AudioTheory Guitars News

One more thing. Trading cards have just been released for AudioTheory Guitars. These are based on open chord shapes, have fun collecting them!

Hello! Today's update is all about chords. Version 1.14.0 extends the chord library and introduces some new features to support this larger selection of chords.



So let's have a look at what's new:

• Extended barre and power chord library. This has been completely overhauled to now support 5+ power chord shapes per note and 6+ barre chord shapes per note. This means there is now approx. 4x as many power and barre chords than before!
  
  
• To make this larger amount of chords manageable the mini 'Quick Select' popout as well as the fullscreen chord selector have both been reworked. Barre and power chords can now be loaded by selecting a combination of a root note and chord type.
  
  
• Some chords have more than one shape. There is a new 'cycle chord' button which is a circle with two arrows inside it. For any supported chord, this can be pressed to cycle between the alternate shapes.
  

With this initial chord revision the following alternate shapes have been added:

• Alt. barre chord shapes (Major, Minor and Major 7th).
  
  
• Alt. power chord shapes to optionally include an additional root note with the 3rd finger.
  
  
• Alt. F and B open chord shapes.
  
  
• Alt. shapes for all open Major 7th guitar chords.
  
  
• The cycle chord button can be used to alternate Dim7 chord positions (these chords were already in the application but this is a new way to swap between them).
  

Aside from chords there are a couple more miscellaneous features this update adds:

• The loaded preset file name now displays in light grey above the fretboard.
  
  
• Manual scale preset changes (as in adding or removing notes in the bottom left box) are referenced against the main scale library. If a manual combination matches a library preset then this will apply the correct relative scale highlighting (for example if you manually entered in the G Major scale it would automatically adjust the highlighting on the F# note to blue).
  

This update also includes the following bug fixes:

• The sustain button state now correctly saves between sessions
  
  
• Fixed a display bug on the menu slide out icon hover state
  
  
• The grey-out effect has been made uniform across the relative scale highlighting notes.
  
  
• Display bug when re-pressing the current chord selector tab has been fixed.
  
  
• Dim7 chord shapes reviewed and corrected (including fix for alternate tunings).
  
  
• Open string display on power chords revised.
  

And that's just about everything! Thanks for reading and keep practicing.

Fraser

A small update is inbound!
–Bug fix for scales not reloading correctly
–Save/ load now retains file name and last saved location
–Bug fix for Dim7 chord state not always saving between session
–Chord names now automatically display as sharp/ flat relative to the loaded scale
–Engine upgrade
–Larger sharp and flat icons for the default option buttons

I'm super-excited to announce the latest feature update for AudioTheory Guitars. Version 1.13.0 is a sequel of sorts, building on the ideas introduced in the Scale Based Highlighting (v1.12) update. This release fully completes the set of improved highlighting tools I have been wanting to bring to AudioTheory Guitars. So don't let the similarity in names fool you – this is another step forward and I hope you enjoy the improvements!



[h3]Relative Fretboard and Chord highlighting[/h3]

First and foremost this update extends the relative highlighting principles already in effect on the piano onto the chords and fretboard. This means that all Sharp and Flat notes now update dynamically based on the applied scale. These display with an outline indicating the note colour (again relative to the scale!).

This of course requires a scale to be selected, however I have also added some default display options to the 'guitars' tab in the settings cog. This means that when a scale is not loaded you now have the choice between displaying sharps, flats or both (before the only option was both).



[h3]Fixed Do solfège[/h3]

In the spirit of customisation the other big addition is an option to change the note language in the settings.

If you would prefer for notes to be named using the Fixed do convention (Do, Re, Mi... instead of C, D, E...) then this is now supported.

[h3]Auto set scale from chords[/h3]

This is a small addition but if you're working on a composition and starting out with chords then it can be a big time saver! There is a new 'set from chords' button as part of the 'available notes' section in the bottom left corner of the screen.

If you press this button then the enabled/ disabled notes will automatically refresh to match the notes within the chords loaded above. If these match any of the main scale presets (major/ minor/ pentatonic or blues) then it will also update the display name and relative sharp and flat icons.

[h3]Global and exact playback[/h3]

One more small change, I have reversed the priority of the 'global' and 'exact' playback options in the settings and also made it so that 'exact' is now the default option. This feature was added post-launch, hence why it was the alternative mode, but reviewing it now it's clearly the more useful of the two so this change reflects that.

The majority of these changes (everything apart from setting the scale from chords) also make their way to AudioTheory Grids, with version 1.1.0 launching today.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and keep practicing.

Fraser

Today we have some exciting news! The AudioTheory range expands with the release of AudioTheory Grids – software that combines intuitive music theory tools with the power of a grid-based sequencer. It's available on Steam today.



[h2]Music Theory Meets the Power of the Grid[/h2]

AudioTheory Grids includes extensive options for building a composition on a grid layout. Input notes as desired and then play them back across the piano and fretboard diagrams.

There's a whole bunch of options for customising the grid, as well as preset sounds for playback and an accompanying drum grid. These work alongside tools built around visually explaining how a melody or piece of music is constructed, helping you understand the workings of your composition.



[h2]The key features[/h2]

• Real-time playback across the keyboard and fretboard simultaneously
  
• A comprehensive set of input tools – cycle through multiple grids and quickly swap between arrangements during playback
  
• Drum grids with a selection of preset sounds
  
• Quickly save and load compositions to and from the grid
  
• Exclude notes or load a scale preset directly to the grid
  
• An intuitive colour-coding system to identify notes across different mediums
  
• Left-handed mode, shifted tunings, customisable grid highlighting options. Choose between guitar and bass fretboard diagrams.
  

AudioTheory Grids is available now on Steam. Thanks for checking it out!

Fraser