Chord sequencer for practising composition?

Stringtheorist

Stringtheorist

Fractal Fanatic
Does anyone use sequencing software to help them practise composition? Back when I used hardware sequencers for recording, I used to find the onboard sequencer on the Yamaha QY70 very useful, as you could enter chords and the intelligent arpeggiator would change the rhythm pattern automatically to spell the new chord. Is there software available that does this? I work on the Mac platform with Reaper and Kontakt Player.
 
You could buy EZKEYS Piano by toontrack. it has a stand alone piece that you could enter your chords and change it's style by clicking on midi files that it comes with or 3rd party Midi files that you can find at Free MIDI Zone - Free MIDI files

what you do is import the midi file, import the track that you want, that will give you your style. Then just change your Chords or right click and click randomize. When your done, Drag what you have created into reaper add a drum and you're done. I haven't bought EZKEYS yet myself, but I am on Friday, I have downloaded the Demo and whatched the EZKEYS explained from Groove3. you can get it for $119 if you create an account and add it to your cart, from Audiodeluxe.com or amazon.

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I use Band in a box for practice at home and it's very simple to use. Chose a style, bpm, enter some chords and off you go. Could also be used to sketch songs if you want. But it's not free.

Another and freeware alternative is Improvisor though I have not much experience with that one and it's biased towards jazz stylewise I think.
 
IRealb is a great IOS tool. It started as a chord diagram librarian for Real Book tunes which is the most common fake book in jazz. Now it'll do auto-accompaniment based on whatever chords you enter in a variety of styles. It doesn't have a vast stylistic range like Band in a Box, but it's a pretty amazing program for the $. It works on any Idevice and you can edit right on the device or use a free computer-based editor and then load your songs onto the device to play. On Ipad the editor is amazingly fast and convenient.

Band in a Box is amazing and it's now available for Mac. The interface (at least on Windows) looks like it was made for a DOS machine (probably was originally), but the functionality is vast and versatile as hell. It's the best "try out the changes in almost any style you can think of" program.
 
The basic version of Band in a Box for Mac (there are a zillion versions with added features/styles) is on sale for $69 via HelloMusic. It's a site that has a bunch of sale stuff they sell cheaper if you're a member which is free. I've bought a couple of things from them and it's worked fine. The only problem is that they don't necessarily send it immediately, but it's usually not too long either. Some of their stuff is a pretty good deal and others not so much.

I've had it for Windows, but I might get the Mac version as it's a useful tool and I almost never boot to Windows any more unless I absolutely have to in order to log into my work network from a Mac.
 
I use my mind. It has its drawbacks. :) Seriously though the only drawback I've found is timing and rhythm, where if left to my own devices I might drift a bit. So I always use a metronome. But I find it most valuable to play the chord changes on the guitar and not rely on external influences like music (LOL) to help me navigate and find the proper notes by hunting and pecking. I play a lot of very complex chord changes. I like having my lines outline the chords, so my ears and fretboard knowledge are "hearing" the chord changes. I know this isn't answering your question, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
 
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