Key
This is where you choose your key.
 
The current key is highlighted in red. Simply click and drag left or right to change the key. The current tonic is always played by C.  
   
   
Chords
ChordSpace Playa can assign chords to each note of your MIDI keyboard as per the stylised octave of keys. The current chord types for each note are highlighted in red.

Above, C plays C major 7; C# plays C#7; D plays D minor 7; D# plays D#7; E plays E minor 7 etc.
There is a Legend for the notation used here.  		 

 

  
   
Changing chord type with the pitchbend wheel
 Move your pitchbend wheel up or (in this case) down, and...
  

...the grey bar on Playa will move with it.
Strike a note and the chord under the grey bar will play.

 
This chord will then be highlighted in red and latched to the note. Even when you release the pitchbend,  
from now on, that note will play that chord.
In this case C will play a C minor-major 7th chord.
This enables you to change chords, on the fly, without taking your hands from your Midi keyboard.
It's a lot quicker to do than to describe.		  
   
   

Inversions
Any of the chords can be played in inversions 1 to 4.
Inversion 1 moves the root of the chord up an octave. Inversion 2 moves the root and the third up an octave and so on.

  
 
The negative numbers are not true negative inversions. Select -1 and the root moves down an octave. Select -2 and the root and third move down an octave and so on.
The -1 voicing where the root is dropped into the bass can be very effective.		  
   
   
Keyboard splits, chords and scale-locked melody
 Playa has two main functions. The first is to generate chord, the second is to lock a scale (or mode) to that chord. Playa allows you to split your keyboard into octaves. These can be toggled between chords (light) and scale-locked melody (dark). The following shows the keyboard entirely set to chords...
  
While this shows the top four octaves set to melody...  
Finally, any octave can be transposed up or down...  
   
   

Strum
Strum is one of three articulations available in Playa (the other two being Arpeggiators). The strum can be Up, Down or Alternating. Strum time can be independently set to Total (0-600 milliseconds)

  
 
or Gap (0-200 milliseconds)  
 

Both the timing and velocity of the strum can be humanised. The velocity follows a log law making it useful over much of its range.
The strum articulation, when set to a short duration, is particularly good at giving a human feel to chord playing. A longer duration gives guitar style strums.

  
   
Synchronised Arpeggiator
The Sync'd Arp has a four octave range and six modes:- Up, Down, Up&Down, Down&Up, Up&Down2 and Down&Up2.
The gate determines the note length.		  
 
This Arp is synchronised to your hosts BPM clock. The ratio runs from 1 bar to 1/32nd of a bar in standard, dotted and triplet time.  
   
Freerunning Arpeggiator
This Arp is not synchronised to your hosts BPM clock.
Otherwise it's identical to the Sync'd Arp.		  
 

   

Modes
Playa allows you, in most cases, to choose which mode is to be scale-locked to a particular chord. Those chords with alternatives have the current mode shown in red. Clicking it gives you a drop down with the alternative modes.
It is the notes of the chosen mode which will be scale-locked to the white keys in the melody section of your keyboard.

 
Only the relevant modes are available for each chord type as it makes no sense to play (for instance) a Locrian mode over a dominant 7th chord.
A different mode played over the same chord can give a radically different feel to a piece.
Some types of chords (e.g. the augmented major 7th) have no choice as there isn't a common alternative mode (to in this case the Lydian Augmented). These chords have their modes shown in grey, and have no associated drop-down list.		  

 
   

Midi
Midi coming into Playa on channel 1 can be turned into chords or scale-locked melody and output to the channel of your choice.

 
The bass note of the chord can be sent to a separate channel for use with multi-timbral instruments.
Once the pitchbend has served it's purpose of selecting chords in Playa it can be released with the Bypass Bend button...		  
   

...to resume its original function.  
All channels other than 1 will be scale-locked by Playa and output to their input channel. This means that more than one Midi keyboard can be scale-locked by Playa.
You can jam with other musicians, all dynamically locked to the same scale as the harmony player.

  
   
   
?
Clicking this button cycles through a couple of useful static displays.
A circle of fifths complete with sharps and flats...		  
 
...and a legend of the symbols used in ChordSpace Playa...  
 

Finally, no Midi plugin would be complete without a panic button to send an "All notes off" for those occaisional hanging notes.

  
 
 
 
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