What this means in practice is that you can experiment and play around with the harmony of a piece, retaining the home key but borrowing chords from parallel modes to add harmonic varietyy. This can be accessed either through tapping/clicking the on-screen controls or using your computer keyboard if you prefer a faster workflow. The way interface works is to show clearly what note are changing as you replace a diatonic chord with a borrowed one.
To begin with, select major key for your home from the dropdown menu. These range from C major through to B major. Then select one of parallel modes of harmony from the row of buttons below. These will have a shared tonic with your home key but a different structure in terms of scales. For instance, Aeolian provides you with ability to play minor chords which bring a shadowy feel to major key.
How to Use the Chord Tool
The orange highlighting on the specimens of chords shows where there are notes not included in your home major scale. Click on any chord and you will hear it played along with a breakdown of what notes makes up that chord and an analysis of its Roman numerals. It will also work out the number of ‘outside’ tones relative to base home key, as well as the amount of voice movement required to arrive at this new harmonic sound. The lens is adjustable so you can view the chord in its closest voicing, root position, first and second inversions. Nearest voicing minimize the distance each voice must move from previous chord.
With the color selected, hit the Bottle this color button and it will store that chord in your rack of up to eight chords. From there, you can create a brief progression. When you’ve got some bottled, press Trace the voice-led rack and it will play the progression back for you. Additionally, you could of hit the Contrast diatonic degree button. This compares the borrowed chord with corresponding major scale chord on same degree, so you can realy hear where the borrowed chord creates the color change.
The Harmonic color prism helps you visualize how the borrowed chords relates to your home tonic. Click Refract through tonic to hear the home chord play. You will hear each chord in your rack and then return to the home chord. It forms a clear loop which shows you how colors borrow and bend their way back to original tone. Use the Return last bottle button to undo your last addition, or use Empty the rack to clear your entire rack.
There are also pre-built recipes to start you off quickly. Load a proven chord progression like Backdoor descent, Lydian skylight, or Minor-plagal shadow. The recipes will populate your rack and instantly play it out for you to hear how various modes can drives functional harmony. Then tweak them as you like, swapping out chords here and there with fresh choices from the specimen bench.
The widget can be navigated by clicking or tapping on screen, or easily via keyboard for keyboard players. Arrow keys jumps from sample to sample across the seven chords. Tab jumps focus from control to control. The active control is triggered via either Spacebar or Enter. The seven chords in the grid are quickly picked with the number key of their corresponding chord. Press B to bottle the selected chord. Press U to return to the previous chord. Press A to contrast it with the diatonic chord. Press R to start the color prism refraction.
Use the slider to adjust the overall volume so it blends nicely with other sound sources. Also, tap the fullscreen button to clear out any distraction and just focus on exploring chords. A click on the help panel reveals a quick overview of all controls as you go along.
Try experimenting with different modes and see how the emotional impact of your progressions shifts when they take on a mixolydian or dorian flavor. Begin with a basic major progression, hold it steady then borrow one of the chords to discover the change in mood it brings. Listen for the closest voicing option that provides smooth voice leading. Pay attention to where the outside tones adds tension and release.
How does this translate from abstract comparisons of modes into concrete musical ideas? The beauty is that you can easily hear the theory at work. Now go and start developing your own harmonic palette.