- CLab will now automatically set the screen resolution to 256 colors and reinstate the original resolution after it is quit.
Changes to ChordLab for version 1.5.1
- Fixed a bug in play back window that had the add and subtract buttons confused.
- Fixed a bug that could hang unregistered version when opening files.
Changes to ChordLab for version 1.5
The main change in ChordLab is very global and effects the entire application. ChordLab now creates documents.
These documents are song forms and can be saved to disk. Additionally these documents can be saved as
QuickTime™ Movies. The latter is very important since the QuickTime™ MoviePlayer exists on nearly any Mac
and is free. MoviePlayer also offers an option to convert to standard MIDI file format which is important because:
- These formats are readable on both Windows 95 and MacOS machines. This is useful for teachers since
they can give these files to students for use at home.
- The MIDI file format can be imported into Mac based applications like Eazy Vision, CakeWalk,
Performer and Finale and many more. A nice use for ChordLab here is to create background tracks
using specific chord voicings and inversions instead of dragging some lines.
The new play back window displays up to 64 chord objects that can be set individually (root, quality, inversion, voicing ).
These songforms can be played using up to 3 different instruments (chords, bass, metronome) -
which are all selectable in the instruments preference dialog and may be turned on or off.
The speed of the metronome can be adjusted in the play back window as well as the amount of
clicks per measure ( 1 - 8 ).
other changes for version 1.5
• Clicking any note in the display window will play that note while the mouse button is down.
• ChordLab now remembers the last chord shown at start-up and will not longer default to C maj.
• You can now change the root of a chord using the keyboard. Just type the letter while holding 'option'
for flat or 'shift' for sharp if needed.
• There is no longer a delay between clicking a button and hearing the chord (latency problem). The default
for Auto Play has thus been changed to checked.
A word about MIDI: We don't really support MIDI - we only support QuickTime™.
However, it is possible and sometimes preferable to use ChordLab and redirect the output to a synthesizer ( ChordLab
itself cannot receive any signals ).
Here is one way that worked for us:
Get Appple's MidiManager install it and restart. You also need QuickTime 2.5 and system 7.5. Make sure that a GM synth is
connected to a port and select the QuickTime™ Settings control panel. Select the port and tada, that's it. You need to disable
local control on your synth and figure out on what channels it receives ChordLab on. It took us about 10 minutes to get
going with a Kurzweil. We were not able to receive the rhythm part but the rest went well. The main use for MIDI is probably for the ear training module. Remember that your synthesizer should support General Midi.
