AudioTheory Guitars version 1.17.0 includes several new features and improvements. Let's have a look at what's new:
Chord Reordering
Whilst some of the updates have predominantly focused around a single big feature, this one is more of a collection of smaller improvements. Still, chord reordering is perhaps the most exciting new addition. It's simple but useful, when hovering over chords in the main application 'chord box' you will see a new arrow icon. You can click and drag the chord using this icon, allowing you to quickly reorder the selection of chords.
Relative Note Naming
Back in the 1.13.0 update, Fixed do solfège was added in as an alternate format for displaying the note names. As an extension of this I have now added in two further options for the names to display using relative values. These are movable do solfège (Do Re Mi...) and relative Roman numerals (I II III...). Both display the notes relative to the selected scale preset, making them useful for understanding or learning a new scale.
When using relative names you will notice a combination of uppercase and lowercase characters. These can be used to quickly see the pattern of major/ minor and diminished chords within the scale. For example, a major scale goes For example a major scale goes...
I – major
ii – minor
iii – minor
IV – major
V – major
vi° – dim
DSP Latency Settings
I've added in some new optimisations to the app's latency settings (this is the fractional delay between input and playback). The DSP buffer size can now be configured (between 1024 and 32 samples) in the settings, with the idea being that a lower buffer size will result in less latency, but as this requires more CPU power you may incur audio distortions if it's reduced too much.
The buffer also now starts out at a platform-optimised size, meaning latency has been reduced without the need to adjust the settings, however full control is now available to tweak this further.
Hotkeys
Some hotkeys are now in place to optimise control of the app:
Num keys 1–4: quickly swamp note languages
1 – English
2 – Fixed Do solfège
3 – Relative Roman numerals
4 – Movable Do solfège
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –O: Open preset from file
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –S: Save preset to file
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) Shift –O: Toggle keyboard overlay view
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) Shift –M: Toggle mute
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –K: Toggle QWERTY keyboard input
Ctrl (Windows)/Cmd (Mac) –L: Toggle lock to scale
And the rest...
Here's a quick round-up of everything else that's changed:
- Improved MIDI response for highlighting. This works alongside the latency settings to improve MIDI input support for the app.
- Optimisations have been made to how note presses are handled as well as how the app buttons work. This results in a slight performance boost.
- The saved file name is no longer displayed if the save dialogue box is cancelled
- Fix for scale highlighting overlapping with note selection box at reduced application widths
- The 'set from chords' button now updates to a specific scale preset if a match is found
- Fixed a bug where one of the Grapefruit synth high C notes played at the wrong octave
- App now launches in windowed mode as default (once it's been run once it will continue to load using the last used resolution settings)
That's all for today, thanks for reading.
Fraser