboard on the left is always the 1st degree - no matter what key centre? And how about modal interchange/borrowed chords? Even something simple like the IV minor (the "Christmas chord") would be left out of this model.

 

Plus - who would pay what must be hundreds of dollars for that box, when it could more easily be done as a $10 app.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[GovernorSilver]

Youtube caught the OP researching topics not approved by Keyboard Corner.   Youtube would not put it in your feed if you had not been engaging in these heretical activities already.

 

To cancel out KC demerit points, OP must only post about KC approved topics such as classic rock, anything Allman Brothers, clonewheels, Leslie sims, etc. for the next 4 weeks.

[CyberGene]

Imagine the day when you won’t even have to press keys to play music. You just switch the thing on and it makes chords and stuff. Ohh, wait, that’s the gramophone…

[cphollis]

Sorry, this looks like a swing and a miss to me.  And if I wanted to do this, why wouldn't I do it on an iPad for $2.99?  

 

That being said, we are not that far away from "AI-enhanced" keyboard assistants, as it's happening in the visual arts right now.  The learning model is trained on hundreds of examples from targeted artists, it extracts the salient features, and then applies what it has learned to an "original" piece.   One use case might be that the player plays simple chords, and the AI fills in a Chick Corea-like fill/voicing. 

 

To "play" a musical assistant AI, you'd still have to learn how it behaved and use it tastefully, sort of like KAOSS, but with much more range and nuance.  It's still a live performance, but with a lot of "help".  

 

Direct control via brain impulses (no keyboard controller) is probably five years out?  It too will be yet another application of machine learning, e.g. "when I see this brain wave pattern, this is what the user means musically".   It'd be great to get all the music in my head out much more simply!

 

 

[Mark Schmieder]

I don't know, it might help some people. Probably not me. I just went through the motions with EZ Keys 2 on Sunday night, hoping it could help accelerate the early phases of chord voicing compositions that I write without initial chord charts in mind, so I can get charts more quickly to my jazz quintet even while fine-tuning final voicings.

 

Unfortunately, I did not find EZ Keys 2 up to the task, which was something they pushed heavily with the update. A very cumbersome, inflexible, and problematic workflow, and in the end, I pretty much have to instigate all of the chord choices and progressions anyway, so it actually takes me MORE time due to still needing to initiate the theory.

 

This hardware-based tool might be a more direct approach to quick initial voicings of chords to go along with already-written melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint, but I suspect in both cases that the products are meant for people without extensive musical training and are for end product as opposed to quick-and-dirty placeholders.

 

There were a couple of software-based specialty tools over the past few years that also promised to serve as fast-workflow harmonic analysis tools to apply quick chord charts for lead sheets and the like. I have yet to see one that serves as an accelerator for someone with adequate background as opposed to a cheesy AI replacement tool.

[ElmerJFudd]

"People are going crazy for Nopia, the MIDI chord generator prototype that’s racked up 2.6m video views in 8 days"

 

https://www.musicradar.com/news/nopia-midi-chord-generator

 

It's amazing what an obstacle music theory and playing an instrument is to making music.  😉