Music App to compare how scales/arpeggios/chords sound in context?

July 30, 2023 9:38 PM

I am looking for a specific type of music theory app, which I haven't been able to find yet. I'd prefer a MacOS/iOS app.

I want to be able to (sonically) compare any arbitrary scale, chord or arpeggio, superimposed on any other scale/chord/arpeggio. Some apps I've found in the past only allow diatonic comparisons; I am specifically looking for a way to explore "outside" playing though.
Ideally, the app would have two identical interfaces side by side. Each side would allow to select a key then any scale run, arpeggio or chord based on that key then play it back.
Thanks for reading!
(This question was prompted by a blog post I read where a composer reminisces about learning Ravel's Bolero and his surprise when he realized various instruments were at some point simultaneously playing in C, G, and E major.)

posted by Oneirokritikos to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

is a cheap ass looper an app? because that shit has been working great for me for 35 years.

a) loop a chord
b) layer a mode or whatev
c) put it on 'repeat'
d) listen

ez!
posted by j_curiouser at 11:32 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Maybe Chordion (as noted in the comments there, basically an appified Omnichord), perhaps if you can get two copies to run side by side or have two devices? Wouldn't do the comparison/transposition though.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:11 AM on July 31, 2023

Not an app, but the Chords Pro DAW plugin might also be of some use.

This thread on audiobus might also be pertinent.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:23 AM on July 31, 2023

This is way overkill, but it would be trivial to do this with the algorithmic music composition system Opusmodus.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 8:31 AM on August 1, 2023 [1 favorite]