Chord recognition
There are 7 chord recognition methods available: full
fingered, single finger (Yamaha), single finger (Roland),
fingered on bass, full keyboard, guitar and free form. They
can be selected in the Preferences menu.
Default is full fingered. In full fingered
mode you play all the keys of the chord. Chords can be played
inverted, e.g play a G chord as D-G-B with D being the lowest
key. But for some complex chords this may lead to different
possibilities and in that case the not inverted chord always
preceeds the inverted ones. Type 7 chords can be played with
3 keys, e.g. instead of C-E-G-A# you can play C-E-A# for a
C7.
By default the lowest 24 keys on a 61 keys keyboard are
reserved for playing chords. You may want a smaller chord
area and a larger melody area. This can be done in the
Preferences window. The numbering of the keys in OMB may not
be the same as the way they are numbered on your keyboard.
The lowest of the 61 keys is called C3 in OMB but is often
named C1 on keyboards.
Similar to full fingered is free form. The
main difference is that you are not limited to existing
chords. Any combination of 3 or 4 keys will be used to play
the accompaniment. All bass notes will be played with the
root note, defined by the lowest key. Therefore if you play
existing chords in free form mode, then you must play them
not inverted. E.g play an G chord as G-B-D not D-G-B.
In single finger (Yamaha) mode you can play
any major chord by just pressing the key in the chord area
with the same name. Adding a black key on the left of this
key will make it a minor chord and an extra white key on the
left will make it a 7th chord. If you just began learning to
play keyboard I would strongly advise against choosing this
mode. It might seem the easiest way, but if you learn to play
the basic major and minor chords with three fingers then you
will also be able to play your music on keyboards without
auto accompaniment (like a piano).
Single finger (Roland) mode is the same as
Yamaha for major chords but the extra keys to form minor and
other chordtypes are different. If you are a Roland or Korg
player you will be familiar with this type of chord
fingering.
Fingered on bass can use a bass note that is
different from the root note of the chord. In songbooks this
is presented as a slash chord. E.g C/E indicates a C chord
with an E bass note. If you press a (full fingered) chord in
fingered on bass mode then the lowest key will be the bass
note. So pressing C-E-G will give a C chord, E-G-C will give
a C/E and G-C-E will give a C/G.
It is not possible to produce a bass note that is not
included in the chord keys in a static chord. But is possible
to produce all bassnotes in a bass run. In a bass run the
bass tone is lowered step by step starting from the chord
root. To play a bass run you first press the chord not
inverted. Wait for at least 0.5 seconds and then (without
releasing the original chord keys) press another key on the
left of the chord. The new key will be the bass tone and this
way you can use your little finger to play the bass run.
In full keyboard mode there is no separate
chord and melody area on the keyboard. Whenever you have 3 or
more keys pressed then the program will try to detect a
chord. All chord types can be played. Only groups of notes
that are close together will be recognized. To prevent
unwanted chord changes you can use a MIDI footswitch to
switch chordfixation on and off, define the controller type
of the footpedal in Preferences>LiveControl>Fixation.
Guitar mode is mainly intended for
MIDI-guitar players but you can also use this to play
keyboard. There is no distinction between chord area and
melody area. Any note that is played will be regarded as both
a chord and a melody note. In this mode only basic major and
minor chords are recognised. Any note regardless of its
distance to the other notes can be part of a chord, which is
the main difference with "full keyboard" and the
reason why only basic chordtypes are recognized. Otherwise
too many unwanted chord changes would be triggered by the
melody notes.
If you use this mode with a keyboard then you should make
some adjustments to your playing style to prevent that melody
notes lead to unintended chords. If you press a chord that is
recognised then (while you keep it pressed) it will not
change when extra notes are pressed (for the melody). If you
release the chord keys to make rhythmic moves, then try to
avoid pressing more then two keys at a time until the chord
keys are pressed again. Another way to prevent unwanted chord
changes is to use a MIDI footswitch to switch chordfixation
on and off, define the controller type of the footpedal in
Preferences>LiveControl>Fixation.
To play chords with a set of MIDI bass pedals
choose single fingered (Yamaha) mode and assign the
"minor pedal" function (Preferences - Live control)
to the highest C key of the MIDI pedals. Program your MIDI
pedals to send notes below the range of your keyboard. Assign
the chord area to the range of the MIDI pedals. In stead of
using the high C of the MIDI pedals you can also assign the
minor key to a sustain pedal or something else. When you
press a bass pedal then a major chord will be activated. But
if you press the minor pedal then the text "MINOR"
will appear in the chord display. This means that the next
bass pedal pressed will be a minor chord. You will have to
repeat the minor pedal before each chord. If you pressed it
unintended then you can press it again to correct it.
In MIDI accordions the chord buttons produce
full fingered chord notes on a channel different from the
channel used by the melody keys. Define this "Chord
channel" in the Preferences window and there will
be no problem with an overlapping chord and melody area.
In full fingered mode the C chord types are:
C C E
G
C6 C E
G A
CMaj7 C E G B
CMaj7(#11) C E F# B
Cadd(9) C E G D
CMaj7(9) C E D B
C6(9) C E D A
Caug C E G#
Cm C Eb G
Cm6 C Eb G A
Cm7 C Eb (G) Bb
Cm7b5 C Eb F# Bb
Cmadd(9) C Eb G D
Cm7(9) C Eb D Bb
Cm7(11) C Eb F Bb
CmMaj7 C Eb G B
CmMaj7(9) C Eb D B
Cdim C Eb F#
Cdim7 C Eb F# A
C7 C E
(G) Bb
C7sus4 C F G Bb
C7b5 C E F# Bb
C7(9) C E D Bb
C7(#11) C E F# Bb
C7(13) C E A Bb
C7(b9) C E C# Bb
C7(b13) C E G# Bb
C7(#9) C E Eb Bb
CMaj7aug C E G# B
C7aug C E G# Bb
Csus4 C F G
C1+2+5 C D G