So I was wondering if anyone had any good tips for chord progressions.
I love coming up with funky piano chord combinations but find it to be a bit of a laborious task.
I generally use one of two combos of tools:
Built into Ableton I use scaler and chords tools to come up with chords or I use the VST Improvisator.
Only thing is that the built in Ableton ones are a little lacking in complexity and Improvisator is the most mind bogglingly stupid VST ever. Not because of the fact it doesn’t work - it does and it’s AWESOME. But it’s frustrating because all the notes references keep changing depending on what you click. You can click the same button 3 times and get a different chord each time!
Anyone use any other tools for chord progressions?
Also is there any reference tools out there for me to use once I’ve come up with a simple melody using single notes that I want to turn into chords in the key of that note?
Thanks all
how about using ableton chord plugin as a basis, bounce the midi out and then add / edit the chord prog from there?
my guitar is the best chord progression tool I could ask for.
i find that any chord progression I can rock out to on the guitar translates well 2 dance music.
i do think I should use the ableton chorder but I prefer to just play my own out.
great guitar idea there!
the chord midi effect is pretty great because you can cover a huge wide of notes that you cannot do with 2 hands unless your an “outstanding piano player”. And if you are using a small 2 1/2 oct. key board like i am doing you soon realize that the chord effect is very nice when you only have to hit one key… its just good to know your chord spelings for this tool.
Min. 1 3 7
maj. 1 4 7
in ths vid you will see the ‘tonespace’ in action… 
ooops … forgot to link
http://www.vimeo.com/21147679
[quote]lenners (22/03/2011)[hr]in ths vid you will see the ‘tonespace’ in action…
ooops … forgot to link
http://www.vimeo.com/21147679[/quote]
Cool might give that ago
[quote]Bouffont (21/03/2011)[hr]So I was wondering if anyone had any good tips for chord progressions.
I love coming up with funky piano chord combinations but find it to be a bit of a laborious task.
I generally use one of two combos of tools:
Built into Ableton I use scaler and chords tools to come up with chords or I use the VST Improvisator.
Only thing is that the built in Ableton ones are a little lacking in complexity and Improvisator is the most mind bogglingly stupid VST ever. Not because of the fact it doesn’t work - it does and it’s AWESOME. But it’s frustrating because all the notes references keep changing depending on what you click. You can click the same button 3 times and get a different chord each time!
Anyone use any other tools for chord progressions?
Also is there any reference tools out there for me to use once I’ve come up with a simple melody using single notes that I want to turn into chords in the key of that note?
Thanks all
[/quote]
I use Improvisator when i’m lacking ideas on a progression and just need some random outputs to play with. The changing reference thing you mentioned is frustrating I agree but look at it as the basis for the tool - random outputs! 
The method I use works pretty well, but you need to be patient to get good results. Setup the capture channel and literally just bang away at any old key for about a 60 second loop in your chosen seed key. Then play it back and note the chords you like the sound of then cut and paste the midi notes into a new channel. Then you can play around with the order and length of each chord until you end up with something decent.
DJ In-Transition - that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing - it takes an age though!
I was thinking I might sample the individual notes and map them to a Kontakt patch or something like that, so I’ve got a bunch of funky chords all mapped to the keyboard. Kind of like a super version of the chord plugin
[quote]UnitedVision (21/03/2011)[hr]my guitar is the best chord progression tool I could ask for.
i find that any chord progression I can rock out to on the guitar translates well 2 dance music.
i do think I should use the ableton chorder but I prefer to just play my own out.[/quote]
agreed, guitar is an easy and quick way to come up with interesting progressions. It’s really just about knowing what chords can be played with the key your in, and knowing when to place certain types of chords like 7ths, add 7’s, add 9’s etc. if your building chords based off single note melodies just make a progression based off the mode of the first note in the melody, and try different ideas. hoe this helps a bit
not so much a tip for chord building here … but chord triggering …
using clips, follow action, clip launch modes… just thought I’d post it up…
cool technique to use with chords …
Chord Triggering in Ableton Live - YouTube
The best way to get cool chord progressions is to do the following: Start with basic major and minor chords in a particular key. Move the ROOT of the chord by big intervals (like 4ths or 5ths), and one of the other notes by a smaller interval (like 2nds and 3rds) in any direction and see what you get.
After a while, you’ll start to hear interesting shifts that are subtle and catchy in your experimentations, and you’ll also be learning a bit about theory, which I feel is almost required to have a more advanced sense of how harmony works. And from someone who knows a bit about music theory and history, please stay away from randomizers as a way to get quality musical material in the form of either melody or harmony. The probability of getting something useful from a randomizer is practically off the chart.
The trick to good melodies is crafty work, rework, work, rework, work, rework and then some more work.