Let’s start by testing the DNA with a simple guitar loop – a strummed A minor chord.
I import the wave file to a track, load Melodyne as an insert effect in that track, select the polyphonic algorithm and start the detection process of the whole loop.
Melodyne creates a single waveform first and displays a small timer to indicate the progress of the analysis.
Once it stops, the miracle is complete: a nice animation starts to separate the waveform into several segments spread on the grid.
I end up with an E, an A and a C, which are the three basic notes of a A minor chord.
With the pitch editing tool, I can click on a segment to listen to it by itself and drag it with the mouse to transpose it, so I grab the whole C line and drag it to C sharp to get an A major chord.
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Listen to the original sample
Now, listen to the A major chord
Stunning, isn’t it? Some of you might have noticed that the software only detects four different notes, even though an A minor chord on a guitar has five notes (A, E, A, C, E).
The Direct Note Access seems to have difficulties to distinguish notes with the same harmonic content, like the same note in different octaves.
If we were to consider the A line in the previous file, you could clearly hear that the segment contains the low and high A notes of the chord.
It also works quite good with loops containing clearly separated notes.
The following example makes the point clearer; in spite of the reverb, which could make detection more difficult, the software does a wonderful job (notice that it allows you to hide or display the decay of the notes, in other words, the reverb effect).
If we were to consider the A line in the previous file, you could clearly hear that the segment contains the low and high A notes of the chord. (Listen to it here)
It’s true that it is a limitation, but the software is still very effective, especially to add ornaments. Listen to the same loop played faster and with some ornaments.