This feature is about the only thing that wants me to upgrade my S950 to the SX900.

I hear very little talk about this feature though. Is anyone using the chord looper? Is it intuitive?

Do you use it live? Do you create your loops before the performance or ahead of time?

Can loops be saved as songs or registrations?

Tell me more!

Hi Paul, we recently discussed the SX900's Chord Looper (and chord sequencers in general) on this thread:
http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthread...x900#Post502630

Since you know how to play two-handed piano you might get a lot of use out of it. FWIW. -Ted

I'm still in the learning stages of using the chord looper. I did find it a little difficult to sync the start of the recorded looper, with playing along live, until I studied this video. I now use it more often, as it's a great tool to have.

Thanks Larry ! Can your loops be saved and recalled later like a SMF or registration?

Thank you Ted. Yes, I would love to do rootless "jazz" voicings, two handed montuno patterns. Also many of the popular songs we do only contain a few chords, no bridges or changes to the chords progression and quite frankly I feel my left could be put to better use than simply directing the auto accompaniment for a few chords.

I’m not sure how it works on Yamaha’s, but one of the little ‘gotchas’ on the Roland chord sequencer is that it doesn’t start recording until you play something…

What this means is that if you try to record a chord loop starting EXACTLY on the first beat played after the Intro, you may be a tiny bit late (or not play it at all if it’s the same chord) and when you repeat the loop, if it doesn’t end on the same chord as you started you get a glitch until the played chord triggers the chord recognition. And it will do it every time the loop goes round, and drive you crazy! So be SURE to play that first chord of the loop as on time as you can.

AFAIK, there are no editors for the CS notes, it would be wonderful to be able to bring it up in a sequencer and quantize or correct anything off before you save, and I always wanted a simple auto quantize feature for live use, so that the chords are nice and tight when the looper takes over. Selectable 8th or 16th value, of course! That would take care of any sloppy input…

If you are preparing chord sequences for future use, there’s no shame in slowing the tempo way down, which will tighten up the timing when you speed back up, and also give you plenty of headroom mentally to make sure you’re getting it right. Especially important if you can’t edit after the fact.

But live, yep, you gotta nail it first time out the block! One thing to try to do is slightly simplify your pass into the Chord Sequencer as it records. You can skip a few extension chords (maj7ths, 6/9’s, 7#9’s etc) and simply add them with what you are playing once the looper is running. This will allow you to vary them at will without clashing with the loop chords. You can even lay down some of the loop with no thirds (if your keyboard recognizes those) which gives you a LOT of flexibility with what you play on top…

A VERY typical use of the CS is with a standard, where, if you are a singer, you would play the head fairly simply while you record the loop and sing the melody. Then, after one head you can turn on the loop, do the second verse sung if you like, and start reharmonizing a bit more, then start blowing solos until you want to finish with the final chorus then ending. Works great with jazz!

If you are faced with a bridge, just record the verse and chorus, loop for second verse, switch off the loop and PLAY the bridge, then go back to the verse/chorus loop. Simple! If you have a song where the bridge goes to a chorus and you are doing it live (not using the Yamaha multi-part CS), play the first verse THEN start recording the loop at the chorus, and record through the end of the second verse. You now have a loop that starts at the chorus, so after you play the bridge, turning on the loop will take you to the chorus… Easy!

Also, if the song ends on repeated choruses, if your loop is recorded chorus first, verse second, all you need to do is turn the loop off in the last bar of the chorus, and then immediately turn it back on again. Repeat for every chorus you need.

The more you mess with them, the more possibilities emerge. Personally, I find playing with styles without a CS is like playing with one hand tied behind my back!