The Chords Track contains the chords of the song.  Songtrix can generate the exact inversions of the chords automatically, or you can override any chord inversion with specific preferences.

Chords and Rhythm

The Chords track does not directly generate sound during playback, but works in partnership with the Rhythm track, where the pitches of the chord inversions are available to be played by rhythm events.

In this way, chord rhythms are kept separate from the chords and can be reused very easily in other locations.  At the same time, a change of chord immediately produces a different set of notes in the chord rhythm.

Chords Setup

All chord types used by the song are stored with the song, in case the song file is opened on another computer where the chords types used are not available.

The Track Setup window for the Scales track contains the Chords Used page, which lists and can adjust some properties of the chord types used in the song.

It also contains the Inversions page which controls how automatic inversions are generated for the chords in the track (if not manually overridden).

Chords and Scales

The Chords and Scales tracks can work together to define and manage the harmonic and melodic structure of the song.

When the Scales track is linked to the Chords track, blue chord relations dots appear in the scale matrix to show which key centres are compatible with the chords of the song.

The link to the Scales track can be extended to Auto Select, where a scale is automatically chosen to accommodate each selection of a chord.  Depending on the other links, the change may be cascaded through to the Melody, Riff and Bass tracks.

In this way, the Chords track can be given ultimate control of the harmony in a song, so a change of chord will propagate automatically through to all the other tracks.