Harmonic Sense has released ChordMate for Windows. ChordMate makes it easy to find the best way to play guitar chords and helps you create beautiful chord charts. The ChordMate search engine supports all common guitar chords, quite a few uncommon Jazz chords, and even allows you to create your own custom chord diagrams. Windows features include:
1). Advanced Filtering. ChordMate not only lists and sorts chord voicings, but also lets you filter them based on your needs. Best new filter rule: you can now specify the bass or top note to ensure your chord progression follows the melody line.
2). Export Diagrams. You can export ChordMate diagrams directly into your favorite editor such as WordPad, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, etc. You can even email diagrams using Outlook. You can create beautiful chord charts in minutes!
3). Customize Your Guitar. Do you use a tuning other than EADGBE? Do you like to use a capo? Do you want to hear how a chord sounds on the banjo? No problem! You can customize ChordMate settings to match your guitar.
You can download a free trial version of ChordMate from the Harmonic Sense website: www.harmonicsense.com. The trial period lasts 14 days. ChordMate for Windows sells for $25.00. ChordMate for Mac sells for $20.00 (Express version) and $40.00 (Pro version).
Supported operating systems: Max OS X Tiger, Max OS X Leopard, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Tags: new release, Windows
May 31, 2009 at 6:22 pm |
Hi, I love the app, but before buying, I am torn, honestly, by the severe lack of guitar chords contained in it.
Everyday chords like F5, A2 (although Aadd9 works), A7sus, Gm9+, etc are visibly missing. I cannot use it by itself without the aid of another guitar chord look up website to learn songs, unfortunately.
How many chords are actually in the program, and are there are there any plans to beef up the chord list to that comparable to mainstream websites for guitar chord look ups?
Thanks!
June 1, 2009 at 12:17 am |
Hi Damon,
We are very customer oriented and implemented many requests as free updates, often within a few days of those requests. We are definitely planning to support more chord types in the future. Here are some details about what we do now:
For the specific chords you mentioned: We don’t support power chords like F5. As you wrote, A2 is the same as Aadd9. The formula for A7sus is (1,#3,5,b7), which is the same as A7#3. I am not sure what you mean by Gm9+; I believe this is the same as Gm9#9.
We support many chord types directly — you can find the full list in the Chord Types window. In most cases, the chord types that you need will be there, maybe under a different name (we need to add better support for the +/- notation). If the chord is not there, there is a good chance that you can construct it from another chord type using alterations. You can take any chord type and alter its formula. Type the chord symbol into the search box, and append the alteration to the chord formula. So above, I altered A7 whose chord formula is (1,3,5,b7) to (1,#3,5,b7) by typing A7#3.
We also support slash chords, for example Dm/C. One area where we need to improve is translating chord names like Gm9+ into altered Gm9#9 automatically.
For the chord types that are supported directly, ChordMate constructs chord voicings according to music theory. For example, ChordMate knows that in a major-minor 7th chord, the 5th or the 3rd are optional, but not both, and it’s better to skip the 5th than the 3rd.
One of the reasons why the number of different chord types that we support directly is a little smaller than some other programs is that we really care about the quality of chord voicings that we provide. If we can’t put some intelligence into the way we search for voicings of a particular chord type, we leave it for generic alterations. The program is not really a database of chords — we search for chord voicings algorithmically, so ChordMate works equally well with alternate tunings.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more questions or need help finding specific chords.
–
Ilya