Knobula Chord Pilot User manual

Chord Pilot
Instruction Manual

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Contents
Introduction 2
Getting Started 4
Power 4
Midi 4
Playing Chords 4
CV Gate Connections 4
Knobs 5
Interval 5
Bias 5
Note Count 5
Bass Note 5
Modal 5
Circle 6
Conform 6
Strum 6
Toggle Switches 7
Gate Switch 7
Chord 7
Orbit 7
Arpeggio 7
Buttons Switch 7
Modal 7
Circle 7
Preset 8
Bank Set Switch 8
A | B | C 8
Push Buttons 9
Preset Buttons 1-8 9
Audition (Save) 9
Bank 9
Inputs and Outputs 10
Midi In/Thru 10
Midi Out 10
Bias 10
Buttons 10

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Gate 10
Edit Mode 11
To enter the Edit mode hold down a Preset Button and press the Circle encoder button.
11
Editing Parameters of a Saved Chord Preset 11
Editing Individual Notes 11
Preferences 11
Circle Transpose 11
Midi Channel 11
Midi in Mode 12
1.Chord Control Input (default) 12
2. Midi Thru Only 12
Button Hold 12
Backup and Restore 12
1.Back Up 12
2. Restore 12
Knob Edit Activation 13
1.Movement 13
2.Matching 13
Cheat Sheet 14
Introduction
Chord Pilot is a midi controller for discovering and generating chords, it is aimed at all types
of music creators working at any level of musicianship or technical ability. It is designed to
provide a novel way of playing music and a convenient way of reproducing chords on
demand.
The fundamental principle behind Chord Pilot is that of an imaginary pair of hands that can
be manipulated into various finger positions which are then used to play notes on a virtual
keyboard. The end result is stacks of unusual chords and arpeggios that are otherwise
impossible to describe in traditional chord notation and even harder to play with human
hands.
You won’t find any controls for key signature, major Dorian 7th diminished or inversions. This
is about experimentation, discovery and happy accidents. So don’t be put off if some of the
Pilots chords are a bit discordant or ‘jazzy’ at first, because as you get to know the device
you’ll start to discover sweet spots that resonate with your own musical tastes, or you might
be inspired to try new musical directions all together. Whatever you do come up with can be
stored into one of 192 different chord presets which can be recalled quickly and conveniently

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either by hand or by CV/Gate control as single chords, chord progressions, arpeggiated midi
sequences, rhythmic stabs or simply dumped into one of our polyphonic synth modules for
use later on.
So cast aside everything you’ve ever been taught about music theory or harmony and strap
yourself in, tune out, and let the Chord Pilot take you for an exploratory trip into a wild,
wonderful, uncharted universe of sonic discovery.

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Getting Started
Power
Connect the unit to a standard Eurorack +- 12v power supply using the ribbon cable
provided.
Midi
Connect the Midi Out of the unit to the Midi In of any midi synthesiser. A stereo trs to trs
cable is provided for connecting to Knobula synth modules such as Poly Cinematic or any
synth that uses the trs-A standard. By default Chords are output on midi channel one.
Playing Chords
Press the Audition button to preview a chord. The audition button plays a chord according to
the current settings of the knobs and switches on the front panel. With the Buttons switch set
to ‘Play’, previously saved chords can be played from the 8 illuminated Preset Buttons that
surround the audition button. With the audition button held down, try changing some of the
knob settings, the chord will update as settings are changed and you can begin to
experiment with different parameters.
CV Gate Connections
Connecting a gate signal to gate input allows you to automate Chord Pilot by triggering the
device from other modules. A control voltage connected to the Buttons input can select
different chord presets, different modal settings or circle settings. A control voltage can be
connected to the Bias input for creating variations of chords.

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Knobs
All knob settings are saved as part of a preset except for the Strum setting which is always
live.
Interval
Sets the distance between each finger in the chord. Lower values around 1,2 or 3 produce
more manageable results.
Bias
Changes how evenly distributed the note intervals are across the chord. Turning Bias to the
right spreads fingers apart more towards the top of the chord and turning to the left spreads
them apart more towards the lower end. With the control in the centre the notes are all
evenly spaced apart according to the interval setting.
Note Count
Sets the number of notes in a chord. 3 or 4 is a good number to start with. Higher numbers,
up to 8 notes, can be achieved for more epic sounds but at a higher risk of sounding
discordant.
Bass Note
Steals a note from your chord and places it in the octave below. Turn the knob to select
which note is chosen to play in the bass octave. With the knob turned fully to the left it has
no effect and all notes are left where they were.
Modal
Shifts the whole chord shape up or down the virtual keyboard. This is not the same as
transposing the pitch of the chord because the pitch relationships between keys on our
‘keyboard’ are first modified with a ‘scale’ and are not necessarily equal intervals,
furthermore, notes can also wrap around to the octave as we shift, keeping notes bunched
together. Modal is also available to access live on the buttons using the button switch.

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Circle
Transposes the chord up or down by a fifth or by any other customisable amount. Circle
variations are accessible live using the preset buttons when the button selector switch is set
to circle.
Conform
Conform takes the chord shape you’ve created and
conforms it to a ‘scale’ of notes. Turn the control to the
right for more pleasant sounding major scales, turn to
the left for darker, more minor sounding notes, and turn
towards the centre to make notes become
progressively straighter and harmonious. Forcing notes
to play within a restricted scale may sometimes incur
duplicated notes which will be disregarded by Chord
Pilot’s algorithm, or notes may be pushed an octave up
or down as the algorithm automatically inverts a chord.
This will depend on the complexity of the generated
chord and the scale it is conformed to.
Strum
Chord Pilot can strum chords like a harp or a guitar, use this control to set the speed of the
function. The strum mode is set by the Gate switch. When the Gate switch is set to Orbit this
control sets the number of chords in the chord progression, when set to Arpeggio the strum
control acts as a speed control for the internal clock. If an external gate or clock is connected
then the strum control acts as a selector switch for Arpeggio types.
Gate
Switch
Strum Knob
Function
Strum Knob
Function
Knob Values
Internal Clock
External Gate In
Chord
Strum Speed
Strum Speed
Off - 4Hz
Orbit
Sequence
Length
Sequence
Length
Arpeggio
Arpeggio
tempo
Arpeggio Type
up & down, up only, down only,
random1, random2,
random3,random4.

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Toggle Switches
Gate Switch
Chord
Pressing an Audition or Preset button plays the chord for as long as the button is pressed.
When a gate signal is patched to the Gate input it will play the last chord played whether
auditioned or as a chord preset.
Orbit
Orbit plays each chord button in a sequence, starting with the first button you press and
continuously orbiting the audition star in a clockwise direction according to the internal clock
speed set in Arpeggio mode, or on every gate signal detected at the gate input. The Strum
knob can be used to adjust the sequence length from 1 to 8. When a gate signal is patched
into the Gate input the chord will play only when a gate signal is detected, each time a chord
button is pressed it will reset the sequence to that chord.
Arpeggio
Pressing a Preset Button will play the chord as an arpeggio, playing each note in sequence,
with the speed set by the Strum knob. When a gate signal is patched into the Gate input the
arpeggio steps through each note with each gate detected, the Strum knob in this instance
selects between different arpeggio styles.
Buttons Switch
The Button switch determines the function of the preset buttons and the Buttons Input cv
control.
Modal
Play chords using the Preset Buttons with each button representing a different mode as
found on the modal knob. A control voltage at the buttons input will select between different
modal positions.
Circle
Audition chords using the Preset Buttons with each button representing a different
transposition from the Circle knob. A control voltage at the buttons input will select between
Circle values.

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Preset
Illuminated buttons play stored presets. A control voltage at the buttons input will select
between different presets when a Gate signal is detected. A control voltage at the Buttons
input will select between different chord banks.
Bank Set Switch
A | B | C
Chord Pilot can store a total of 192 unique chords into memory presets. Presets are stored
in 3 sets of 64 chords, each set can be quickly selected using this toggle switch. Within each
set there are 8 banks of 8 chords, a bank can be selected by holding the bank/dump button
and pressing one of the 8 preset buttons.

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Push Buttons
Preset Buttons 1-8
These 8 illuminated push buttons orbit the Audition button and are performance orientated to
give you instant recall of stored presets or modal/circle variations of the chord settings on the
panel. The buttons can also be selected over CV through the Buttons input. Use the Buttons
switch to select the preferred function of the preset buttons.
Audition (Save)
This little button is at the very centre of the Chord Pilot experience. Pressing it will play a
chord using whichever settings are live on the controls, and keeping it held down will update
the chord as parameters are changed.
To save a chord, hold this button down and select a Preset Button as a destination for your
chord to be saved into.
Bank
To change the active bank for playback and loading/saving, hold down the Bank button and
select a Preset Button from 1-8, representing the 8 banks. There are 3 sets of 8 banks in
Chord Pilot accessible using the 3 way Bank Select switch, each bank contains 8 chords
making a total of 192 chord memories.
To transfer the current bank of 8 chords to a Knobula synthesiser such as Poly Cinematic,
press and hold the the Bank button whilst also pressing Audition(Save) until all the Preset
Buttons flash, all 8 chords in the selected bank will be transferred to the synth in a single
midi system exclusive message.

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Inputs and Outputs
Midi In/Thru
If you’re using a keyboard or a midi sequencer with Chord Pilot you can connect the midi in
here and it will be merged with Chord Pilot’s own midi stream depending on the setting of the
midi mode in the preferences.
Midi CC messages can be received here that can remotely control the parameters of Chord
Pilot.
This input also serves as an input for loading in memory back ups over midi.
Midi Out
Connect this to any midi device using a trs type A cable. Chord Pilot will output on midi
channel 1 by default.
Bias
CV control of the Bias parameter.
Buttons
CV control of the push button value. When combined with the Buttons switch you can assign
the incoming control voltage to select either a chord preset, a modal value or a circle value.
Gate
A gate signal at this input will play a chord depending on the setting of the Gate Switch.

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Edit Mode
To enter the Edit mode hold down a Preset Button and press the Circle encoder button.
Editing Parameters of a Saved Chord Preset
First enter edit mode by holding down the Preset Button of the chord you wish to edit and
pressing the Circle encoder button. The Preset Buttons will begin to flash, with each active
note represented by an illuminated Preset Button, with up to 8 possible active notes. You can
hear each note of the chord individually by pressing any of the active buttons and you can
hear all the notes played at once as a chord by pressing the Audition button. Turning any of
the knobs a few degrees will reactivate that control and allow you to change the structure of
the chord. The chord can be saved back to a preset the normal way by holding down
Audition (Save) and pressing a preset button destination.
Editing Individual Notes
Whilst in edit mode the Preset Buttons will each represent a note in the chord. To change a
note’s pitch value hold down the relevant Button and turn the Circle encoder to select a
different note. Once a note is edited, its value is frozen and can not be affected by changing
other parameters. To unfreeze an edited note, hold the note’s button and press the encoder
again.
To exit chord edit mode without saving press the encoder again. To save the edited chord,
press the Audition (Save) button and select a destination button to save the edited chord to.
Preferences
To enter the Preferences mode press and hold the Bank button and press the Circle encoder
knob, the Preset buttons will flash in sequence. Press a Preset Button to enter that particular
preference and turn the Circle encoder to change the value. Press the encoder once again
to store that value and exit the Preferences mode.
Preference values are displayed using the 8 buttons as indicators ; values 1-8 are shown by
illuminating each button 1-8 respectively and values 9-16 are shown by illuminating all
buttons except one where 9 is button 1 darkened, 10 is button 2 darkened etc.
Circle Transpose
Preset Button 1
Use the encoder to increase or decrease the step value that the Circle increments by.
Default value is 7 which is a musical fifth.
Midi Channel
Preset Button 2

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Select a midi channel to transmit and receive all midi data on, default is midi channel 1.
Midi in Mode
Preset button 3
Choose between different midi functionality when using an external midi controller or
keyboard.
1.Chord Control Input (default)
Playing a key between C2 and C4 plays the last chord, transposed up to an octave up or
down with C3 (middle C) being the original pitch. The midi channel is set by the midi
preference setting. All other channels behave as midi thru.
White notes from A1 to B2 represent the Audition button and the the 8 Preset Buttons
2. Midi Thru Only
Midi thru on all channels only.
Button Hold
Preset Button 4
Sets the operating style of the Audition and Preset buttons. By default Button Hold is set to
Off which means the unit will play when the button is pressed and stop playing when the
button is released. When set to On the unit will play continuously until the same button or
any other button is pressed again. If a Patch cable is connected to the Gate input with Button
Hold On, the unit will not play at all when a button is pressed but only when a Gate signal is
also detected, this allows you to ‘silently’ select a preset to be triggered only at a specific
time.
Backup and Restore
Preset Button 5
1.Back Up
Saves all data including 192 chords and current Preferences as midi system exclusive data.
Press the Bank button to initiate the process.
2. Restore
Load all data including 192 chords and Preferences via midi in. Pressing button 5 will
prepare Chord Pilot to receive the restored data via the midi in socket.

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Knob Edit Activation
Preset Button 6
Sets the operating style of the knobs when editing presets. When recalling presets onto the
front panel you can select the way Chord Pilot activates knobs and reads their values.
1.Movement
When knob movement is detected by a few degrees the knob becomes active and that value
is read.
2.Matching
When the knob is turned it is only activated when it’s position matches the stored preset
value.

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Cheat Sheet
Function
Action 1
Action 2
chord edit mode
Hold down a preset button
and press the Circle
encoder knob at the same
time
press a preset button to
select which note to edit
chromatically with the
encoder
preferences
push bank and circle
encoder button
simultaneously
press preset button to enter
specific preference
Use encoder to change
value and press to save/exit
midi bank dump
Push Bank and Audition
simultaneously
Octave adjust
Push and turn Circle
encoder