This program displays and plays chords. You can specify the chord

- by entering its symbol
- by selecting the root, type, and inversion from the menus
- by entering the notes of the chord as note names or via the on-screen piano keyboard, or
- by opening a MusicXML file and stepping through it, chord by chord.

In addition, you can select any MIDI instrument known to your system to play the notes, you can hear them in Equal Temperament or Just Intonation, and you can tweak the tuning of each note (in JI mode) by entering a set of integers (the frequency ratios) or by specifying adjustments to each pitch (in cents (100ths of a half-step)).

See the "Syntax" help topic for the details of how to specify these values.

If you have opened a MusicXML file, you can display an analysis of the chord types present by choosing Analyze from the File menu.

The keyboard panel highlights the notes of the chord in red. Clicking on a highlighted key removes that note from the chord. Dragging a highlighted note horizontally changes its pitch. Right-click or drag vertically to choose another enharmonic spelling for the note (D# vs. Eb vs. Fbb, for example).

Just above the keyboard, each note will be labeled with its function in the chord (R, M3, P5, etc.) as well as the integer corresponding to the frequency of that pitch (4:5:6 for a major triad), if in JI mode.

The main panel will also display the notes of the selected chord on a grand staff. In JI mode, the staff notes will be colored red (sharp) or blue (flat) according to the pitch adjustments relative to the ET pitch. Hover over a note with the mouse to see its MIDI note number, any pitch bend (in cents), and the resulting frequency (in Hz).

The lower part of the staff panel displays the lyrics, with the current syllable highlighted.

The upper right part of the main panel lists alternative interpretations for the given chord. Clicking on a chord name in that panel will enter the symbol and inversion into the Symbol field and display the resulting notes. This choice is remembered and saved if the file is saved.

The lower left part of the main panel is the Console area. Various messages appear there which may be of interest.

The lower right part of the main panel gives the details of the notes which make up the chord. For each note, it shows the part and voice (or just a number, if not from a MusicXML file), then the note name and octave, the cents flat or sharp, the interval relative to the root, the factor in the ratio set (if in JI mode), and a small graph which indicates the frequency relative to ET. The range of the graph is plus or minus 100 cents (one semitone sharp or flat).

Use the < and > buttons at the bottom right of the main window to scroll through the available MIDI instruments, or select an instrument directly using the `File->Instrument` menu. I recommend the Flute sound (bank 0, program 74 on my system) for the purest tones.

The Tick field (upper right) displays the current position in the selected MusicXML file (if any) in terms of measure, beat, and tick. A "tick" is one-sixth of the smallest note subdivision in the file. For example, if the file contains only quarter notes, one tick is the length of one triplet sixteenth note. You can enter a position in the file as a set of three integers (M:B:T), as a measure number and offset (M:S), or as a single integer (ticks from the start of the file). The < and > buttons to the left and right of the Tick field step through the sequence one chord at a time.

You can play a MusicXML file at any desired tempo. The Play button starts the playback from the current Tick location. The Stop button stops playback immediately. The Rewind button resets the playback position to the beginning. The Tempo field gives the number of quarter notes per minute (approximately) for the playback.

If a given chord type has multiple tunings in the database (such as m7), then checking the "Alt. Tuning" box will select the alternate tuning for that chord instance (i.e., not for all instances of that type of chord).

The "Tune to" field accepts a sequence of part/voice numbers and tick values that causes the program to select the given part/voice at the given tick as the note that the chord is tuned to. If this is blank, the chords are tuned to the lowest note in the chord, usually the bass voice. Most barbershop songs sound best when tuned to the melody, normally in the lead voice. For passages where the melody is in another voice, add the start tick and new voice to the "Tune to" field. See the Syntax help topic for more details. The contents of this field are saved in the XML file when the file is saved.

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