Patent Application
20060272486
The present disclosure relates generally to music editing, and more particularly, to methods that edit chords, and related devices.
Traditionally, mobile phone devices play only monotonic ringtones, meaning that only one instrument or one note can be played at a time. To enrich ringtones with more instruments or notes, a mobile phone polyphonic ringer has been developed. With the mobile phone polyphonic ringer, the mobile phones can provide choral ringtones, in which several notes can be played simultaneously.
Conventionally, choral ringtones are edited track by track.
Music editing methods are provided.
In an exemplary embodiment of a music editing method, a tonic chord is received. A group of candidate chords corresponding to the tonic chord is retrieved. One candidate chord is selected, and a music file generated according to the tonic chord and the selected candidate chord.
In an exemplary embodiment of a music editing method, a tonic chord is selected. A plurality of candidate chords corresponding to the tonic chord is automatically retrieved. A chord progressing of a music file on a device is set with the tonic chord and one of the candidate chords in sequence.
Music editing methods may take the form of program code embodied in tangible media. When the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the disclosed method.
The invention will become more fully understood by referring to the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Music editing methods are provided.
When editing a new music file, such as a MIDI file, in step S310, a music editing interface is displayed. The music editing interface could contain an empty polyphonic MIDI editing screen in which 24 chords and several rhythms are listed for selection. Here, the number of chords and rhythms can be predetermined according to users' needs, which is not limited in the present invention. In step S320, by the music editing interface, a plurality of chords and rhythms are displayed for selection. In some embodiments, the display style can be predetermined according to user's preference or a general selecting rate. In some embodiments, the 24 chords comprise 12 majors and 12 minors, such as C, Db, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab, A , Bb, B, c, c#, d, d#, e, f, f#, g, g#, a, bb, and b chords, in which C, Db, D, . . . , and b respectively represent a chord root. It is understood that the uppercase letters represent major chords, the letters in lower case represent minor chords, the superscript “b” represents a flat chord, and the superscript “#” represents a sharp chord. In some embodiments, the chords may be triad chords comprising augmented, major, minor, and diminished chords. It is noted that the augmented, major, minor, and diminished chords are respectively represented by a capital letter with a superscript “+”, a capital letter, a letter in lower case, and a letter in lower case with a superscript “°”. It is understood that the chords are not limited thereto, and other chords, such as seventh chords, ninth chords, eleventh chords, and others can be also applied in the invention.
In step S330, it is determined whether a chord is selected. If not, the procedure remains at step S330. If so, in step S340, the selected chord is provided to the music editing interface. In step S350, it is determined whether the editing process is completed. If not, in step S360, a plurality of candidate chords corresponding to the selected chord are automatically retrieved and displayed in the interface for next selection. Here, the candidate chords corresponding to each selected chord are predetermined. They are arranged according to a basic chord progressing rule stored in a database. Moreover, it is understood that, for the next selection, not only the chord, but also the rhythm for the chord can be changed. That is, the rhythms can be displayed for selection in step S360.
In some embodiments, all chords and rhythms can be performed right after being selected so that users can listen and confirm whether the composition of the selected chords and rhythms is what they want. Steps S330˜S360 repeat until the editing is complete. If the editing is complete, in step S370, a music file comprising the selected rhythms and chords in sequence is generated. Therefore, different from the traditional track-by-track music editing method, the music editing method of the embodiment can generate music simply by selecting preferred chords and rhythms. Furthermore, the listing of candidate chords according to the basic chord progressing rule of the embodiment provides a visible guide to help accomplish the music editing.
If the selected chord is the first chord of the music file the selected chord is set as a tonic chord of the music file, and the candidate chords are retrieved according to the tonic chord and the basic chord progressing rule. It is understood that if a tonic is selected, seven degrees of notes can be determined. Similarly, seven degrees of chords can be determined based on the tonic chord. The first to seventh degree chords are respectively tonic, super-tonic, mediant, sub-dominant, dominant, sub-mediant, and leading-tone chords. Particularly for major tonic chords, the first to seventh degrees of chords corresponding to the tonic chord are I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° chords, respectively. For minor chords, the seven degrees of chords corresponding to the tonic chord are i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° chords, respectively.
The basic chord progressing rule defines to what degree chords can follow with a specific degree chord. FIGS. 4A˜4G are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of a basic chord progressing rule. As shown in FIGS. 4A˜4G, according to the basic chord progressing rule, chords major tonic (I), minor super-tonic (ii), minor mediant (iii), major sub-dominant (IV), major dominant (V), minor sub-mediant (vi), and minor leading-tone (vii°) can follow with chord tonic (I), chords ii, iii, V, and vii° can follow with chord ii, chords iii, IV, and vi can follow with chord iii, chords I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° can follow with chord IV, chords I, V, vi, and vii° can follow with chord V, chords I, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° can follow with chord vi, and chords I, V, vi, and vii° can follow with chord vii°. It is understood that the chord progressing rule is only an example, not limited thereto. In this example, if the tonic chord is selected, a major tonic chord, a minor super-tonic chord, a minor mediant chord, a major sub-dominant chord, a major dominant chord, a minor sub-mediant chord, and a diminished leading-tone chord respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection. If a minor super-tonic chord corresponding to the tonic chord is selected, the minor super-tonic chord, a minor mediant chord, a major dominant chord, and a diminished leading-tone chord, respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection. If a minor mediant chord corresponding to the tonic chord is selected, the minor mediant chord, a major sub-dominant chord, and a minor sub-mediant chord, respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection. If a major sub-dominant chord corresponding to the tonic chord is selected, a major tonic chord, a minor super-tonic chord, a minor mediant chord, the major sub-dominant chord, a major dominant chord, a minor sub-mediant chord, and a diminished leading-tone chord, respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection. If a major dominant chord corresponding to the tonic chord is selected, a major tonic chord, the major dominant chord, a minor sub-mediant chord, and a diminished leading-tone chord, respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection. If a minor sub-mediant chord corresponding to the tonic chord is selected, a major tonic chord, a minor mediant chord, a major sub-dominant chord, a major dominant chord, the minor sub-mediant chord, and a diminished leading-tone chord, respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection. If a diminished leading-tone chord corresponding to the tonic chord is selected, a major tonic chord, a major dominant chord, a minor sub-mediant chord, and the diminished leading-tone chord, respectively corresponding to the tonic chord, are automatically retrieved for selection.
In some embodiments, if the tonic chord is C, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are C, d, e, F, G, a and b°, respectively. If the tonic chord is Db, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are Db, eb, f, Gb, Ab, bb and c°, respectively. If the tonic chord is D, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are D, e, f#, G, A, b and c#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is Eb, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are Eb, f, g, Ab, Bb, c and d°, respectively. If the tonic chord is E, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are E, f#, g#, A, B, C# and d#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is F, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are F, g, a, Bb, C, d and e°, respectively. If the tonic chord is F#, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are F#, g#, a#, B, C#, d# and e#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is G, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are G, a, b, C, D, e and f#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is Ab, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are Ab, bb, c, Db, Eb, f and g°, respectively. If the tonic chord is A, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are A, b, c#, D, E, f# and g#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is Bb, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are Bb, c, d, Eb, F, g and a°, respectively. If the tonic chord is B, the I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, and vii° are B, c#, d#, E, F#, g# and a#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is c, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are c, d°, Eb+, f, G, Ab and b°, respectively. If the tonic chord is c#, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are c#, d#°, E+, f#, G#, A and b#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is d, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are d, e°, F+, g, A, Bb and c#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is d#, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are d#, e#°, F#+, g#, A#, B and c#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is e, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are e, f#°, G+, a, B, C and d#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is f, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are f, g°, Ab+, bb, C, Db and e°, respectively. If the tonic chord is f#, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are f#, g#°, A+, b, C#, D and e#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is g, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are g, a°, Bb+, c, D, Eb and f#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is g#, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are g#, a#°, B+, c#, D#, E and f#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is a, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are a, b°, C+, d, E, F and g#°, respectively. If the tonic chord is bb, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are bb, c°, Db+, eb, F, Gb and a°, respectively. If the tonic chord is b, the i, ii°, III+, iv, V, VI, and vii° are b, c#°, D+, e, F#, G and a#°, respectively. It is understood that the chords are not limited thereto.
Music editing methods, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., executable instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as products, floppy diskettes, CD-ROMS, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine thereby becomes an apparatus for practicing the methods. The methods may also be embodied in the form of program code transmitted over some transmission medium, such as electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via any other form of transmission, wherein, when the program code is received and loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the disclosed methods. When implemented on a general-purpose processor, the program code combines with the processor to provide a unique apparatus that operates analogously to application specific logic circuits.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the technology can still make various alterations and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention shall be defined and protected by the following claims and their equivalents.
