Understand the chords in your song

Introducing KORD Detect, a Max for Live device which lets you figure out which chords are being played in a midi clip.

Just select a midi clip in arrangement or session view and press Detect, the clip will be renamed with the chords found in the harmonic analysis. If you wish to have the midi clip sliced by chord, just toggle on the Slice option.

Overlaps

It works with overlapping chords too! The chord detection algorithm has been improved in version 3 to recognise overlapping chords.

A new SPLIT / MERGE toggle has been added, which affects the way that chords are recognised depending on sustained notes and notes which go in and out. This only has an effect when the Slice option isn't active.

With SPLIT toggled, there will be more chords named depending on the note overlaps.

With MERGE toggled, every overlapping note will be merged into one chord.

Key detection

Having the chord names is great, but figuring out which key they are in and their position is even better. Toggle the Key option to add the key the chord is in, this option will also show the position in terms of Modes that the chord has.

Inversions

KORD Detect can also name inversions correctly and figure out the correct position within a key.

f.ex a chord with C E A in the C Major key will have the Am/C name and the "vi" position assigned to it

This is how it works

KORD Detect is a M4L audio effect so you can add it to any track. Just click the open button and a floating window will stay afloat with controls.

Troubleshooting

#1: KORD Detect doesn't seem to work

To verify that KORD Detect works, create a MIDI clip with a C Major chord inside (C E G) and press "Detect". If the clip isn't renamed to "C Major", please reach out.

Verified systems

Live 12 / 11 running on:

• macOS Sonoma on a M2 arm chip

Release notes

Version 3.0.0 - Chord detection overhaul. Note overlapping allowed. Error feedback shown in device.

Version 2.0.0 - New naming options

Version 1.3.0 - Added naming customization options

Version 1.2.0 - Slicing bug fixes

Version 1.1.0 - The slicing algorithm has been improved and it should handle more diverse note configurations

Version 1.0.0 - Initial release

Support

Any issues? Contact our support at machinelies@proton.me