Casio Releases iOS Apps That Let Users Play Musical Accompaniment to Their Favorite Songs
The piano pad screen in Chordana Tap
(as it appears on an iPhone)
The guitar pad screen in Chordana Viewer
(as it appears on an iPhone)
TOKYO, October 31, 2013 — Casio Computer Co., Ltd., announced today that it has developed two iOS apps—Chordana Tap and Chordana Viewer—that let users play musical accompaniment to their favorite songs. The apps are available on the Apple App Store today.
In its continuous effort to bring the fun of music to a wider range of people, Casio has made the most of its electronic musical instrument technologies to develop these two new apps for iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Employing Casio’s proprietary Chordana music analysis technology, the apps can detect musical chord progressions*1 by analyzing the frequency characteristics and temporal changes of an audio file. Users can then play along as an accompanist when playing back songs stored in an iPhone or other device.
The selected chords, however, may not exactly match the original chords, depending on the piece of music.
Chordana Tap works great for people with or without experience playing the keyboard or guitar, enabling them to enjoy accompanying their favorite songs simply by tapping the virtual instruments on the screen. Chordana Viewer helps musicians learn songs on a real-world instrument by reducing the time it takes to learn the chords by ear and making it unnecessary to write them out by hand.
| Type of app
|
Name of app | Price
|
|---|---|---|
Easy virtual accompaniment app |
Chordana Tap | Free |
Chord chart production support app |
Chordana Viewer | Fee-based*2 |
Chordana Tap lets users virtually experience playing music simply by tapping
Guitar Pad
Rhythm Pad
Play Style evaluating
-
By tapping a virtual instrument on the screen along with a musical accompaniment guide, users can play the chord progression of a song. Four virtual instrument sounds*3 are available to choose from. A rhythm to match the song can also be selected.*3
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The app guides the user through the song using a variety of color-coded chords. The system was designed under the supervision of Dr. Noriko Nagata of the Department of Human System Interaction, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University.
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The app is equipped with a function for evaluating the results of the performed accompaniment according to five musical styles: pop, rock, Latin, dance, and jazz.
Chordana Viewer helps with creating chord charts to suit the performer
Piano keyboard
Piano Pad
Chord list
-
The app automatically detects chord progressions and displays them on the screen as a chord chart. Chord charts can also be modified and saved. If the user wishes to change the musical key, the chords also change automatically, allowing easy production of chord charts to suit the performer.
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Places to press piano keyboards and guitar strings are shown on the screen. Users can feel the sensation of using their own musical instrument and playing along with their favorite musicians by looking at the screen and playing to the song.
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Users can choose from four virtual instrument sounds*4 to accompany music, and even record a performance. MIDI compatible musical instruments can also be connected. The balance between vocals and accompaniment can be adjusted during playback—a useful function for learning to play by ear.
Chordana Tap Main Features
| Control
|
Transpose
|
Target | Audio playback, virtual musical instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range | ±1 octaves (pitch in semitone units) |
||
| Tempo
|
Target | Audio playback, accompaniment guide, rhythm |
|
| Range | 50% to 200% |
||
| Volume Balance
|
Whole Balance
|
Song (audio playback) / tap operation (virtual musical instrument) |
|
| Song Balance
|
Backing / melody |
||
| Virtual Musical
Instrument |
Accompaniment Guide
|
Chord type (color coding)*5, Accent of the song |
|
| Piano Pad
|
Pad | Chord pad (white), monophony pad (black) |
|
| Preset Tones*6
|
Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano |
||
| Guitar Pad
|
Pad | 6 string (each string sounds independently) |
|
| Preset Tones*6 | Steel-string Guitar, Nylon-string Guitar |
||
| Rhythm Pad
|
Preset Patterns*6
|
10 rhythm patterns |
|
| Play Style
Evaluation |
The tendency of the accompaniment is displayed in a radar chart |
||
| Evaluation Elements
|
Pop, rock, Latin, dance, jazz |
||
| Audio Recording
|
The virtual musical instrument performance is recorded with the playback song |
||
| History List
|
Accompaniment, audio recording |
||
| MIDI
|
MIDI IN
|
Sounded by virtual musical instrument tone |
|
| MIDI OUT
|
Chord progression, tap operation (virtual musical instrument) |
||
*6 Additional tones/patterns are subject to fees. Please check prices at the App Store.
Chordana Viewer Main Features
| Control
|
Transpose
|
Target | Audio playback, chord score, virtual musical instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range | ±1 octaves (pitch in semitone units) |
||
| Tempo
|
Target | Audio playback, chord progression guide |
|
| Range
|
50% to 200% |
||
| Volume Balance
|
Whole Balance
|
Music (audio playback) / tap operation (virtual musical instrument) |
|
| Music Balance
|
Backing / melody |
||
| Chord Chart
|
Display
|
Chord name (full screen display correspondence), chord progression guide, chord list |
|
| Function
|
Save, easy edit (choose from 3 candidate chords), manual edit |
||
| Virtual Musical Instrument
|
Piano Keyboard
|
Keyboard | 12 keys / 17 keys / 24 keys |
| Indicator | Keyboard position corresponding to the cord: Current cord, next cord |
||
| Max. Polyphony
|
12 |
||
| Preset Tones*7
|
Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano |
||
| Piano Pad
|
Pad | Chord pad (white), monophony pad (black) |
|
| Indicator | Chord position for piano performance |
||
| Preset Tones*7
|
Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano |
||
| Guitar Pad
|
Pad
|
6 string (each string sounds independently) |
|
| Indicator
|
Chord position for guitar performance |
||
| Preset Tones*7
|
Steel-string Guitar, Nylon-string Guitar |
||
| Audio Recording
|
The virtual musical instrument performance is recorded with the playback song |
||
| MIDI
|
MIDI IN
|
Sounded by virtual musical instrument tone |
|
| MIDI OUT
|
Chord progression, tap operation (virtual musical instrument), touch operation (chord score), touch operation (chord list) |
||
Main Specifications
| Compatibility
|
iPhone*8 | iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s |
|---|---|---|
| iPod touch
|
iPod touch (fifth generation) |
|
| iPad*8
|
iPad 2, iPad (third generation), iPad (fourth generation), iPad mini |
|
| Detection of Chord Progression
|
Target songs | Songs saved in standard iOS music apps (File length is limited to 10 minutes.) |
| Customizable items
|
Number of chords per bar, tempo (slow, standard, or upbeat), fixed tempo (on or off), time signature (4/4, 3/4, or 5/4) |
To use the MIDI function, a commercially available MIDI interface and a MIDI connectable electronic musical instrument are required.
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Other product names and so forth are generally trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.