Chord Change

Chord Change is a Max For Live device for exploring chord progressions in Ableton Live. Load a short loop with one or multiple MIDI tracks and create progressions in real-time using the progression graph interface.

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How It Works

Dragging the progression graph up or down moves all notes in the clips by scale degrees, not chromatic steps. This means the harmonic relationships stay intact while creating chord progressions that sound musical. 

Beyond basic scale steps, Chord Change includes passing chords based on music theory - letting you experiment with out-of-scale harmonies that create interesting chord movements.

Basic Workflow

  • Make sure you have 1 or more midi clips composed in the same key, like C minor. These are your “source clips”

  • Enable “Scale Mode” on your source clips and make sure they are placed within the same loop in the Arrangement View

  • Drag the device to a new track

  • Click “Sync” to get an initial progression based on your source clips

  • Click the progression span button (the button label displays the current progression loop) to move the Live loop to your progression

  • Start Live playback and click and drag in the progression graph to create segments and change the scale degree. Notes are directly moved in your progression and you can hear the result in real time as you play your progression as a loop.

Additional Features

  • If you have multiple loops in the Arrangement view, select which source material to use
  • Transpose Mode options (parallel, parallel minimum movement, voice lead, fixed)
  • Option to keep melody notes when you have a clip with both melodic notes and chords
  • Set source and progression keys manually
  • Settings for working in the progression graph (segment length, duplicate, add)
  • Passing Chord options: 

    • Minor Chromatic, Diminished Chromatic, Secondary Dominant, Chromatic Dominant, Altered Dominant, Backdoor Dominant, Subdominant Minor, Double Dominant, Whole Tone Dominant, Common Tone Diminished

  • Snap shot to save and recall your progressions while working

System Requirements

  • Mac OS (Sierra or later), or Windows 10/11
  • Ableton Live 11/12 Suite, or Live 11/12 Standard with Max For Live 8 as an add-on license
  • RAM: minimum 8GB, recommended 8GB+

User Manual and Release Notes

Chord Change Manual

Chord Change Release Notes

Screenshots

Chord Change Screenshots