Behind the scenes: Unveiling Jacob Collier Audience Choir

ozon

@Ilay_NI wrote

we tossed in a chord generator for crafting harmonies in major & minor scales in your chosen root key

Your music theory must be very alternative to mine. Why is there an F#, A and B (b durum = h) when playing chords in C minor? Actually doesn't matter which key, the chords for minor scales are completely out of whack. IMO.

BTW, lovely instrument, and thank you very much! 🤩

PK The DJ

As it's Jacob Collier behind this, it's not surprising that the chords may be a bit more "advanced".

C diminished 7th, C minor with a major 7th

If he can surprise even Herbie Hancock...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex7c_zm9Pb8

reffahcs

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/137422#Comment_137422

I'm using those next time I get a phone call about my vehicles extended warranty.

TolgaZafer_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/137456#Comment_137456

Dear Ozon,

Thank you for your comment. The chordal structures you're referring to were specifically designed for this instrument by Jacob Collier. They are indeed unusual, focusing not on traditional chordal functions but rather on voice leading approaches, especially when playing chromatically. This method might differ from conventional generators, but it definitely offers a personal perspective on harmony.

ozon

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/137993#Comment_137993

Thank you very much for this explanation.

Is the underlying music theory documented in the manual (which I must have missed)?

TolgaZafer_NI

Hi Ozon,

Underlying music theory is pretty straightforward that you can experience by yourself also. Just start from the first note and go up chromatically. Each key contains a three-note chord and you can hear each note can be considered as an independent voice. Observe how they move and interact with each other in terms of voice leading. Once you complete the whole octave, you will reach where you started, with an octave difference of course.

The underlying music theory is not documented in the manual, otherwise it would have been such a long manual :) But I can tell you that there are quite a lot of secondary diminished chords to maintain the ascending fashion. You can take a look at it from the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNEOS3tZDKc

If you are too adventurous to learn the intricacy of voiceleading, I can also suggest J.J. Fux- Gradus ad Parnassum, a book that has been written in the 18th century, which still is valid in terms of administrating the voices independently, yet harmonious:

http://www.opus28.co.uk/Fux_Gradus.pdf

ozon

@TolgaZafer_NI thank you very much for the additional information. I will give the Chords function another try with these insights in mind.

Baer

Haha, I fell into the same trap and filed a bug ticket. The "Minor" designation is quite confusing. Maybe it would be more fitting if it were labeled "Minor altered"? It is actually a nice touch to have. For the regular minor chords I will simply use an external chord generator (e.g. conveniently available in Komplete Kontrol). In my current project the regular intervals sound better with the rest of the composition than the altered version inside the plugin.

TolgaZafer_NI

Dear @Baer

I agree it is confusing, because it acts like a melodic minor.

There is one cool feature about this chorder: You can play polyphonically. For example, if you play two notes while the chord generator is open, you can stack the triads to have a six-note chord. ;) So, it's easy to build massive chords.

Kymeia

Just annoying it continues this trend of NI Instruments hard coding the Modwheel into a dynamics/expression control. Modhweel should be available for modulation, not turned into what is essentially a mix volume control.

David Willis

A waste of space since even after you get the instrument it never shows up in Kontakt because Kontakt 7 is broken so badly.

Kymeia

Maybe you need to update Kontakt, it seems to be loading for most people?

Ilay_NI

hey @David Willis ! Sorry to hear that you're having troubles with Kontakt 7! Have you try contacting the support team through the form below? https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/sections/360000092857

Or maybe @Jeremy_NI could help us here understand the problem better!

Jeremy_NI

@David Willis issue was fixed by installing the latest version of Native Access.