A couple of questions/suggestions

[binaryoblivion]

I bought Auto Theory when it went on sale at Plugin Boutique this week, and am impressed. I can see Auto Theory being very helpful for someone like me whose knowledge of musical theory is passable, but whose playing leaves something to be desired.

In my first session with Auto Theory I tried to construct both sus2 and sus4 chords so that I could play (for instance) Cmaj, Csus2 and Csus4, which was harder to achieve than I expected.

Making the sus2 was easy enough: In the C Major scale the first black key is automatically assigned to Cmaj, so I disabled the "3" step and enabled the "9(2)" step, tuned down one octave.

The sus4 was trickier. Since the second black key is automatically assigned to a Dm chord when in the C Major scale, I had to "tune" its steps down to arrive at the C + F + G (Csus4) that I wanted. I did this using the following steps (shown in the format step/accidental/octave):

7/-/-1 = C
9(2)/#/-1 = F
11(4)/-/-1 = G

After doing that I could play Cmaj on the first white key, Csus2 on the first black key, and Csus4 on the second black key.

I have a couple of suggestions that would make mixing and matching chords like this easier.

1. The ability to specify the base note/chord for any key. The main problem I ran into is the fact that I could not figure out how to override the default chord mapping (e.g. Cmaj on first white and black keys, Dm on second white and black keys). What I wanted was for the second black key to be a Cmaj chord, not a Dm chord. That would have made creating my Csus4 much easier.

2. Note labels in the Chord Editor. Another thing that would have made my task easier is if the steps in the chord editor showed which note they are mapped to. Currently their labels show what step in the scale they are mapped to (e.g. 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 13). This is obvious helpful, but how about also showing the actual note the steps are mapped to? (e.g. D, F, A, C, G, E). If that label were to also change as accidentals and octaves are applied to the step, it would have made tuning my Dm to a Csus4 a cinch.

Perhaps this is possible already? If not then I hope that Mozaic will consider my suggestions for a future release.

[Mozaic36]

Hi, and thanks for your thoughts. We have an update coming in the Spring which will feature significant workflow enhancements. One of these will be open chord assignment within the Chord Generator, so that any chord can be assigned to any key which answers your first idea. Your second idea is also interesting. We will definitely consider it for the update. My only concern would be that it would add a lot of information to a function that already has a lot of information... Although the people who use the editor are probably much more able to deal with the increased info.

Cheers!

[binaryoblivion]

That is awesome to hear!

If open chord assignment is implemented then my second suggestion (note labels) is less relevant. I know that it would potentially make the the interface more clunky, though a button to toggle between step numbering (as is currently the case) and note lettering (as I have suggested) might eliminate the clutter.

But in any case open chord assignment pretty much solves the problem, and I am thrilled to hear that it is planned for the next release!