Sounds

As you navigate around the workspace making selections in different areas of ChordWizard, it normally plays the sounds of chordshapes, chords and scales automatically.

You have several options for changing the way sounds are played, including the voice and timing used for chords and scales.

Step-By-Step

Step 1

First we will change the voice used to play instrument sounds.

This is a setting stored in the Instrument page of the Library Options window, which you can open with either of:

Tool Bar:

Menu: Options-Library

The Instrument page is the first in the Library Options window, and is initially active.

Step 2

Towards the top right side of the Instrument page are two settings, Voice and Chord, that affect sound.

The voice is the actual sound of the instrument. As you can see, it is currently set to Nylon Guitar (the 24 in brackets after it is the MIDI number of this voice). Usually the most appropriate voice is automatically selected for whatever instrument the library is based on.

However you can choose from several other guitar types, and also use the sounds of completely different instruments.

Each time you change the voice, you can test its sound immediately with the Play Instrument button.

The Chord setting can be set to either Strum or Arpeggio. A strum is where all notes of a chord or chordshape are played at the same time and overlap. This best suits guitar and other instruments which play backing chords.

An arpeggio is where the notes of a chord or chordshape are played forwards and then backwards in sequence without overlapping. This best suits bass guitar, and other low-pitched instruments which typically play bass lines.

Step 3

Close the Library Options window by pressing OK.

Other settings which affect sound are in the Sound page of the Workspace Options window, which you can open with either of:

Tool Bar:

Menu: Options-Workspace

The Sound page is the fourth page in the Workspace Options window. Click its tab to activate it.

Step 4

At the top right is an Instrument Volume slider, which will change the loudness of instrument sounds played within ChordWizard. It is measured as a percentage of the maximum possible volume.

Step 5

On the right, is a group of dropdown lists which control the timing of notes in chordshapes, chords and scales.

The Strum, Arpeggio and Scale controls change the speed of these sounds, and are measured in beats per minute (bpm), where a higher number makes the strum, arpeggio or scale faster.

The Note Sustain control specifies how long the notes of a strum, or the last note of an arpeggio or scale will hold before finishing. It is measured in seconds or milliseconds.

The Test Sound buttons let you sample a strum, arpeggio or scale sound with the current settings. If you make a change to a setting, you need to press the Apply button to reset the sound system before the test buttons are enabled.