Chord track
One row of chords above the song; the tracks that follow it play the right notes.
The chord track is a compact row of chord blocks above the timeline. Any instrument track can follow it: at playback, each written note moves to the nearest tone of the chord in force, and the notes you wrote stay exactly as they are in the clip. Change a block from C to A minor and every following part changes with it, while the drums, audio and anything not following play on untouched.
When to use it
Try a progression under a finished melody without rewriting the parts. Reharmonize a verse for the second time round. Keep a looped bass line, pad and arpeggio in agreement while you move chords about. It is the quickest way to hear “what if this were minor”.
Controls
Showing the track
Right-click the sequencer ruler, or use the upper-left … button, and enable Chord track. Turning it off hides the row and bypasses its effect while keeping the blocks for later.
Blocks
Click empty space in the row to add a one-bar section, or drag to set its length. Drag a block to move it and its edges to resize; a focused block moves with the arrow keys and Shift + arrows resize its end. Edits snap to the grid, Alt bypasses it, and painting over another block replaces the covered range. Right-click a block for Delete, or press Delete or Backspace while it is focused. Gaps between blocks play the original notes.
Choosing a chord
Click a block and ChordPad opens beneath it with root, major or minor, modifiers and bass; every choice updates the block at once, and the popup stays open until you click outside or press Escape. The pad’s song key controls edit the shared project key and guide the wheel.
Follow chord track
In an instrument track’s header menu, tick Follow chord track. It is off by default. Each pitch moves to the nearest allowed pitch class, choosing the lower when two are equally near; notes already in the chord stay put, and a held note is rearticulated only where its pitch changes, so common tones keep ringing. Audio tracks have no follow item and drum kits cannot follow; a pitched sampler layout can. Live playing and note audition stay direct.
Preserve voicing
Below Follow, Preserve voicing keeps distinct written voices distinct and in order. Without it, C–E–G under F major becomes C–F–F; with it, C–F–A. Unisons stay unisons, movement is kept as small as possible, and arpeggiated or strummed chords carry their whole source chord through. It is off by default and available only while following.
Tips
- Turn following on for the harmonic parts and leave the melody direct; a melody mapped to chord tones loses its passing notes.
- Chord mode includes the selected extensions and slash bass as allowed notes; it does not build a new voicing or force the bass, so write the register you want.
- Instrument tails and the sustain pedal behave naturally across a change, which means a ringing note can overlap the next chord. Shorten the pedal press at the block boundary if that is not what you want.