VisiChord Chord Visualizer Abstract

Adrian Mettler, Gabriel Neer, Erika Rice, Jeff Scherpelz

1 Statement of Problem

The chord visualizer will be used to display chords both on a piano keyboard diagram and in music staff notation. Chords can be input via the keyboard, mouse, from a file or via MIDI input device. Chords can be transcribed, played, edited and saved to a file via the interface.

2 Appearance

The program display will have a musical staff consisting of treble and bass clefs. Underneath the staff, a keyboard will show highlighted keys corresponding to the notes of the currently selected chord. Above each chord on the staff a name may be displayed. At the top of the screen a title may also be displayed. An arrow indicates the currently selected chord. Up to four chords can be displayed at once. If there are more than four chords entered, the staff can scroll to display the other chords. The screen can be cleared using a `Clear' button.

3 Input

Chords can be entered one note at a time using the mouse. Individual notes are entered by clicking on the staff line or a piano key. Flats and sharps for each note can also be specified. Clicking on a note or the highlighted keyboard key will remove the note from the chord.

Additionally, chords can be input via the keyboard by entering a standard designation, e.g., D4. As the notes are input they will be displayed so the user can edit typos. Flats and sharps are specified using `b' and `#', respectively. Spaces are optional between notes, and the end of a chord is indicated by the user pressing Enter.

Chords can also be specified in a text file to be loaded by the program. The file will specify each chord as a sequence of notes in standard designation, grouped within parentheses. Optionally a chord name can be specified before the chord. The first line of the file is the title which appears at the top of the display.

Finally, chords can be input via a MIDI device. A new note is added to the chord as long as one key is held down. A chord is ended when all keys are released.

4 Miscellaneous

There are a number of other features the program will include.

Chords can be transposed by clicking and dragging a chord up or down on the staff.
Chords can be saved to a file to be loaded later.
Chord names and the title can be edited by clicking on the fields.
Chords can be replayed when selected.

This document was translated from L^AT_EX by H^EV^EA.