AudioTheory Guitars News

[p]Very small update to fix Unity security issue CVE-2025-59489. More info on this is provided by Steam here.[/p]

[p][/p][p]A new update is here for AudioTheory Guitars. It includes two main new features that are designed to work together to give you greater control over how sharp and flat notes display.[/p][p][/p][h2]Automatic/ Manual Sharps & Flats[/h2][p][/p][p]There's a new dropdown in the application options that lets you select between two different sets of rules that determine how the application handles sharps and flats.[/p][p][/p][h3]Auto set based on scale[/h3][p]This is the default option, and retains the existing method of automatically showing a sharp or a flat based on context. The advantage of this mode is that it will prioritise practical scales over theoretical ones, for example showing D♭ major but C♯ minor within the scale library.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As before, you can then click on the sharp/ flat note name in the note selector (bottom left) to change a specific note if required.[/p][p][/p][p]However, the addition of the theoretical scales means that now if the root note is swapped then the whole scale will update. E.g. if you load C♯ minor and then click on the C♯ note, it will change the scale to D♭ minor.[/p][p][/p][h3]Manually configure[/h3][p]This is a new alternative method of handling sharps and flats that lets you specify the default value for each of the accidentals.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]These can still be swapped by clicking on the note name in the selector, and notes will still update to the correct state when a scale preset is loaded, but reverting from a scale preset (selecting the 'all' or 'none' buttons) will apply the default values specified in the options.[/p][p][/p][p]This mode is useful if you want to use theoretical scales. For example, setting the default display for C♯/D♭ to D♭ means that the theoretical D♭ minor scale will display in the scale selector and scale library (whereas in automatic mode C♯ minor is given priority).[/p][p][/p][h2]Theoretical Scales[/h2][p][/p][p]The changes to how sharps and flats can display opens up many new situations where theoretical notes and scales come into play. The application has been updated to properly support these, meaning scale highlighting works with double sharps, double flats and enharmonic notes such as C♭ and B♯.[/p][p][/p][p]Theoretical scales have also been added to the scale library, although to keep things simple scales are still presented in groups of 12. The 12 you'll see are determined by the sharp/ flat options described above.[/p][p][/p][h2]Other changes[/h2][p][/p]

• [p]The default display settings have been optimised for Steam Deck. The application runs in windowed mode as standard, on Steam Deck this would result in the wrong resolution being applied. It could previously be fixed by swapping to fullscreen, but now it displays correctly by default.[/p]
• [p]The note selector now references the sharp/ flat state of accidentals when indicating a scale match (appending the scale name with an asterisk if the scale has been modified). E.g. G, A, B, C, D, E, and G♭ is now recognised as a modification of G major.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue with the scale type label not displaying correctly on certain scale sets[/p]

[p][/p][h2]In other news...[/h2][p][/p][p]Dracula's Cave now has its own dedicated Steam publisher page. The full range of AudioTheory software and also the games I've released can now be found in one convenient location.[/p]

Just some small fixes mostly relating to the modal scales:

• Fixed an issue with chords not auto-loading correctly using ionian scales
  
• Fixed a minor display issue with the note selector
  
• Lydian chords 6 and 7 now auto load as minor chords
  
• Fixed an issue where custom colours would inadvertently default to light blue for all notes apart from C
  

All requests Friday. A new update is here and it's composed entirely of features requested by you, the users of AudioTheory Guitars. Let's have a look at what's new:

[h2]Revised Keyboard Design[/h2]

Someone kindly pointed out that the piano keyboard had a few differences when compared to a real piano, specifically in the placement and size of the black keys. The keyboard layout has been revised to address this, and now the position and placement of the black keys has been adjusted to match a real piano with greater accuracy.

I've also added in a depth effect so the black keys now look like they sit above the white keys (also to better match the look of a real piano). This can however be turned off in the settings if you prefer a flat, more abstract look.



[h2]Custom colours for the black keys[/h2]

It's now possible to set unique custom colours for the black keys. The default option is still for the black keys to automatically match the natural note colours (so C♯ uses the colour for C, where as D♭ uses the colour for D), however this can be changed using a new dropdown in the settings. If the black keys display mode is changed over to use custom colours then you'll see an additional set of black key notes for which individual colours can be set.



A benefit of displaying notes this way is that an incremental colour hue can be used that matches the pitch increment between the notes.

[h2]Export chords as MIDI[/h2]

You can now export your chord progressions directly from AudioTheory Guitars and import them as 'Chord packs' into your DAW. Select the new MIDI toolbar option, 'Export Chords to MIDI' and specify a location for the file to be saved. This will export all visible chords in the main application view, one bar for each, in sequence, ready for use in other applications.

A new version of AudioTheory Guitars is here. It includes a few changes behind-the-scenes and a couple of new features.

[h2]New Diminished 7th Chord Selector[/h2]

Diminished 7th Chords are symmetrical, which causes all sorts of UI related challenges when attempting to represent them in the app. The chord library previously just showed them all in a grid, but this has now been updated so that the selector matches the layout of the other chord types, whilst also accounting for the fact that each position can be viewed as 4 different chords.

The root note selector now highlights multiple backgrounds, matching the functionality previously used in the smaller popup that displays below each chord in the main application view. The three different chord shapes are shown next to each other, and the cycle can be used to swap between the different positions on the fretboard.



[h2]Additional Minor Scales[/h2]

Full sets of harmonic and melodic minor scales have made their way to the scale library. To find these, select the minor type first and then below you'll see the different subtypes – natural (the standard minor scales that were already available) as well as harmonic and melodic.



I've also made some changes to the labels within the scale library, both to give clarity now that there's multiple minor scales to choose from, and also to better differentiate between the diminished scales that are also available.


[h2]Bug fixes and more[/h2]

Numerous systems within the app have been overhauled internally. The following bug fixes and improvements make their way into this update:

• Relative Roman numerals review to ensure consistent sharp/ flat information across all scales
  
• Solfege standardisation – all notes now use Do Re Mi for fixed do
  
• Standardisation of default sharp/ flat display across all scale types
  
• B now displays as C♭ when appropriate in scales (e.g. G♭ major)
  
• Hotkeys for swapping note language (buttons 1 – 4) now also work when viewing scale and chord sheets
  
• Adjusted position of keyboard input overlay on black keys
  
• Fixed some small display issues with the dim7 popup when editing a chord
  
• Fixed an issue with MIDI input not highlighting chord notes at the correct octave in the chord library
  
• Quick load chords label in the file menu dropdown now correctly updates to sus2 when viewed in a drop tuning mode