Ableton Chord Randomiser

Sometimes when trying to build an chord progression or chord melody you seem to just jump instinctively for the same chord, for me its the Minor 7th. While I would say this is my and many peoples favourite chord it does end up with your ideas sounding rather similar to everyone else. 

So to help breath new life into your stale chord progressions and chord melodies we at Mind Flux have built a chord randomiser which with the selection of over 80 chord variations will output a new chord at the rate and depth of your choice. 

Whats In the Midi Effects Rack

The chord randomiser is build up of 4 parts.

First is the chord selector which gives you over 80 chords and variations helping you to quickly adjust your melodies and pads from a basic triad to a something a little more unusual like a minor seventh flat five.

The second part is the main randomiser which use’s Ableton amazing LFO midi tool, which you can find in the max for live, midi effects section. This powerful midi effect is use to flick through at a rate and amount of your choice creating chord variations on the fly.

Up next is the scale selector which is usual to help stay in tune with the rest of your track. The scale selector has all the major and minor scales that you you would need. Also there is a off button for those of us wanting to break the rules. 

Lastly we used some extra tools from the Ableton 10 midi effects (and max for live midi effects) to help create more randomisation. You can randomise the incoming note pitch, timing and velocity to creating an array of melodic variations. 

How to use the Midi Effects Rack

Chord Selector1: This macro is fixed to the randomiser and therefore can not be moved but it can be controlled via the chord selector 2

Random Amount: Controls the depth of the chord selection, at 0% the randomisation is of. At 100% it will scan through a choose 1 of the 80+ chords. You can think of this as the range of randomisation. 

Rate: This is the speed at which the chord selector 1 is changed and outputs a new chord.

Chord Selector2: Here you can offset where the randomiser starts scanning from. With the random amount at 0% you can also use it to set the exact chord you want to use.

Scale Selector: With this macro you can stop things going out of tune by applying a scale to the output of the chords. At 0 there is no scale. 

Totally Random: Use this to randomise the in coming note. This can help great unique melodies and chord progressions. 

Random Velocity: You can also randomise the volume of the incoming midi note.

Random Wave: Lastly you can change the waveform of the LFO/Randomiser.

If you like the sounds in the preview the preset comes from Mind Flux’s Wavetable Techno Presets and the drums are from Dark Warehouse Techno.

Please note you will need Ableton Live 10 to have this Midi Effects range. The two max for live audio/midi effects are the LFO2.0 which is in the max for live essentials. And the Max Humaniser you can download here.