M2TM Chords DV (for Live 11 & 12)

M2TM Chords DV is a MIDI device effect for Ableton Live 11 and 12, that allows you to generate chord progressions of any length and complexity, by just typing chord symbols as you would do with pen and paper.

Its smart parser recognizes chords all common (and not-so-common) chord symbols, with added 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th, in any order and in their natural, lowered (flat) or raised (sharp) variations, plus many non-standard chords like stacked fourths or fifths. It supports slash chords (eg Cmaj7/G), chord inversions, rootless and drop chords, open and closed voicings, chords in Roman notation (e.g. I ii7 V7), and more.

M2TM Chords DV offers the unique auto-inversion feature, that is is the ability to automatically select the best inversion for each chord in the progression, as an expert piano or keyboard player would do. If two consecutive chords have notes in common, the legato option can merge theme into a single, longer note (great for pads and string sections!).

You can build complex harmonies by generating one simpler progression at a time. New progressions can be appended to existing ones, and the auto-loop option can ensure that the clip's loop area always matches the most recent progression or encompasses all the sub-progressions generated so far.

The video above is about M2TM Chords MIDI tool, also by midi2themax.

In addition to working on both Live 11 and 12, standard MIDI devices have other advantages over Live 12 MIDI tools. For example, they support presets for saving their settings, and their fields are MIDI-mappable. Also, you can create multiple instances of the device and generate two or more MIDI clips at the same time, using knobs and sliders of an external MIDI keyboard to control their parameters.

A couple well-known Live expeerts have reviewed it and appear to be quite intrigued by its potential. This one is from Vince Xmetric: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HoN6KBPR4. This comes from SideBrain: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9Nmy7JyUMm/ and has been shared on Ableton's official account!

Say goodbye to the tedious task of entering chords one note at a time, no need to decipher complex chord symbols. Regardless of whether you are an harmony wizard or know nothing about music theory, M2TM Chords can create harmonies for you in a matter of seconds.

Read more this and other Live tools by midi2themax in this PDF.

IMPORTANT: it requires Live 11 or 12 Suite Edition or Live 11 or 12 Standard with for Max-for-Live support; it works only in Session view (Arrangement view isn't currently supported).

This product is also available in bundle with M2TM Chords DV, a MIDI tool that offers the same features but works only with Ableton Live 12.