The Ultimate Creative Block Unlock

05/07/2024

By Craig Anderton

You've probably seen ads for packs of MIDI chords that claim to help you write hits that will make your listeners' jaws drop in amazement as they bask in the awesomeness of your musical talent. But save your money-Studio One's Chord Track is a fantastic way to help sketch out songs, as well as smash creative blocks. Best of all, you don't need to understand music theory like chords, harmonies, and intervals. All you need is ears and the ability to say I like that or I don't like that, so I'll try something else. Let's explore one way to have the Chord Track work for you.

Setup

1. Create a new Song, and open the Chord track (fig. 1).

Figure 1: Click on the icon circled in orange and then choose Chords.

2. Choose the Paint tool. The goal is to fill the Chord Track with 1 measure chords. Click in each measure with the Paint tool to enter a C major chord (fig. 2). Tip: You can copy and paste the chords to fill the Chord Track faster.

Figure 2: The Paint tool is entering a C chord. The Chord Track's Inspector shows the chords that have been entered.

3. Insert an Instrument, like Mai Tai. This will be the playback engine for the chord progressions you create. Then, hit F4 to open the instrument's Inspector and choose Narrow for Follow Chords (fig. 3).

Figure 3: After entering an instrument to play the chords, choose Narrow for the Inspector's Follow Chords parameter. Also try the Parallel follow mode at some point, which gives different voicings.

4. Drag the chords from the Chord Track into the Instrument track. Now each measure has a C major chord in it (fig. 4).

Figure 5: Drag the chords into the Instrument track to create MIDI data that corresponds to the chords.

Playing with Chords

Now we can play around with chord progressions.

5. Double-click on a chord in the Chord Track. When the Chord Selector opens, click on a chord. Fig. 5 shows adding an F Major 7 with an added 11th at the 5th measure. Note that you don't need to know any theory, just click on options and see if you like the way they sound. And even if you do know theory, clicking around in a spirit of experimentation can free you from creative ruts.

Figure 5: A C major chord is being replaced with an F7 Major Chord that includes an added 11th interval.

6. To move to the next chord, click on the Edit Next Chord arrow (fig. 6). The arrow to its left moves you to the previous chord. You can also modify any chord in the Chord Track just by double-clicking on it. After selecting the chord to edit, click on a new chord from the Chord Selector. Then, play back the progression to hear if you like the new chord. If not, choose a different one.

Figure 6: You can navigate through the chord progression by using the next/previous chord arrows.

7. Although the Instrument track notes show the chords from the Chord Track, the underlying notes remain the C major chords that were placed originally. To finalize your progression, select all the measures of MIDI notes, then type G to merge them into a single Event. Next, right-click on the Event and choose Musical Functions > Freeze Pitch (fig. 7). In the Inspector, turn off Follow Chords as it's not needed anymore. The chord changes are now permanent.

Figure 7: Freezing pitch preserves the Note Event pitches created by the Chord Track.

Additional Tips

A measure might be too long for a chord change you want. If so, use the Split tool to create a shorter chord by splitting an existing chord. Split the Instrument track in the same place, so that the Event is the same duration as the shorter chord. Now you can change the shortened chord.

The Chord Selector isn't limited to major and minor chords. It has multiple chord types (diminished, augmented, etc.) as well as additional intervals if you want, for example, a G Major 6 instead of a standard G Major.

If you're a fan of crazy atonal chords, no problem. While the Chord Selector is open for a particular chord, click on any of the Chord Selector keyboard's notes to add them to the chord.

LINK:	https://blog.presonus.com/2024/07/05/the-ultimate-creative-block-unloc...
	See more stories from presonus

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

08/01/2026

RTVE selects Alfalite Neopix for its first broadcast depl...

Spain's national public broadcaster, RTVE, has upgraded one of its main television production facilities in Madrid with the installation of two Alfalite NEO...

08/01/2026

Richard E. Wiley to Step Down as Media Institute's Chairman

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard...

08/01/2026

Cineverse Acquires Giant Worldwide

Share Share by: Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Pinterest Flipboard...

08/01/2026

Maxon Introduces Cinebench 2026

Maxon's new release of Cinebench features performance enhancements and adds support for the latest Nvidia and AMD GPUs as well as Apple Silicon. Maxon is t...

08/01/2026

Zixi Accelerates Global Growth with Appointment of Heathe...

Zixi, the industry leader in IP-based video transport and orchestration, today announced the appointment of Heather Mellish as Vice President, Global Sales. In...

08/01/2026

Pebble future-proofs playout at Canal Sur

Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, has provided a complete update of its installation at Canal Sur in Spain. ...

08/01/2026

Panasonics success in US market with Flagship Z95B OLED T...

iWedia, a global leader in software solutions for connected TV devices, proudly announces the success of its collaboration with Panasonic on the Z95B OLED TV, o...

08/01/2026

Secuoya Chile Invests in Ikegami UHK-X600 and UHL-X40 Cam...

Secuoya Chile, a leading provider of television content creation and supporting services, has invested in Ikegami UHK-X600 and UHL-X40 broadcast cameras as the ...

08/01/2026

Kiloview Highlights its Integrated AV-over-IP Ecosystem a...

Kiloview, a global leader in AV-over-IP solutions, will showcase its latest innovations at ISE 2026, highlighting the continued evolution of its complete, light...

08/01/2026

iWedia and Realtek Strengthen Collaboration to Shape the...

iWedia, a global leader in software solutions for connected TV devices, and Realtek, a leading global SoC design house, today announced the next phase of their ...

08/01/2026

CJP Broadcast delivers new pitch-side media facility for...

CJP Broadcast has completed a new pitch-side media installation for Cinderford RFC, creating a flexible production setup that supports match coverage, coaching ...

08/01/2026

PlayBox Neo CEO Defines Vision for 2026 after Record Year...

PlayBox Neo further drives momentum in Playout, Streaming, Media Management and Delivery "With a brand new year at PlayBox Neo already off to a flying start, I...

08/01/2026

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Presents Second Annual Commercial Dance BFA Concert

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Presents Second Annual Commercial Dance BFA Conce...

08/01/2026

Parents of murdered Irish woman Kirsty Ward speak out People need to know his name

Tonight, on RT Prime Time at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player Tonight, Prime T...

08/01/2026

It's The Late Late Show Trad Special

The Late Late Show celebrates the very best of traditional Irish music with its first-ever full special dedicated entirely to the tradition Lisa Canny | Kevin...

08/01/2026

Japan Science and Technology Agency Develops NVIDIA-Powered Moonshot Robot for Elderly Care

The next universal technology since the smartphone is on the horizon - and it ma...

08/01/2026

AI Copilot Keeps Berkeley's X-Ray Particle Accelerator on Track

In the rolling hills of Berkeley, California, an AI agent is supporting high-stakes physics experiments at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) particle accelerator....

08/01/2026

DANCING WITH THE STARS - WHO WILL BE THE VICTIM OF THE EARLIEST EVER SERIES ELIMINATION?

It will be murder on the dancefloor when Dancing with the Stars returns this S...

08/01/2026

More Ways to Play, More Games to Love - GeForce NOW Wraps CES With Linux Support, Fire TV App, Flight Stick Controls

NVIDIA is wrapping up a big week at the CES trade show with a set of GeForce NOW...

07/01/2026

SVG Summit 2025: All General Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Summit 2025: All General Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAYThe SVG Summit celebrated its 20th edition with a loaded agendaBy Brandon Costa, Directo...

07/01/2026

NBCU's Brings Rinkside Live' and Courtside Live' Features to Peacock for Legendary February'

NBCU's Brings Rinkside Live' and Courtside Live' Features to Peaco...

07/01/2026

A Defining Moment for Podcasts: Spotify Kicks Off Week of Festivities After Contributing More Than $10 Billion to the Industry

Spotify is launching a week-long celebration spotlighting creators at the center...

07/01/2026

Introducing Listening Activity and Request to Jam in Messages on Spotify

We know people use Spotify not just to listen, but to share the songs, podcasts, and audiobooks they love with their friends and family. When we launched Messag...

07/01/2026

Go Inside Spotify Sycamore Studios, Our New State-of-the-Art Podcast Studio in Hollywood

This week, all eyes are on the podcast industry as the Golden Globes recognizes ...

07/01/2026

Making It Easier for Video Podcasters to Earn on Spotify

Podcasts are stepping onto a new stage this week as the Golden Globes recognize the medium for the first time. To mark this milestone moment, we're hosting ...

07/01/2026

Invitation to Submit Proposals for Micro-Budget Film Projects 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), in collaboration with a distributor, is commissioning new micro-budget fiction feature films and invites eligible...

07/01/2026

For L3Harris, the Action Starts Six Seconds Before Artemis II Lifts Off

NASA's Space Launch System rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022, from Launch Complex 39B at ...