chords2midi
Given it a chord progression, get a MIDI file!
It even has voice leading!
Take your MIDI file, drop it into your favorite DAW and make a beat! Or two.
Installation
$ pip install chords2midi
Usage
$ c2m I V vi IV --key C
$ ls
C-I-V-vi-IV.mid
More usage:
$ c2m I V vi iii IV I IV V --key D --bpm 128 --octave 5 --duration .25 # Pachabel's Canon in D, Staccato EDM Version
$ ls
D-I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V-128.mid
You can also use named chords directly:
$ c2m Am Em F G --bpm 80
$ ls
Am-Em-F-G-80.mid
You can place rests with X
:
$ c2m I X V X vi X IV
You can also reverse formats, so you can easily transpose into a different key:
$ c2m C D E --key C --reverse
I II III
Further options:
usage: c2m.py [-h] [-B] [-b BPM] [-t OCTAVE] [-i INPUT] [-k KEY] [-n NOTES]
[-d DURATION] [-D] [-H HUMANIZE] [-o OUTPUT] [-O OFFSET]
[-p PATTERN] [-r] [-v]
[U [U ...]]
chords2midi - Create MIDI files from written chord progressions.
positional arguments:
U Please supply chord progression!. See --help for more
options.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-B, --bassline Throw an extra bassline on the pattern
-b BPM, --bpm BPM Set the BPM (default 80)
-t OCTAVE, --octave OCTAVE
Set the octave(s) (ex: 3,4) (default 4)
-i INPUT, --input INPUT
Read from an input file.
-k KEY, --key KEY Set the key (default C)
-n NOTES, --notes NOTES
Notes in each chord (default all)
-d DURATION, --duration DURATION
Set the chord duraction (default 1)
-D, --directory Output the contents to the directory of the input
progression.
-H HUMANIZE, --humanize HUMANIZE
Set the amount to "humanize" (strum) a chord, in ticks
- try .11 (default 0.0)
-o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
Set the output file path. Default is the current key
and progression in the current location.
-O OFFSET, --offset OFFSET
Set the amount to offset each chord, in ticks.
(default 0.0)
-p PATTERN, --pattern PATTERN
Set the pattern. Available patterns: basic2, basic4,
hiphop, basic, alt, alt4, alt2
-r, --reverse Reverse a progression from C-D-E format into I-II-III
format
-v, --version Display the current version of chords2midi
Common Progressions
The classic:
$ c2m I V vi IV
50's progression:
$ c2m I vi IV V
12 bar blues:
$ c2m I I I I IV IV I I V V I I
or:
$ c2m I I I I IV IV I I V VI I V
Smoke on the water:
$ c2m ii IV V
Wild thing:
$ c2m I IV V IV
Flamenco:
$ c2m vi V VI V
Gently weeps:
$ c2m ii I V6 VIIb VI
Sad:
$ c2m vi IV I V
Neo-soul:
$ c2m ii7 V9 I7
Hot Chip:
$ c2m Cm Bb Fm Cm Eb Bb G Cm --bpm 125 --pattern alt2
House:
$ c2m I VII V VI
EDM:
$ c2m VI IV I V
or
$ c2m VI IV V I // or basically any order of these chords
Country:
$ c2m I vi IV V
$ c2m I ii V I
$ c2m I IV I vi V IV I
Frank Ocean:
$ c2m IV7 ii7 iii7 vi IV7 iii7 III7 ii
$ c2m iv III VIII i
Alice Deejay:
$ c2m E D#m G#m F# --bpm 137
The Chad Basic Music Theory Producer:
$ c2m vi IV III V
Doo-Wop:
$ c2m I vi IV V
$ c2m I vi bVI V; # Bridge!
And lots more!
Playback
If you're on OSX:
$ brew install timidity
$ timidity your-midi.mid
Related
- UltimateTemplate - Production-ready Ableton Live project templates.
- ADGMaker - Make Ableton ADG instruments from Free Philharmonia Orchestra samples
Rich Jones, 2018. MIT.