ACIDPower!

Key and Chord Progressions

Some aspects of the book could not be expressed in print. This shouldn't really be much of a surprise, considering the book is about music. As a companion to the book, the following resources should make a number of examples presented in Chapters 3 and 4 much more clear. These examples are not High Art folks, but are instead intended to illustrate basic concepts. Instant songs: just add your own beats and bass!

The Blues
The most basic twelve-bar blues pattern is illustrated with this project: blues_fin.acd. This is what it sounds like: blues_fin.mp3 (565KB).

Jazz
Blues begat jazz and here is a simple jazz progression: jazz.acd. This is what it sounds like: jazz.mp3 (409KB).

Pop/Rock
And eventually rock was born. This more complex project not only shows a typical (read: boring) pop progression, but also illustrates the use of breaks, rolls and a cheesy big finale: pop_break.acd-zip (229KB). This is what it sounds like: pop_break.mp3 (798KB). NOTE: this project also contains a loop file (thus the size) since ACID does not allow you to save projects beyond 1:20 without loops.

Synth Pop
Here is a very simple happy-sounding syth pop key progression project: pads_fin.acd. When the project is populated with the appropriate loops, in this case major and minor pads, you can hear how the key and chord changes combine to create and release tension: pads_fin.mp3 (690KB).

Chorded Loops
You can create chords and chord progressions in ACID by stacking a single loop over multiple tracks and pitch shifting individual loops. There are inherent limitations to this technique and it is not particularly easy. This MP3 major-minor-dm7.mp3 (424KB) shows what this might sound like. Each chord is composed of non-chorded loops. Some go from major to minor in a progression and a few also stray into Diminished 7ths.

Round/Canon
"Are you sleeping?" in MIDI form is used to deconstruct the round in ACID: ays.acd-zip. The first time through, each part sings through the entire song. The second time through, each voice only repeats one short phrase in the round over and over.

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