These four audio files accompany my workshop article in SOS July 2023 about how to use Cubase’s Chorder MIDI plug-in to create easy-to-trigger Lo-Fi chord voicings.
cubase_12_lofi_with_chorder_audio_example_01.mp3
This example simply plays through the C major key chord set described in the main article. Starting on the C trigger note, you hear C, Cmaj7 and Cmaj9 chords, followed by Dm, Dm7 and Dm9, and so on. More colourful (harmonically complex) chords are popular in Lo-Fi music styles. All the chords were triggered via Chorder using the Interval Mode and the full chord output was then recorded to a MIDI clip for subsequent playback. a simple drumbeat is included to provide a musical context/tempo. I’ve excluded the various Bdim chords because…. well, just because!
cubase_12_lofi_with_chorder_audio_example_02.mp3
In this audio example you can hear a simple chord pattern Cmaj9-Dm9-Cmaj9-Dm9 played through three times. The first time through, you can hear the simple ‘stacked’ versions of these 5-note chords as described in the main article. The second pass used 2nd inversions of the same chords and the sound seems more ‘closed’ and intimate. On the third pass, more open chord voicings have been used, providing a fuller, more expansive, sound. The different versions of the chord were held on different layers in a single instance of Chorder and could therefore be easily triggered using Velocity or Interval modes. Again, a simple drumbeat is included for context/tempo.
cubase_12_lofi_with_chorder_audio_example_03.mp3
This audio example follows the same format as the previous one but uses a chord sequence that incorporates a greater number of the 9th chords within the key. The first time through, you can hear the simple ‘stacked’ versions of these 5-note chords as described in the main article. The second pass used 2nd inversions of the same chords and the sound seems more delicate. On the third pass, more open chord voicings have been used, providing a fuller, more expansive, sound. The different versions of the chord were held on different layers in a single instance of Chorder and could therefore be easily triggered using Velocity or Interval modes. Again, a simple drumbeat is included for context/tempo.
cubase_12_lofi_with_chorder_audio_example_04.mp3
This final audio example brings all these Chorder-based chord variations together into a musical context. a simple four-bar chord progression is cycled multiple times but, on each pass, different voicings of the chords are used in different combinations to add musical variety. In addition to a simple drumbeat, for a little extra context, a simple bass line has also been added, alongside some other Lo-Fi-style sound elements and processing, all of which could make a suitable topic for a future workshop column.
