[johnnydoxx]

Hey Tekker in my pre-retirement life I was a computer programmer and systems analyst for 30+ years. Will be glad to give any advice, help, etc. that you find a requirement for.

[Andy S]

Tekker,

If you still need another person, I'm in. Just let me know what I need to do.

Andy S.

[Tekker]

Thanks Andy. Yep, the more the better!

At the moment all there is to do is let me know if you'd be interested in the project and post any ideas you have on a program (or updates to one of my existing programs) that you'd like to see.

When I get more details on the process then I'll post them here.

-tkr

[X4StringDrive]

Well, you've brought chords and strumming...what are your thoughts on some sort of percussion generator..maybe an intro with adjustable measures and ability to put in fills etc...kinda round out the tools needed to create a semi-basic tune

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by X4StringDrive

Well, you've brought chords and strumming...what are your thoughts on some sort of percussion generator..maybe an intro with adjustable measures and ability to put in fills etc...kinda round out the tools needed to create a semi-basic tune

I've actually had a similar idea. My main instrument is drums, so I've been trying to think of some kind of drum app I could do. But I think this may be another instance were 'random' patterns won't really give great results. You usually have three (or more) drums being used to make a rhythm and if all three are random and not relating to each other in any way, the results would probably be very strange. Trying to find applications where random patterns sound good isn't easy. The chord progression works because I'm limiting the chords to a certain key (unless you're using the chromatic mode) but there's not really a way to constrain drum rhythms like that.

Just for fun, I just tried using the strumming pattern generator three times (for the hihat, snare, and kick) and got the following rhythm.

1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
X____X__X X ____ X X X ___ X - hihat
X X__X _________ X____X_X - snare
X X__X X___ X X X___ X X__ X - kick

That's certainly different. lol

I'm not sure how I could make it so that it does not generate really weird rhythms like that while still keeping it 'random'. Plus my program would only display the beat (and at best play it back) but you'd want to be able to record it and use it in your songs. If you already played drums, then this would be fine as you could just play and record the drum part. But if you don't play drums, you'd have to manually input each note one at a time into some drum software. So I think a drum machine or drum software with pre-programmed drum beats may be better for this task.

-tkr

[starsailor]

Originally Posted by Tekker

Great! Thanks everyone.

Do you mean omitting certain notes from the chord?

-tkr

Hi Tekker, Just something I picked up on from another member but I'm assuming that may link into your answer to the power chords question, it links to problems with tabs which leads to an idea for some sort of tab generator but I'm assuming that may cause similar problems to the Scale generator and drum patterns.

Originally Posted by Tekker

That's a good idea. I've also thought about combining it with my chord progression generator to get a "random song generator". Then hit play and hear the chords and a strumming pattern.

-tkr

This sounds like a great idea and something we could work with, and possibly create some songs as examples for your project, like this one.

Cheers

Chris

[thodwris]

Well you can count me in too Tekker.I hope I can be of help...
All the best,
Theo

[Tekker]

Thanks thodwris!

Originally Posted by starsailor

This sounds like a great idea and something we could work with, and possibly create some songs as examples for your project, like this one.

At the moment that is the project I'm leaning towards. But if someone comes up with an even better idea that is within my limits and doable within the time frame, then I'm open to that as well.

The project won't officially start until next term, so we have plenty of time to brainstorm ideas.

-tkr

[carol m]

If a drum app is too random/complicated, how about my idea above ( ) where you use a metronome in the strumming app so you can change the tempo for praciticing.... and, if you could have a sound (doesn't really matter what) for each down strum, and a different sound for the up strum, you would get a really good idea of how the strums should sound - and there would be no problem with the randomness because there is no melody, only strums (down or up), beats (missed or played) and metronome for speed changing clicking on every beat.

[X4StringDrive]

To stay on the percussion discussion...Carol seems to have a good idea, along with the tempo setting and U/D audio indicators, you could possibly include random time signatures ie: 3/4, 4/4, 6/4, 6/8, 9/8, etc. The possibilities are probably endless but a few of the more common ones would be cool....just thinking{I hope lol} out loud.

[Tekker]

Originally Posted by carol m

If a drum app is too random/complicated, how about my idea above ( ) where you use a metronome in the strumming app so you can change the tempo for praciticing...

If I add a strumming pattern to the chord progression generator, then I would definitely include a tempo option (or at least try to anyways ).

Originally Posted by X4StringDrive

along with the tempo setting and U/D audio indicators, you could possibly include random time signatures ie: 3/4, 4/4, 6/4, 6/8, 9/8, etc.

That's a great idea. I could have several common time signatures in a drop down list that you could choose from instead of making it random (that would be hard to account for that many different key signatures).


Great ideas everyone, keep them coming!

-tkr

[X4StringDrive]

Originally Posted by Tekker

.... I could have several common time signatures in a drop down list that you could choose from instead of making it random (that would be hard to account for that many different key signatures)...-tkr

Uhhh yeah that's what I meant...really, I did, I kid you not lol

[eddiez152]

Tekker,
Thats quite the undertaking. Wish you well on your learning adventure.

[Tekker]

Thanks Eddie. Are you going to take part also?


I talked with my teacher some more today and he told me the project should be customer driven and that I need to get as much feedback from the users as possible and work off of that. So I told him some of the suggestions that I had gotten about tempo changes, time signatures, etc and he thought that was a "very good start".... Which sounds to me like he still wants more user input, either suggestions for features to add to the "song generator" and I'm also open to a completely new idea.

Another thing we talked about in class today is finding a "product champion", which is a single person who really, really wants this product to be built. They should have a good idea about what they want and then we are to work heavily with that one person. So basically this one person will play a big part in speaking for other users. I'll have to ask him about mine though, since my users are going to be online and it won't be person to person.

Thanks again everyone!
-tkr

[cshude]

Another idea- to take things a step further.
From the random chord generator as you pretty much have it now, how about the ability to drag/drop the chords around the pattern? It could be an excellent tool to generate song ideas and be able to immediately try them out. Not looking for a Band In A Box sort of program, but a quick-n-dirty, easy to use songwriting help.